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10/20/2009
Burri: If anything, we need more obstructionism around here

You can't stop progress. That was the cliché, back when I was a pup. You can’t stop progress! New machines doing work men used to do? You can’t stop progress. New construction taking over what used to be scenic woodland? You can’t stop progress.

And why would you want to? Sure, there was a downside – it wasn’t all good, all the time. But mostly, it was for the best. What hurts us today will be fleeting, compared to the wonders – the progress – of tomorrow.

So don’t be obstructionist. You’ll just fail, anyway, and you’ll look foolish doing it.

Of course, that kind of thinking – that kind of cliché – is so yesterday these days. We can stand in the way of progress. We should. Indeed, sometimes we must. Because sometimes, those future wonders simply aren’t worth today’s cost.

So, see, their goals may be to stop things from happening – and if possible, roll back some things that have already happened – but we don’t call the uber-enviro Trees First regressionistas (for example) “obstructionist” anymore.

Thus, I’m not about to argue with Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) when he calls the GOP the “party of obstructionism.”

You remember Arlen, right? A Democrat until political opportunity made him a Republican in 1955, and then a Republican until political opportunity made him back into a Democrat in 2009.

Here’s what he said:

On the Republican side, it’s no, no, no. A party of obstructionism. … You have responsible Republicans who had been in the Senate — like Howard Baker, Bob Dole, or Bill Frist — who say Republicans ought to cooperate. Well, they’re not cooperating.

Obstructionism. Not cooperating.

With…whom? With what, Senator Specter? You? Good. With President Obama’s attempt to take the U.S. one giant step further along the socialist highway? Great.

If anything, we need more obstruction around here. Not less.

See, the GOP is supposed to be the party of limited government. Smaller government. The party that values personal liberty over government paternalism. As such, the GOP is supposed to obstruct things like ObamaCare.

That’s not a bug. It’s a feature.

In fact, part of the reason the Republican Party is in the mess it's in today is that they – the national GOP – forgot about all that. They became the "me, too" party. They tried to prove that they could tax and spend and create new programs to take two dollars out of your pocket so they could put a dollar in somebody else’s pocket just as well as the Democrats.

If our choices are that or obstructionism, well, bring me the nails and 2x4s, and I’ll get started boarding up that window.

Standing athwart socialism yelling “stop” is obstructionist only if you start from the assumption that government should do more. That government must do more. That the whiny little people selfishly holding their wallets tightly with both hands are just that: selfish, ignorant children, who don't know what’s best for them.

Thomas Jefferson said: “as government grows, freedom recedes.” So is it "obstructionist" to stand between the American public and radical expansions of government power? Or is it "obstructionist" to stand between that same American public and the basic individualism, with all that represents, and the basic liberty that made us into the American public in the first place?

The treehuggers want to obstruct progress – or so we used to say – because a hundred years from now (if we forget how to plant more between now and then), we’ll wish we’d kept those trees.

Republicans want to obstruct Big Government, because a hundred years from now, we’ll wish we’d kept the freedom.

Lance Burri blogs regularly via his site, The TrogloPundit.

COMMENTS

Obstructionism, yes ... but the Republican party isn't the path to "righting our wrongs". The ARE the party of 'me too' and no matter how much Michael Steele tries to give them an Extreme Makeover, he's no Ty Pennington. They will continue to stand for just as much government, just in a different direction ... the "reverse Robin Hood" if you will.

We need a fundamental shift, if you will, and that means thinking about how we can downsize, eliminate, and cut back to what the founders really intended. How we can return power to the governed - not place more power in the capitol.

My daughter is studying the Declaration of Independence and the thoughts & words of those who assembled our constitutional foundation. She recently observed that Thomas Jefferson thought it would be likely those in government would go too far and try to wield too much power. Hence, that pesky phrase in the Declaration of Independence:

"...Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it..."

Jefferson thought it was likely that the people would wrest power from 'the Government' every hundred years or so.

Methinks we're running a bit behind schedule.

Jeff Riedl (Tue Oct 20 07:12:01 2009)

Jeff, the one thing our founders did not consider and did not protect our democracy against is the political corruption that would result in the absolute distortion of the First Amendment (ie, money equals speech).

I don't want to inhibit the right or left, but I want our politicians working for the best interest of the public. Those funding the elections want exactly the opposite.

I agree that wise obstructionism is necessary for a healthy society, but it is blocked by our current political corruption. That cannot be sustained and the right wing should join the effort to stop it.

Jack Lohman (Tue Oct 20 08:17:12 2009)

Jack,

Just a note of emphasis (clarification) regarding my original post.

I do not look at this as a problem with the right or a problem with the left. I believe it is a problem with BOTH sides.

Money should NOT equal access, power, influence, but it does and it works AGAINST the common good from BOTH sides.

As well intentioned as it may have been - McCain / Feingold didn't work and things are as bad (if not worse) now than they were before that legislation.

This is a big statement - I realize that, but I sincerely believe we need to hit the reset button and start over.

Maybe not all the states would agree on what the new nation should look like - maybe some would go one way and others another ... that would be fine, the original intention was that states SHOULD look and behave differently.

Personally, I'd like that!

If the various states chose to get along under a common (but not overbearing) united 'umbrella', great ... if they chose to work independently, that would be fine with me too.

At least we who differ on the role and scope of government could once again have the freedom to settle in a place that best suits their value system and political point of view.

Such a choice doesn't exist now - but at no point in our history did "we the people" officially declare that this change to our constitutional makeup should be made. Instead, states' rights have simply eroded in favor of federal funding for whatever Congress or the President chose to foist on us.

Where's that reset button? I'd gladly press it!

Jeff Riedl (Tue Oct 20 09:29:24 2009)

I agree, Jeff, and the Libertarian in me says "let the states do it" and let's keep the Feds out of it. On as many issues as we can, anyway.

In some areas that has worked (police and fire protection) but would not work for healthcare protection because "people would be jumping state lines to get care," or at least so the opponents of Healthy Wisconsin said. I don't think so, because many corporations would have moved in and brought jobs with them, but that's all history now.

But my real complaint is that -- no matter what the issue -- I want it resolved without special interest bribes changing hands and thwarting the will of the people. As a former CEO my company would not have survived had I employees taking money from outsiders and giving corporate assets in return, and I do not believe that our society can survive with politicians doing the same thing.

Jack Lohman (Tue Oct 20 10:09:46 2009)

Jack, read "Not Yours to Give" by David Crockett. Says it better than I could.

We are in this mess directly because of FDR, who started the special interest ball rolling...and because of Wilson, who passed the Federal Reserve Act; who later bemoaned it: "I have unwittingly ruined my country."

A HUGE place to start cleaning up the mess would be to harry your Congressmen and Senators to pass the bill to audit the Fed, HR1207/S604. I understand Feingold and Petri are already sponsoring it. And ask them to pass it so that it has teeth, and not be just a meaningless gesture. Banks give more money to both parties than anyone else; and probably have figured out better ways of hiding the donations than anyone else.

emily matthews (Tue Oct 20 11:01:32 2009)

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