Another year over, a new one just begun

December 24th, 2011

It’s Christmas again.  Every year it seems so far away, every year it sneaks up and before you know it, it’s here.

Most who know me know my favorite Christmas song, from the always awesome John Lennon.

I’m always touched by the background chanting of “War is over, if you want it.”  It means something because anything in our political system is subject to change if the people want it.  Dislike your Congressman?  Work against him and vote him out.  Dislike something in society or a specific policy?  Get off your ass and do something about it.  I’ve been an elected official in Will County as a party committeeman because I saw things around me that I didn’t like and I did something about it.

Anything in politics can be altered if enough people want it.  It’s your job to make sure that people are informed and educated enough to want it as well.

Make 2012 the year you do something about what you believe in.  As little as your library board or school board, or as large as volunteering for a Presidential candidate or congressional race — just do something.  Anything.

Merry Christmas.  Happy Hanukkah.  Happy Kwanzaa.

Enjoy the holidays, no matter what holiday you celebrate.  Then, get off your ass and do something about what you believe in.

Payroll Tax Cut Extended. American Middle Class Wins.

December 23rd, 2011

Good news for the American middle class…the payroll tax cut extension has been extended.

Congress on Friday easily approved a two-month extension of the payroll tax break and renewed several other provisions dealing with unemployment and Medicare, capping a wild week in which lawmakers engaged in one final nasty legislative fight before an annoyed American public.

The end was quick and painless for House Republicans, who capitulated to President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats after taking Capitol Hill to the precipice of a pre-Christmas crisis that threatened to raise taxes on 160 million Americans on Jan. 1.

Working together for good policy isn’t hard, people.  We need both parties to sit down and do this more often.

Gary Johnson Running as a Libertarian

December 22nd, 2011

Gary Johnson, the oft-forgotten candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination, has officially dropped out of the Republican primary and is entering the race to run for President as a Libertarian.  Whether this means anything remains to be seen.  LP candidates generally get very little media exposure, and this isn’t likely to change anything.  However, the third party blogosphere has blown up over this.

I want to like Gary Johnson.  He lines up with some of my own beliefs.  However, I’m also a former dues paying member of the Libertarian Party — I was also an Illinois delegate to the LP convention in 2008 in Denver in which we nominated Bob Barr.  The same thing was said then — Barr was a former nationally known Congressman who was supposed to bring “credibility” to the party.  However, it never happened — Barr finished with minimal media exposure and a tiny vote count.

Hopefully this is another test for the viability of the Libertarian Party in national elections.  Barr was seen as not sufficiently libertarian, as too much of a Republican.  Johnson shouldn’t have that problem — he is a toe the line ideological libertarian and should not have the backlash among the radical sect that Barr did.

Whether this changes anything in the race remains to be seen, but it certainly better for the LP to have a former Governor leading the ticket than the nobodies currently running for the LP nomination.

Is Cardinal George Insane, or Just Misinformed?

December 22nd, 2011

Another day, another example of insanity out of Cardinal Francis George here in Chicago.  I’m not sure if he’s insane or perhaps just very misinformed.

A new route proposed for the Chicago Gay Pride Parade next year would coincidentally take it past a Catholic Church on Belmont Avenue.  The Pastor is claiming that he’d need to cancel mass on that Sunday to accommodate the parade — never mind the thousands of businesses that stay open.  When asked about this, Cardinal George said:

“I go with the pastor,” George told Fox. “He’s telling us that he won’t be able to have services on Sunday if that’s the case. You don’t want the gay liberation movement to morph into something like the Ku Klux Klan, demonstrating in the streets against Catholicism.”

Is Cardinal George that ignorant of simple history or he just trying to be provocative?  Clearly someone with a simple understanding of history would understand that the KKK is a group that actively opposed civil rights for specific groups and the Gay Equality movement is one that actively supports giving civil rights to all Americans.  It’s a pretty simple concept.  George’s explanation is even more lame:

“It is, but you take a look at the rhetoric,” he continued. “The rhetoric of the Klu Klux Klan, the rhetoric of some of the gay liberation people. Who is the enemy? Who is the enemy? The Catholic Church.”

There is no coordinated effort in the equality movement calling the Catholic Church the enemy.  Period.  Furthermore, the KKK used violence as a means to achieve it’s goals, whereas the movement for gay rights is a peaceful movement that wants to extend civil rights, not take them away as the KKK wanted to do.

