The Smell of Conservative Values

While growing up on Bell Avenue in Findlay, Ohio during the late 50’s and early 60’s, I witnessed difficult economic times and job layoffs. These were greeted with understanding neighbors borrowing sugar, a cup of flour and trading in children’s clothes. There was a time when the only money my parents had at the end of a month was enough to buy one Sundae at Diesch’s Bros. Ice Cream. It was wonderful. I once witnessed a dinner of Lake Erie perch exchanged for a few Old Dutch beers. Eventually the sugar, flour and clothes were paid back in one way or another and a mutual or shared responsibility was accepted. I believe this was repeated in many neighborhoods. It is what made where we lived then and grew up the very best place and the people there – neighbors.

It might be said that those were far simpler times. Then it seemed the worst thing that a kid could do was to hang from the cat walks at the old Producer’s Stock Yard on East Bigelow and fall into a big pile of whatever was piled up enough to fall into. Of course, by that point, there was no way to credibly deny where you were or what you were doing. You simply had to accept responsibility and fess up. A plea of excuses just did not work because the evidence of what you had fallen into was all too apparent.

A similar result occurs when Congressman Jim Jordan seeks to use the profound wisdom of Winston Churchill to obfuscate his shared responsibility with other Republicans for supporting years of pork spending, deregulatory duplicity and disastrous economic folly. It cannot be said that including billions of dollars in spending disclosed in alternate budgetary amounts, as done to hide Iraq war costs, contributed to a level of economic integrity consistent with our “first principles.” Equally, common sense consistent with our first principles tells us that it is schizophrenic to say that investment in local infrastructure makes sense for flood mitigation while supporting $40 Billion Dollars in stimulus cuts designated for municipal infrastructure improvements. Notwithstanding the denial of partisanship, Mr. Jordan and Congressional Republicans are using their re-found roots as born again conservatives - it is just – politics as usual – but we can smell the difference.

For those now between jobs due to layoffs, plant closings or just work slowdowns, the due time for our economy to return is yesterday not tomorrow. This was a responsibility we had entrusted through voting our conservative values. Our votes for Mr. Jordan are a mistake that we cannot afford to repeat. Congressman John Boehner has become an elected embarrassment. Unfortunately, many of those who espoused such conservative values lied or suffer selective recollection as it appears Mr. Jordan and House Minority Leader John Boehner are now forced to claim. It is wonderful to discuss free market economic theory and the use of tax cuts to achieve future prosperity. I invite tax incentives to promote investment and reward entrepreneurship. Yet a person who is not working and cannot find a job is not rewarded by another tax cut. The fact is that the Bush tax cuts hurt our economy and more cuts at this time will be even more disastrous according to Peter Orszag, Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Our first principles tell us that the billions of dollars pork’d out during years of undisciplined Congressional spending and purposeful market de-regulation are now the price tag left for “We the People.” If we are to invest again, let us invest our money in ourselves, re-building our communities from our infrastructure up, with flood mitigation, a re-engineered green energy grid and our schools for better educated children. That way some will have the integrity to abide by common sense or our first principles to admit when they have failed. Politicians like Jim Jordan and John Boehner can make any plea for excuses they want cloaked in the fragrant terms of fiscal responsibility; however, the smell remains from where they’ve been. Frankly, the smell of Republican swill is getting worse.