March 5, 2010
How Quickly the Message Fades
Frank Salvato
It is stunning to find out that there are still some elected officials in Washington DC - especially on the Right side of the aisle -who don't fully understand the message being sent by the American citizenry regarding their grotesque spending addiction. No, I'm not talking about earmarks or pork barrel spending, which in and of themselves should be egregious enough to warrant defeat in the next election. I am referring to how US Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) was thrown under the bus when he demanded that his fellow Senators actually allocate existing funds for a program they wanted to implement.
As reported by Fox News:
"Kentucky Republican Jim Bunning had been holding up action for days but conceded after pressure intensified with Monday's cutoff of road funding and extended unemployment benefits and health insurance subsidies for the jobless.
"Bunning wanted to force Democrats to find ways to finance the bill so that it wouldn't add to the deficit, but his move sparked a political tempest that subjected Republicans to withering media coverage and cost the party politically. Bunning's support among Republicans was dwindling, while Democrats used to being on the defensive over healthcare and the deficit seemed to relish the battle."
In other words, Bunning was trying to do what the American people are demanding "that government be fiscally responsible; that government stop adding to the deficit; that Congress stop spending borrowed money" and the Congressional Republicans threw him under the bus, frightened of how supporting his effort would appear.
If fiscal responsibility has to take a backseat to appearance then we have at least two problems that we have to address immediately.
The Bundling of Legislation
The habit of bundling legislation - taking a group of bills and combining them into one so that they would all be passed in a single House or Senate vote - needs to be abolished. It facilitates the very backroom deals that are being decried as inside the beltway 'business as usual'; a never-ending circle of "I'll wash your back if you wash mine," good-old-boy politicking.
We are witnessing a perfect example of why the practice of bundling legislation should be abolished in the so-called, 'Doctor Fix,' an approximately $250 billion measure to address Medicare reimbursement fees to doctors.
The 'Doctor Fix' is most definitely a part of the overall healthcare insurance reform issue. But because Congressional Progressives and Leftist Democrats are playing numbers games to hide the true cost of healthcare insurance reform from the American people, they moved this $250 billion item from the healthcare insurance reform bill and attached it to the so-called 'Jobs Bill' to keep the perceived cost of the healthcare insurance reform bill under $1 trillion. The 'Jobs Bill' also included provisions for extending unemployment benefits and health insurance subsidies for the long-term jobless and providing stopgap funding for highway programs.
By bundling these pieces of legislation together, Congressional Progressives and Leftist Democrats were able to not only establish plausible deniability for their continued spendthrift ways, they created a vehicle for demonizing anyone who would take issue with any one provision in the bundle of bills.
In the case of Sen. Bunning, they accused him of being 'heartless' and 'against those who are unemployed,' simply because he demanded that Congress acquiesce to the demands of the American people in that they allocate existing funds to pay for their proposed legislation. Republican Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) typified the cowardice of the moderate Right when asked if Bunning was hurting the GOP brand:
"He's hurting the American people."
I would ask which is worse, which is more hurtful, which is more detrimental to our nation, saddling the American people with more debt or being fiscally responsible?
Forcing the responsibility-challenged members of the Legislative Branch to vote on pieces of legislation in a stand-alone fashion would not only expose the spendthrifts, pork-barrelers and good-old-boy opportunists, it would eliminate plausible deniability, hold each and every legislator accountable to their constituents for the votes, without the cover of excuse and slow the legislative process to the pace our Founders and Framers intended. It would eliminate the disingenuous legislative tactic championed by the Progressives and Leftist Democrats: crisis politics.
Delivering the Message
The idea that the facts, or that the demands of the governed, must take a backseat to appearance should raise a red flag for each and every American. This notion ferrets out those who would put the well-being of their political parties above the execution of good government.
It is the responsibility of those elected to office to communicate effectively with their constituents. If an elected official can't accurately and effectively explain a piece of legislation, his position on an issue or why he voted a certain way on any given piece of legislation then he is delinquent in his duties and unqualified to hold office.