Cardinal George needs to immediately issue an apology to the gay community – otherwise his firebrand rhetoric will be taken with a grain of salt in the future.

 

House GOP Hurting Themselves on Payroll Tax – UPDATED x1

December 21st, 2011

More and more influential conservatives and conservative media is denouncing the GOP obstruction that is leading to an increase in the payroll tax.

Background:  Last year, President Obama announced a cut in the payroll tax for 2011, from 6.2% to 4.2%.  That cut was temporary, and set to expire on January 1st, 2012.  This means roughly a $40 increase in taxes per pay period (roughly $1000 a year) for the average middle class American family.  Each house of Congress passed different versions — the House passed a 1 year extension but attached the construction of an oil pipeline to the bill.  The Senate passed a two month extension with the caveat that a further extension will be negotiated before the end of February.   The Republicans are playing politics with the extension, and prepared to allow the tax cut to expire to prove a political score against President Obama.  However, in the meantime they’ve upset prominent conservatives and media — namely Scott Brown, Republican Senator from Massachusetts, and The Wall Street Journal, the preeminent conservative newspaper in the United States.

From the Boston Globe:

Senator Scott Brown, positioning himself on the frontline of frustration between some moderate Senate Republicans and House GOP leaders, today again denounced his House colleagues over their blocking of a bipartisan compromise that would extend the payroll tax cut for two months.

“It angers me that House Republicans would rather continue playing politics than find solutions,’’ the Massachusetts Republican said in a statement released minutes after the Republican-controlled House voted against the compromise, which the Senate had overwhelmingly passed on Saturday. “Their actions will hurt American families and be detrimental to our fragile economy.

“We are Americans first; now is not the time for drawing lines in the sand.’’

Brown lambasted House Republicans yesterday before the vote, saying their opposition was “irresponsible and wrong.”

The Wall Street Journal echoes a similar line:

House Republicans yesterday voted down the Senate’s two-month extension of the two-percentage-point payroll tax holiday to 4.2% from 6.2%. They say the short extension makes no economic sense, but then neither does a one-year extension. No employer is going to hire a worker based on such a small and temporary decrease in employment costs, as this year’s tax holiday has demonstrated. The entire exercise is political, but Republicans have thoroughly botched the politics.

Their first mistake was adopting the President’s language that he is proposing a tax cut rather than calling it a temporary tax holiday. People will understand the difference—and discount the benefit….

The politics that the Republicans are playing is blowing up in their faces…they have a strategy of denying the President a victory no matter how small and no matter how good it is for the American middle class, and it’s blowing up in their faces this time.  The WSJ ends with a piece of political advice…

At this stage, Republicans would do best to cut their losses and find a way to extend the payroll holiday quickly. Then go home and return in January with a united House-Senate strategy that forces Democrats to make specific policy choices that highlight the differences between the parties on spending, taxes and regulation. Wisconsin freshman Senator Ron Johnson has been floating a useful agenda for such a strategy. The alternative is more chaotic retreat and the return of all-Democratic rule.

Despite the politics of the situation, the payroll tax cut should be extended for one simple reason:  it’s good policy.  Giving millions of Americans a 2% tax increase is not a good thing to do in a recession no matter how long the extension.  Get it done.

UPDATE:

Looks like another Republican is coming to his senses:

WASHINGTON — Sen. John McCain said Congress’ failure to reach agreement on legislation extending a payroll tax cut for working Americans “hurts the Republican Party.” The GOP’s 2008 presidential nominee said his party made a mistake in voting down the Senate-passed version of a bill that would have kept the current payroll tax relief intact for at least two more months.

McCain told CBS’s “The Early Show” he feels badly for 160 million Americans, whom he called “innocent bystanders.” He said the House should pass the same bill that cleared the Senate “but put a year on it” and send it back.

McCain said in the CBS interview, “This is really tragic for the American people, and I would say that next November, no incumbent is safe, nor should they be.”

On Steinberg’s “Is it still OK to elect Catholics?”

