Middle River Dispatches

A gumbo of fly-fishing, conservation, politics and days afield, for what it is worth....

Kathleen Parker’s mea culpa is spot on

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Writing articles that admit you made a mistake is never easy. Kathleen Parker’s I was wrong about Trump. He won, and he broke us, is a well written look back at views that did not stand the march of future events.

For me she got to the heart of the damage done in the last four years with this.

Trump’s call to overthrow the 2020 election, which gained traction through a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) against four swing states, has exposed the underbelly of the GOP. There’s nothing some Republicans won’t do to hold on to power, even at the expense of the country’s dwindling chances to unite in common cause. Seventeen additional Republican attorneys general joined Paxton’s suit, while 126 Republican House members signed an amicus brief supporting Paxton’s request that the Supreme Court overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. The court dismissed the request Friday night. 

As she says, “what’s wrong with you people?” To which I add, have you no shame?

Victims of Deficit Reduction

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Nicholas Kristoff offered a provocative column; Republicans, Zealots and Our Security, in Sunday’s New Your Times. Kristoff opens with an intriguing notion. If foreign fanatics were to take our country to the brink of financial crisis we would be up in arms. He makes a compelling case that ideology by the more conservative wing of the GOP should be no different.

We tend to think of national security narrowly as the risk of a military or terrorist attack. But national security is about protecting our people and our national strength — and the blunt truth is that the biggest threat to America’s national security this summer doesn’t come from China, Iran or any other foreign power. It comes from budget machinations, and budget maniacs, at home.

In other words, Republican zeal to lower debts could result in increased interest expenses and higher debts. Their mania to save taxpayers could cost taxpayers. That suggests not governance so much as fanaticism.

We should be alarmed and outraged.

How did we get to this point? When did politics become more important than responsible governing?

Kristoff focuses on the damage this mania for budget cuts does to education. The same could be said for conservation and environmental programs. Try substituting conservation or the environment for education, Kristoff’s words ring just as true.

More broadly, a default would leave America a global laughingstock. Our “soft power,” our promotion of democracy around the world, and our influence would all take a hit. The spectacle of paralysis in the world’s largest economy is already bewildering to many countries. If there is awe for our military prowess and delight in our movies and music, there is scorn for our political/economic management.

While one danger to national security comes from the risk of default, another comes from overzealous budget cuts — especially in education, at the local, state and national levels. When we cut to the education bone, we’re not preserving our future but undermining it.

This is going to be a long hot summer…