080921 At The Capital

Well, Dear Reader, I have returned from our nation’ capital reassured. Standing in the Jefferson Memorial and looking out across the breadth of the city, the colossal statue of the author of the Declaration of Independence keeps a constant watch over the White House with the best unobstructed view in the city. I do not know why seeing Jefferson standing there was so reassuring to me but it was.

A highlight of my week in Washington was when George W. Bush had the opportunity to see me. I did not see him, but the most powerful man in the world may well have seen me. I was just approaching the base of the Washington Monument when the beating of the rotors of Marine One and its helicopter escort became deafening. The two copters came in low around the monument and turned to the White House. Marine One then landed on the lawn so the President could disembark on his return back from surveying hurricane damage in Texas.

It does not matter what you think of George Bush (while I am no fan, I voted for him twice – or rather I voted against two other guys), you have to admit that this guy can not catch a break. Every morning, he must get up, open the paper and go “Oh, what the hell?” The man has been having a nightmare and we have been along for the ride. Things are going to keep happening no matter who replaces him. We just have to hope that whoever it is makes the right decisions while Thomas Jefferson looks on.

My week in Washington was a wild week of ups and downs in the stock market. Institutions which were considered rock solid a few months ago have fallen. Luckily, I had all of the sites of the nation’s capital to distract me from the news. Washington is a beautiful city.

As you wander around the city taking in its beauty, you wish all American cities could look like Washington does. Even if you have all of the facts, the city’s charm can dazzle you and cloud your realization until you have an aha moment. That is one of the dangers of being a part of the Washington establishment. Living and working inside the beltway for too long can blind you to why it is that Washington is so different from every other American city.

The monuments and park and maintenance and police that keep Washington so beautiful are not a function of its own budget and are not truly integrated into its municipal existence. Everything that sets Washington apart is a part of the federal budget and federal government. Washington the city does not pay for any of what makes it so breath-takingly beautiful. It could never afford to. No city could. It is only able to be what it is because it operates under Congress’ budget and is paid for by taxing the sweat of all Americans. As a city it is an unrealistic dream and a vision of inspiration. As it was always meant to be.

The inherent danger to this is when elected leaders forget the distinction of how Washington the city is separate and distinct from how every other community operates. Assuming they go to Washington understanding that Washington exists as a model for us to aspire to, prolonged exposure to its unrealistic façade gives our politicians a false view of the country. If government can make this one city so inviting, why shouldn’t they do that to all of the country? All they need is for us to be more patriotic and pay more taxes and surrender more control to our centralized government. If Washington is so much prettier than Scranton or Syracuse, shouldn’t we accept that the leaders in Washington can manage our communities better than we can?

Of course the reality is that the illusion will always be greater than truth. By giving up control and money, we give in to those who think the illusion is the reality. We surrender our own priorities to group think.

Would we really want our towns to be Washington? We would have beautiful parks and inspiring monuments. The streets would be clean. We would have the reassurance that our government will protect us. Of course there is no industry, no production, no growth in anything but taxes, unemployment, poverty and crime.

080914 Last Word on this Election - I Promise

I could not do it, dear Reader. I had planned to do a blog comparing the energy policies of John McCain and Barrack Obama and then one each on the Democratic and Republican conventions. There is just too much political talk out there for me to follow through and subject you to that much more. Instead, this week, I will give a summary of everything as I await a train in NYC’s Penn Station and hopefully skip over all entries political until November.

Rather than an attempt to present the energy policies in a full and impartial manner, here is the crux of them:

John McCain has long been a proponent of alternative energy sources. However, has been opposed to using federal funds to boost ethanol production. This blog has already gone into detail on why ethanol production from current sources is bad for the environment and how it causes inflated food prices in the U.S. and food shortages abroad. Senator McCain held firm to his beliefs during primaries in the farm belt refusing to play to the audience by betraying the truth. He has quietly advocated for allowing more nuclear power as the Europeans (who the Democratic Party generally emulate) do. As for offshore drilling, he is a Johnny-come-lately, only coming out in favor of it when the run up in oil prices began to cause Americans pain. He remains opposed to drilling in the Arctic.

Senator Obama has given lip service to the need to develop alternative sources of energy. He has steadfastly opposed drilling until congress adjourned for summer then, when he could safely avoid voting on it, he gave a speech favoring drilling in certain locations, under certain instances, at certain times. He did not specify the locations, instances or times. When campaigning in the Midwest, he favored using federal funds to develop ethanol, then shied away. He opposes nuclear energy. The core of his policy is forcing conservation by implementing federal gasoline taxes to maintain a price above $6.50 per gallon. Oddly, he does not bring this up in his speeches to the general public but he has written about it.

The only event at the Democratic convention worth mentioning here is selection of Senator Biden as vice presidential candidate. Senator Biden has long sought the office of president and has the distinction of coming out of the primaries as the least offensive candidate from his party and little to no public support. He was also one of Senator Obama’s harshest critics.

The Republican convention gave more entertaining speeches highlighted by the two men I favored for the vice presidential slot: Rudy Giuliani and Joe Liebermann. Senator Liebermann who was once the darling of the Democratic Party is now in the process of being formally thrown out of the Democratic caucus. Absent from the festivities was Ron Paul, a man Ronald Reagan singled out as one of the few true honest men in Washington. The Republican faithful is about as happy with him as they were with John MacCain eight years ago when they wanted to coronate W.

I have to admit that, months ago, I searched through the national figures looking for a woman who would balance out the Republican ticket and could not find anyone who I really believed in. I did not look at governors and Sarah Palin was only in my distant periphery. She brings a lot to the ticket but I do not know as I would want to see a President Palin any more than I would want a President Huckabee (God’s favorite candidate), a President Romney (used car salesman) or a President Obama (disingenuous). After Rudy did not set things on fire in the primaries, it was too late for him to win back the favor of the party damaged by his “liberal New York” ways. Liebermann, besides never being able to pass the social conservatives litmus test, has the disadvantage of being in the Democratic Caucus.

Here in New York State, our governor by accident has had a long honeymoon which ended suddenly last week. After a long reign by George Pataki whose main virtue was that he had no serious competition and a short reign by Spitzer who led because he said he was better than the rest of us slobs, Mr. Patterson awoke one day to find himself governor. After accidently landing in the governor’s mansion he seemed better suited for the job than the men we sent there on purpose. Last week, he broke the peace by angering Republicans by lying about Pataki’s tax stand, flubbing comments to anger his friends and then briefly hitting the national spotlight by accusing Sarah Palin of being racist when she said being governor had more executive branch experience than being “a community leader”. I do not understand how “community leader” is racist code, as Patterson insists, but then I still don’t believe that “state’s rights” automatically means disenfranchising blacks.

Lastly, here are two statements fresh from the Obama camp. First we are reminded that Jesus was a community organizer and Pontius Pilot was a governor. Secondly, it was made clear that the Senator has never called himself a messiah.