December 21st, 2011

Neil Steinberg, a columnist for the Sun-Times that I generally agree with, had a very good column with a fairly sensationalist title – “Is it still OK to elect Catholics?”  The article can be found here:

Steinberg is right on…his central thesis that the Catholic Church injects itself too heavily into political issues has been a problem for a long time.  I should know — I’m Catholic and I went to Catholic School growing up. To assume that the church exists without a strong political agenda would be naive.

However, there is one important point to remember — while the Church may attempt to lobby politicians on their agenda, there are almost no politicians in the United States that follow the Catholic agenda across the board.

The Catholic Church focuses on a few issues:

  • An extreme pro-life position, including outlawing abortion in cases of rape or when the mother’s life is in danger.  They take this extreme to an opposition to most forms of birth control.
  • An extreme social economic system, which some could even consider socialist.  Huge amounts of welfare spending on the poor.
  • The Catholic Church opposes almost all instances of military conflict and war.
  • An extreme position on gay rights.  They oppose almost all forms of gay rights, and most support criminalizing homosexual acts between consenting adults in the privacy of their own home.

I can not name a single politician in the United States that follows all of these tenants.  A few Catholic politicans for example:

  • John Kerry:  Pro-choice
  • Rick Santorum:  Pro-war, anti-welfare
  • Kennedy family: pro-choice, pro gay-rghts
  • Pat Quinn:  Pro-choice, pro gay-rights

My point in naming those issues and bringing up examples of Catholic politiians is that while the Church is doing itself a disservice by injecting itself so heavily into American politics, the fact that no politicians follow it fully shows that the influence itself is probably minimal, and much more attached to political party than religion.

Steinberg expounds on the problems with Church doctrine, which is horribly out of date with the real world:

What Quinn has done to draw church censure — for those of you not up to date — is present an award to a rape victim at a pro-choice dinner, and lead a state whose laws forbid discrimination against citizens due to their sexual orientation, which means the church had to decide whether to place homeless children with gay couples, or get out of the adoption business. It chose to get out of the adoption business — you can debate among yourselves whether that is a choice a loving God would smile upon.

Which leads into his central premise, which is right on:

Some readers will complain that I am commenting upon their religion — a Jew bashing Catholics! — and I will observe that their leader is more than commenting, he is pressuring and berating the governor of my state, a state whose voters elected him based on his merits, not upon his faith.

If at election time I were to say, “You can’t vote for Pat Quinn — he’s a Catholic and will be bullied into strictly following church doctrine” — I’d be accused of bias and rightly so. Yet the cardinal is trying to do exactly that, to exercise an authority over public life he does not and should not possess.

Quinn attended 13 years of Catholic school — the church already had its chance to mold him. Now he is 63 and an adult. It is Quinn, and not Cardinal George, who gets to decide how his faith influences his life. I’m sorry to be the one to deliver the news.

Right on, Neil.

About JeffWartman.com

December 21st, 2011

JeffWartman.com is the blog of Jeff Wartman – a moderate political observer using reason, logic and progress as benchmarks for effective public policy based in Chicago, IL.  He is a sales professional for a dot com/advertising company.

Using the basis that the far evangelical right wing of the Republican Party  and the far left wing of the Democratic Party are equally to blame for current problems in this country.

However, moderation is not to be taken as “fence sitting” or “wishy washy” on issues — this blog will come out strongly in favor of specific policy proposals and issues.  Moderation is not compromise.  Moderation simply means that the combination of issues that the Republican Party and the Democrat Party stand for are an oxymoron.

This blog will generally show a strong opinion for responsible economic policy.  The only way toward a healthy economic system is one in which debt is kept to a minimum but  social safety net is preserved and strengthened.  Taxes should be low, but revenues coming in need to be able to sustain the necessary functions of government.

On the social side, this blog will generally show what can be considered a liberal view of social policy — strongly pro-choice, pro-gay rights and in support of full gay marriage.  Immigrants need to be treated with respect and we as Americans need to remember the open arms by which immigrants were welcomed here in the past.  I am pro-choice because I want to treat women like human beings.  I am pro-gay rights because I want to treat gays as human beings.  I am pro-immigrant because I want to treat people from other countries as human beings.

In some ways, I am what used to be called a “Rockefeller Republican” — moderate, pragmatic, private sector minded.  Fiscally responsible, socially tolerant.  However, with the rightward shift in the Republican Party, it seems like the old socially tolerant Republicans are an endangered species.