That the Republican Party - especially on the national level - has so far failed to neutralize the Progressive and Leftist Democrat media advantage is pathetic. They were given a leg up in the new media from the get-go and they have squandered that advantage. Not only can they not effectively utilize the Internet as a fundraising tool, they haven't even harnessed the vehicle for the effective delivery of their message. If it weren't for fact-oriented new media outlets like the one your reading - including our publication The New Media Journal - and talk radio, the GOP, which traditionally would be described as more cerebrally oriented than emotionally oriented, would still be relying exclusively on antiquated message delivery vehicles that deliver the message too late and without any passion.
It is well past time that the GOP set itself to engaging the new media - both financially and organizationally - so that they can create a communications vehicle, a community of honest, fact-disseminating entities, that would be able to obliterate any disingenuous attack from the Progressives and/or Leftists Democrats. The Progressives and Leftist Democrats have Media Matters, MoveOn.org, Progress for America and many, many other message vehicles - all fully funded by their rank & file and neo-Marxist sugar-daddies - and 'private' entities like the Daily Kos and the Huffington Post, not to mention the mainstream media. The Conservative movement is bogged down under the same elitist, click-ish inside the beltway operatives that have been losing ground to Progressives and Leftist Democrats for decades. Until this changes the message will always be diluted by a more responsive, more organized and more vicious Left.
Appearance should never neuter the capacity for any elected official to do what is right by their constituents. That we - as a nation - are held hostage to unscrupulous spin doctors and Madison Avenue political charlatans is to be denied truth, honesty and transparency. This will never change until elected officials dispense with the need to keep up appearances and have the courage to embrace the facts and the truth...always. This is part of the reason why people are drawn to support Michelle Bachmann, Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor, Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn, to name but a few.
Every elected official, and especially every elected Republican, who didn't stand with Senator Bunning in his honest attempt to execute the will of the people in denying the spendthrifts in the Senate the ability to inflate the debt any further is, politically, a coward. Those who 'took the thirty pieces of silver' just so they might appear to care about the American people neither care about the American people nor did them any favors by saddling our children with even more debt.
Bottom line, anyone who didn't stand with Jim Bunning in his want to rein-in deficit spending - even in this singular instance - cannot be trusted to keep their word about fiscal responsibility.
You wanted an effective litmus test? Well, here you go...
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Frank Salvato is the managing editor for The New Media Journal. He serves at the Executive Director of the Basics Project, a non-profit, non-partisan, 501(C)(3) research and education initiative.
Because they want to keep spending even though we don't have the money to spend on their pork barrel ,nonsense things. They don't care about the american citizens or what happens to us. THEY ARE TRYING TO PLAY GOD!!!! It s going to backfire on them soon!!!
posted by: Jeannie
Friday, March 5, 2010 at 09:48 AM
I agree with Jeannie...what goes 'round, will come 'round, and there will be a day when they will rue their cowardice!
posted by: Mid
Friday, March 5, 2010 at 09:59 AM
It is just typical of our governing clique of lying and duplicitous fools.
They approve of a measure that requires any legislation that has a monetary expense to be adequately covered with funds in the budget. Simple: It's called "Pay/Go" and it's a great concept; except for one thing: They don't honor it even now when it is law.
Sen.Bunning was just trying to remind them that they voted for "Pay/Go" so just honor it. For that, he has been chastised.
Wake up Congress; you're spending our future and creating a monster debt for our children. STOP SPENDING.
posted by: Jerry
Friday, March 5, 2010 at 10:06 AM
I must respectfully disagree with Mr. Salvato. It is not "moderate" Republicans like Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) who typify the cowardice of the "moderate" Right.
A moderate is simply one who avoids extremes. These are not moderate Republicans who typify moral cowardice. They are "pragmatic" conservatives or Republicans as opposed to "principled" conservatives or Republicans.
posted by: Steve Klein
Friday, March 5, 2010 at 10:23 AM
My mom had a saying "you just talk to hear yourself talk", should be the mantra for Congress
posted by: vahillbilly
Friday, March 5, 2010 at 10:24 AM
Those that did not support Jim Bunning are in a risky game of "catch me if you can". Well, we're slowly weeding them out in the primaries, a batch at a time. We need (from FSM)a complete list of the GOP Pols who still don't get it. This list must include Mitch McConnell, Bunnings fellow Senator. McConell has all the political appeal of a cold marshmellow. At the earliest opportunity, Kentuckians -- retire McConnell. PLEASE.
posted by: Bob Parmelee
Friday, March 5, 2010 at 10:29 AM
These cowardly free-spending zombies, both republicans and democrats, are the "useful idiots" the progressives love.
