Saturday, September 5, 2009
Recession over, recovery fragile
According to th eWashington state economist the leading indicators have turned around. The surprising part is that the overseas economies are blazing the trail to recovery ahead of the US rather than the other way around. It will be interesting to see what Paul Krugman has to say about this.
TEA Party Time
So there's going to be another TEA party rally Saturday 9/12 from 1-4 at John Dam Plaza in Richland. Who's up for a little counter-demonstrating? It's going to be a regional thing with TEA nuts coming from Walla Walla and Moses Lake.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Fundraising
The floor is now open for fundraising ideas in preparation for the next election cycle. Wouldn't it be spectacular if we could donate the PDC limit to our next set of candidates? We have two state legislator offices and one state senate office to target.
If doc Hastings retires, I wouldn't be surprised that some of our Republican incumbents decide to vie for his seat in Congress. That should improve the chances of winning one of the open state seats.
What sort of ideas do you have?
If doc Hastings retires, I wouldn't be surprised that some of our Republican incumbents decide to vie for his seat in Congress. That should improve the chances of winning one of the open state seats.
What sort of ideas do you have?
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Primaries and Caucuses
The issue between primaries and caucuses is that the independent voters want a say and like the blanket primary. But the parties like their say and want caucuses.
I think that both can be satisfied if there is a blanket non-binding primary before the caucuses. Then the party members will be informed of where the independent voters stand. It will also give folks of the minority party a way to influence the candidate selected by the majority party in races in which the minority party can not field a candidate.
I think that both can be satisfied if there is a blanket non-binding primary before the caucuses. Then the party members will be informed of where the independent voters stand. It will also give folks of the minority party a way to influence the candidate selected by the majority party in races in which the minority party can not field a candidate.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
The Value of Opposition
Every day seems to bring another speech, comment, or action in which the Republican party proves itself to be more unconstructive and irrelevant. Specter and Powell indicate that their party has abandoned many of their supporters.
I'm really going to miss them. Not because they are interesting. But because of the dangers posed by unchecked Democrats. Not every idea proposed by a Democrat is a good one. Ideas must be refined and tested. They must be tempered by sound criticism. Sharp turnarounds happen when pendulum swings too far. In a sharp turnaround, the fluid middle gets forgotten. A turnaround is deceptive. It can appear that the mandate is greater than it really is. This was the Republican mistake and it can turn into the Democratic mistake. It gets so bad that it doesn’t take much for the folks in the middle to jump to the other side in a quantum shift.
As a party we need to be ready to welcome disenchanted Republicans into our fold. But in time we need to be ready to let them free again to rebuild a more reasonable Republican party when the current madness has run its course. In the long run, we should learn to be comfortable with a fair-sized chunk of undecided voters in between the two parties. Those voters should be targeted not to bamboozle them into voting democratic to win an election here and there. But rather they should be targeted as the constituency to whom and for whom we need to make the case for progressive policies.
It’s not enough to just have a good idea. As a governing party one needs to be able to articulate and defend that idea in a way that is understandable by the independent middle. One of my favorite physics professors told us that one really doesn’t know atomic physics unless one can explain it to one’s mother. Think about what sort of analogies one might use to explain the behavior of electron shell energy states to someone from a different generation with a completely different educational background. Similarly, if Democrats are to win and keep the middle they must explain progressive ideas in ways that makes good common sense to an independent-minded voter.
If there isn’t a viable opposition party gunning for that middle too, Democrats will become lazy. They will get used to winning elections by default. A case in point is the fire and energy of the Spokane democrats where elections are still a toss-up compared to the democrats of a place like Bellingham. In the former, the democrats have to make the case for going green in the first place. In the latter the only discussion is about relative levels of green-ness.
The other side of the coin is that in Benton County, the Republicans are in that lazy state. Here they win elections by default because of the paucity of viable Democratic candidates. Because of our own inability to speak to the independents, the Republicans have been able to put into office a batch of truly out-of-touch people that verge on being a laughing stock in the state-house and Congress. (Colonel Klink, indeed.) In Franklin County the Republicans are beginning to consume their own.
Even though winning elections is important, I think the party needs to be circumspect about playing political games to just get into or stay in office. The best policy for continued power and influence is to govern well. And quite frankly, when the opposition becomes irrelevant or ineffective, we run a high risk of beginning to use power for the sake of maintaining continued power. While we decry those tendencies in others we, all too often, fail to recognize the roots of those actions in ourselves.
It is my hope that the Republican party comes to its right mind soon. Not for their sakes but for the sake of accountable governance.
I'm really going to miss them. Not because they are interesting. But because of the dangers posed by unchecked Democrats. Not every idea proposed by a Democrat is a good one. Ideas must be refined and tested. They must be tempered by sound criticism. Sharp turnarounds happen when pendulum swings too far. In a sharp turnaround, the fluid middle gets forgotten. A turnaround is deceptive. It can appear that the mandate is greater than it really is. This was the Republican mistake and it can turn into the Democratic mistake. It gets so bad that it doesn’t take much for the folks in the middle to jump to the other side in a quantum shift.
As a party we need to be ready to welcome disenchanted Republicans into our fold. But in time we need to be ready to let them free again to rebuild a more reasonable Republican party when the current madness has run its course. In the long run, we should learn to be comfortable with a fair-sized chunk of undecided voters in between the two parties. Those voters should be targeted not to bamboozle them into voting democratic to win an election here and there. But rather they should be targeted as the constituency to whom and for whom we need to make the case for progressive policies.
It’s not enough to just have a good idea. As a governing party one needs to be able to articulate and defend that idea in a way that is understandable by the independent middle. One of my favorite physics professors told us that one really doesn’t know atomic physics unless one can explain it to one’s mother. Think about what sort of analogies one might use to explain the behavior of electron shell energy states to someone from a different generation with a completely different educational background. Similarly, if Democrats are to win and keep the middle they must explain progressive ideas in ways that makes good common sense to an independent-minded voter.
If there isn’t a viable opposition party gunning for that middle too, Democrats will become lazy. They will get used to winning elections by default. A case in point is the fire and energy of the Spokane democrats where elections are still a toss-up compared to the democrats of a place like Bellingham. In the former, the democrats have to make the case for going green in the first place. In the latter the only discussion is about relative levels of green-ness.
The other side of the coin is that in Benton County, the Republicans are in that lazy state. Here they win elections by default because of the paucity of viable Democratic candidates. Because of our own inability to speak to the independents, the Republicans have been able to put into office a batch of truly out-of-touch people that verge on being a laughing stock in the state-house and Congress. (Colonel Klink, indeed.) In Franklin County the Republicans are beginning to consume their own.
Even though winning elections is important, I think the party needs to be circumspect about playing political games to just get into or stay in office. The best policy for continued power and influence is to govern well. And quite frankly, when the opposition becomes irrelevant or ineffective, we run a high risk of beginning to use power for the sake of maintaining continued power. While we decry those tendencies in others we, all too often, fail to recognize the roots of those actions in ourselves.
It is my hope that the Republican party comes to its right mind soon. Not for their sakes but for the sake of accountable governance.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Brad Klippert Co-sponsors Bill to Legalize Gender Discrimination
In House Joint Resolution 4204 (pdf) Klippert co-sponsors a bill to place gender-specific restrictions on marriage partners. 4204 is a resolution to submit an amendment of the Washington State constitution to the voters. The amendment requires the state to limit the recognition of marriages to those between a man and a woman. Under this proposed amendment a person's marriage will not be equally recognized by the state if both partners happen to be of the same gender.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
