Demagogues of the Left

“The American people are figuring it out, This is not a stimulus bill; it is a spending bill.” - Sen. John McCain

“What do you think a stimulus is? That’s the whole point.” - Pres. Barack Obama

The democrats have control of Congress, they have the White House. But they're way under-represented in the crucial demagogue count.

Perhaps this should be seen as a welcome change in Washington politics. Under the Bush regime the Republicans passed huge tax cuts for the wealthy in the name of stimulus. They floated the housing bubble and loosened bank regulations in the name of stimulus. They invaded an old, personal enemy's country in the name of fighting terror. They gave no-bid contracts to Halliburton in the name of rebuilding Iraq. They gave a huge government handout to the insurance companies in the name of improving health care. And another huge handout to the banks in the name of saving our economy.

As with the Iraq war, the perception of the Bush administration's policies was completely detached from the reality of their actions. And the funny thing was, though we knew that they were lying, we never stopped listening to them.

Now those same fools are out shouting about the wasteful stimulus package. The alternative they tout is vague tax cuts, even though that was the economic policy of the last 8 years. The last 8 years of excess which led to our current crisis.

When pressed, their only plan is C.Y.A.

A cynic, looking at this situation, would see that for the minority party, there's very little upside for Republican politicians in an economic recovery. The Republican platform is built around the wisdom of the free market, the importance of personal responsibility, and the wastefulness of government spending.

Our 8 years of Bush were a grand experiment in pure ideology.

And they brought us to ruin. Because the free market is free to crash like a goose-stricken airliner. Because the richer and more powerful you are the less you can be trusted to do what's right. Because government agencies cannot regulate entities that are stronger than they are.

We all remember Bush's version of "stimulus". (Seriously, I thought we'd given up on supply-side economics after the 80s. The fact that it stimulated squat-all, didn't bother anyone else?)

Now, at the start of the Obama administration, we see a new concept for stimulus. Government can be the answer when all else is in panic. The free market is too cruel and capricious to be trusted with our future. And those who end up in positions of strength must be constrained by equally strong protections.

The Republican party-line is that this recession is a freak occurrence and has nothing to do with the policies of the federal government. That Bush's stimulus would have worked, except that we were attacked by terrorists and then fought two wars (budgeted off the books, of course).

Nevermind that 9/11 had almost no long-term affect on our economy. Nevermind that, historically, wars are a huge stimulus because of increased military spending. Ideology trumps reality.

If they didn't have the demagogues, the Republicans would have to stand up in Congress and say, "We don't support this package because if it succeeds we have to admit that we are ideologically bankrupt." And they might have to admit that they can think of nothing more politically expedient than 4 more years of economic stagnation (the better to discredit Obama with).

So they demagogue. They babble incoherently on the senate floor and on afternoon talk shows.

Why are we still listening to these people?