Well in doing my daily readings, I stumbled upon the idea for a new celebrity death match. But instead of claymation combat, this one will pit the ideas of one person against another. In short, it's a debate, but titling a blog post "Debate" would be as boring as it sounds.
So this week's celebrity death match pits Paul Krugman of Nobel Prize fame against Liz Peek of lizpeek.com fame. Now at first, this may seem to be an unfair match-up, a la Arnold Schwarzenegger vs. Prince, after all, Liz Peek has HER OWN WEBSITE!!!!
But let's review what each of them has to say before we jump to conclusions. Peek, in her article "The Liberals Are Losing It," makes a variety of strong points. Among them: Obama has passed policies that benefit the American people. Ok that's it, Peek doesn't make any other strong points, and she makes that one in sarcasm, so it doesn't count. But Peek does do what the right does best. She ignores facts and twists truths. Peek is sticking with the Republican line of "the stimulus failed," which is true only because no one listened to Paul Krugman et al and passed a stimulus that was big enough to help.
The truth about the economy now is the same truth that Krugman and many other smart economists were preaching when the recession started, that when the private sector is incapable of stimulating growth, someone needs to fill the void. That someone would be the government. Obviously we don't want or hope for the government to become overly involved or overly invested in the economy, but then again, we don't hope for recessions either. When failed policies lead us into an economic downturn, we need alternate policies to help pull us out. The stimulus was that alternate policy, and that stimulus represents textbooks economics. Hell, even Liz Peek probably knows that, SHE HAS HER OWN WEBSITE!!!
Picking on Liz Peek is too easy, it's like picking on John Boehner or Glenn Beck. I should know better, but these people represent a serious threat to our country. I pick on them because they influence thousands of Americans who seem willing to turn their pack on sense, and embrace another round of failure. I rant about Republicans, not because I think they're all bad - quite the contrary - but because too many of them (and the loudest ones) don't serve the American people. Perhaps they claim to, but their words and the policies they enact prove otherwise.
And so Liz Peek, whoever the hell Liz Peek is, writes an article with witty little comparisons - Obama's policies slowing down the economy like Mt. Rushmore would slow down a car pulling it - without ever looking at the facts. She either doesn't know or doesn't care that the economy hasn't been slowed by the financial regulation law - that sector of the economy is booming. Wall Street bankers are setting records with the bonuses they've gotten. She either doesn't know or doesn't care that fixing the economy will help stabilize the deficit. And it doesn't matter whether she is ignorant or evil, because either way, she's out there hurting America.
I've made the plea before, and between now and November, I'll make it many more times, but America needs sensible people who are willing to cooperate and who are willing to do what's best for our country, not for their political party. We don't need 100 Democratic Senators. In fact, I'd settle for 55, as long as we can get some sensible Republicans to join them. I know those sensible Republicans are out there - CAN YOU HEAR ME OLYMPIA SNOWE? CAN YOU HEAR ME LINDSEY GRAHAM? CAN YOU HEAR ME JOHN McCAIN OF YESTERYEAR?
They're out there. Good people with whom I disagree, but who have good ideas and have America's best interest in heart and mind. If only they would recover the fortitude that drew us to them in the first place.
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