printThe Wall Street Journal called it his finest hour. When Jim Bunning “dared to put a hold on a $10 billion spending bill to extend jobless insurance and fund transportation projects,” the a Republican from Kentucky was pilloried.
Read the emotional histrionics from the mindless mainstreamers here:
JON STEWART, HOST, “THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART”: Talking about Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning`s ongoing effort to single-handedly (EXPLETIVE DELETED) the extension of unemployment benefits for 1.1 million Americans.
ALI VELSHI, CNN REPORTER: I bet you Senator Jim Bunning has someplace warm to sleep tonight. But the Republican from Kentucky is almost single- handedly responsible for cutting a vital financial lifeline to more than a million down-and-out Americans.
ED SCHULTZ, HOST, “THE ED SHOW”: Is this the most heartless thing you have seen the Republicans do?
The whole affair is not even about the fact the “the president of the United States and the Democratic majority in the Senate” lied about their intention to abide by the new pay-go bill that they passed, … which “says specifically … that we should pay for everything that we spend on the floor of the U.S. Senate.”
Anyone with a brain cell knows that the pay-go promise is a lie, plain and simple, whether Democrats or Republicans commit to it. They all lie.
The lesson from Jim Bunning’s relatively minor, days-long standoff—a position not even the crooked Chris Matthews could condemn in its entirety —is this:
The welfare state is intractable. The pigs outnumber—or are stronger electorally than—the productive. The first are feeding off the second and will not let up. Try to put distance between the state’s dependents and their Big Teat, and they’ll tear you to pieces.
In line with this, I can’t understand how federal, state, and local employees are allowed to unionize. [It used to be illegal. A link tracing this devolution would be nice.]
No, you work for us, we’ll set the compensation level, take it or leave it.
Better yet, along the line of not allow those how receive government assistance to vote, how bout we make so that if your a union member you only get one vote – for the entire union.
Just saying…
Unions are quite skilled at employing intimidation techniques to achieve their ends. They’re not so hot at seeing the long-term consequences, however. Inevitably they price themselves out of jobs. Witness Detroit, which has become a ghost town.
Next up for our public sector brethren are city, state, and eventually federal defaults. All those cushy pensions won’t be worth squat. Either their absurdly lavish contracts will be null and void in bankruptcy proceedings, or the dollar will become kindling for the fireplace via a spiraling devaluation.
Union workers are in for a very hard lesson. Too bad they’re taking the rest of us with them.
Thanks for the push Ilana.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Federation_of_Federal_Employees
I know wiki’s not the most respected resource but it appears to hold to the dragnet apothegm.
The retiring Senator Bunning was trying to make a point on (a) pay as you go and (b) the corporate “tax credit” known as “black liquor”. See:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/…/AR2010030303479.html
Even the WaPo is partially with Bunning with the “mainstream” Democrats and Republicans still steeped in their corruption. Indeed, most tax and spending battles pit the mildly corrupt vs. the egregiously corrupt as both parties sock the taxpayer.
My reply to the Steves: we don’t need new rules or new gimmicks. If the 10th Amendment were obeyed and federal powers were limited to Article 1 Section 8 and wars of necessity, we would have a balanced budget. Disenfranchising people, term limits, campaign finance reform, balanced budget amendments, line item vetoes … are all procedural gimmicks. If the plutocratic PIGS can get around the Constitution, they can get around any other gimmick. As Animal Farm said about the PIGS – all animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
As for targeted tax credits and earmarks – recall that the Constitution opposed bills of attainder and was for the GENERAL welfare, not specific welfare of politically connected interests. We have taken our own revolution and turned it on its head.