The Left has them convinced that they're helping themselves. . . ya, right . . . helping themselves right out of office.
Sen. Bunning, you have my respect and gratitude for standing up to the free-spending zombies.
posted by: Bubba1114
Friday, March 5, 2010 at 10:29 AM
I respectfully disagree with Mr. Klein.
In the end, when all is said and done, a moderate is simply a wishy-washy, weak legislator who is unwilling to take a clear stand. Whichever way the political winds may be blowing that day...
We have WAAAYYY too many such legislators. They are weak and cowering, on the whole, and until we replace them with legislators of true, strong leadership who stand on principles, we will continue to have the problems in Washington we are so tired of seeing.
posted by: Margie
Friday, March 5, 2010 at 12:00 AM
If they fail to speak up now, they (like so many passifists in the 1930's) will find that when their "ox gets gored"; it will be too late. Let's be sure we gore their ox at the polls in Nov.
posted by: MaryLena Anderegg
Friday, March 5, 2010 at 12:03 AM
The arrogance of the currently serving politicians is the marker for their removal. We will clean "House" in the coming elections. Thankfully, there are some like Jim Bunning who are aware of the folly of spending money you don't have.
posted by: Vicki
Friday, March 5, 2010 at 12:36 AM
Margie, maybe we are using different terms to describe the same thing. Perhaps what I call a pragmatic conservative, you call a moderate. David Horowitz, author and CEO Frontpagemag, has an article on his site today which describes conservatives as essentially pragmatic.
I am an eight year Republican party activist, and I can assure you, we (me and others who are pro-life) fought tooth and nail over the "pro-life" plank in our national party platform. Most pro-lifers are not pragmatic about innocent human life; they are principled. Pragmatists are inclined to compromise on fundamental issues like life.
Same thing holds true in this war with radical Islam or with Islam itself - you chose. Former President Bush did a very pragmatic thing soon after the 9/11 Muslim-terror attacks.
Bush (whom I voted for in 2000) assured the American people:
"The terrorists practice a fringe form of Islamic extremism that has been rejected by Muslim scholars and the vast majority of Muslim clerics; a fringe movement that perverts the peaceful teachings of Islam.....
"(Islam's) teachings are good and peaceful, and those who commit evil in the name of Allah blaspheme the name of Allah," according to President Bush.
Bush went on: "The terrorists are traitors to their own faith, trying, in effect, to hijack Islam itself."
This was a very pragmatic decision - to not properly define the enemy - on the part of George W. Bush. I believe this pragmatic tact was very wrong. I believe Bush mislead the American people. Consequently many voted for the Muslim-born presidential candidate in November 2008.
Do you respectfully disagree with me that this (pragmatic) posture on President Bush's part was wrong?
posted by: Steve Klein
Friday, March 5, 2010 at 04:20 PM
The Republicans, like the Democrats are two faced, but aparently neither wanted to set a precedent....
posted by: Jim Horn
Friday, March 5, 2010 at 11:57 PM
How sad for our country that Jim B. cohorts couldn't stand up and support what is right and good. Evidently they think that the Democrats are doing good things for our Country. Heaven helps us!!!!
posted by: Sharon F
Sunday, March 7, 2010 at 03:50 PM
A belated response to the lively discussion of Sen Bunning (R,KY). Sadly, the good Senator announced his retirement BEFORE making those remarks - which may mean that had he NOT planned to exit Congress, he might not have found the spine to act on his "principles."
But he DID make that significant proposal (which, under extreme ignorance & pressure, he was forced to rescind) - and it exposed the majority of his GOP colleagues as the unprincipled cowards that most of them are - thus giving Conservatives lots of ammo come November!
posted by: Joy
Friday, March 26, 2010 at 09:12 AM
