Conservatives Need to Stand Up for Our Principles and against Party Hypocrisy
Newt Gingrich has just written a good piece on the Corner on National Review Online. Here are some of his main points:
"Before D.C. Gets Our Money, It Owes Us Some Answers [Newt Gingrich]
Watching Washington rush to throw taxpayer money at Wall Street has been sobering and a little frightening.
We are being told Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has a plan which will shift $700 billion in obligations from private companies to the taxpayer.
We are being warned that this $700 billion bailout is the only answer to a crisis.
We are being reassured that we can trust Secretary Paulson "because he knows what he is doing"."
If Paulson knew what he was doing, then why are we in this mess in the first place? Why do we trust the same people to get us out of the very mess they created? Is the $700 billion bailout really the only answer? Shouldn't we as conservative/libertarians be willing to demand some answers?
"Congress had better ask a lot of questions before it shifts this much burden to the taxpayer and shifts this much power to a Washington bureaucracy.
Imagine that the political balance of power in Washington were different.
If this were a Democratic administration the Republicans in the House and Senate would be demanding answers and would be organizing for a “no” vote.
If a Democratic administration were proposing this plan, Republicans would realize that having Connecticut Democratic senator Chris Dodd (the largest recipient of political funds from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) as chairman of the Banking Committee guarantees that the Obama-Reid-Pelosi-Paulson plan that will emerge will be much worse as legislation than it started out as the Paulson proposal.
If this were a Democratic proposal, Republicans would remember that the Democrats wrote a grotesque housing bailout bill this summer that paid off their left-wing allies with taxpayer money, which despite its price tag of $300 billion has apparently failed as of last week, and could expect even more damage in this bill.
But because this gigantic power shift to Washington and this avalanche of taxpayer money is being proposed by a Republican administration, the normal conservative voices have been silent or confused."
Gingrich then asks something all people should be asking:
"Will the Paulson plan be implemented with transparency and oversight?
Answer: Implementation of the Paulson plan is going to be a mess. It is going to be a great opportunity for lobbyists and lawyers to make a lot of money. Who are the financial magicians Paulson is going to hire? Are they from Wall Street? If they’re from Wall Street, aren't they the very people we are saving? And doesn’t that mean that we’re using the taxpayers’ money to hire people to save their friends with even more taxpayer money? Won't this inevitably lead to crony capitalism? Who is going to do oversight? How much transparency is there going to be? We still haven't seen the report which led to bailing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It is "secret". Is our $700 billion going to be spent in "secret" too? In practical terms, will a bill be written in public so people can analyze it? Or will it be written in a closed room by the very people who have been collecting money from the institutions they are now going to use our money to bail out?"
Isn't that the whole problem with the bailout plan? If these businesses can't be trusted, then why are we bailing them out? If they were so corrupt, why are both parties trying to help them?
The government created Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and now blames the free market for their failure. The government had been regulating these institutions before the "deregulation" began. In order to deregulate, something has to have been regulated. These corporations were shielded from free market competition by government regulation. They also exercised too much influence in Washington, which led to crony capitalism. When you look at the following table of political contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, you will notice both parties were in on this. Unless you're wearing partisan blinders, that should be disconcerting.
All Recipients of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Campaign Contributions, 1989-2008
Name Office State Party Grand Total Total from
PACsTotal from
IndividualsDodd, Christopher J S CT D $165,400 $48,500 $116,900 Obama, Barack S IL D $126,349 $6,000 $120,349 Kerry, John S MA D $111,000 $2,000 $109,000 Bennett, Robert F S UT R $107,999 $71,499 $36,500 Bachus, Spencer H AL R $103,300 $70,500 $32,800 Blunt, Roy H MO R $96,950 $78,500 $18,450 Kanjorski, Paul E H PA D $96,000 $57,500 $38,500 Bond, Christopher S 'Kit' S MO R $95,400 $64,000 $31,400 Shelby, Richard C S AL R $80,000 $23,000 $57,000 Reed, Jack S RI D $78,250 $43,500 $34,750 Reid, Harry S NV D $77,000 $60,500 $16,500 Clinton, Hillary S NY D $76,050 $8,000 $68,050 Davis, Tom H VA R $75,499 $13,999 $61,500 Boehner, John H OH R $67,750 $60,500 $7,250 Conrad, Kent S ND D $64,491 $22,000 $42,491 Reynolds, Tom H NY R $62,200 $53,000 $9,200 Johnson, Tim S SD D $61,000 $20,000 $41,000 Pelosi, Nancy H CA D $56,250 $47,000 $9,250 Carper, Tom S DE D $55,889 $31,350 $24,539 Hoyer, Steny H H MD D $55,500 $51,500 $4,000 Pryce, Deborah H OH R $55,500 $45,000 $10,500 Emanuel, Rahm H IL D $51,750 $16,000 $35,750 Isakson, Johnny S GA R $49,200 $35,500 $13,700 Cantor, Eric H VA R $48,500 $46,500 $2,000 Crapo, Mike S ID R $47,250 $40,500 $6,750 Frank, Barney H MA D $42,350 $30,500 $11,850 Bean, Melissa H IL D $41,249 $34,999 $6,250 Bayh, Evan S IN D $41,100 $16,500 $24,600 McConnell, Mitch S KY R $41,000 $40,000 $1,000 Maloney, Carolyn B H NY D $39,750 $16,500 $23,250 Dorgan, Byron L S ND D $38,750 $30,500 $8,250 Miller, Gary H CA R $38,000 $31,500 $6,500 Rangel, Charles B H NY D $38,000 $14,750 $23,250 Tiberi, Patrick J H OH R $35,700 $32,600 $3,100 Bunning, Jim S KY R $33,802 $29,650 $4,152 Stabenow, Debbie S MI D $33,450 $32,000 $1,450 Chambliss, Saxby S GA R $33,250 $22,500 $10,750 Menendez, Robert S NJ D $31,250 $30,500 $750 Enzi, Mike S WY R $31,000 $27,500 $3,500 Van Hollen, Chris H MD D $30,700 $11,000 $19,700 Landrieu, Mary L S LA D $30,600 $20,000 $10,600 Murray, Patty S WA D $30,000 $23,000 $7,000 Clyburn, James E H SC D $29,750 $26,000 $3,750 Crowley, Joseph H NY D $29,700 $25,500 $4,200 Sessions, Pete H TX R $29,472 $24,000 $5,472 McCrery, Jim H LA R $29,000 $26,000 $3,000 Hooley, Darlene H OR D $28,750 $19,500 $9,250 Royce, Ed H CA R $28,600 $4,000 $24,600 Renzi, Rick H AZ R $28,250 $28,000 $250 Lieberman, Joe S CT I $28,250 $11,500 $16,750 Baucus, Max S MT D $27,500 $21,000 $6,500 Moore, Dennis H KS D $26,550 $25,500 $1,050 Coleman, Norm S MN R $24,690 $12,000 $12,690 Matheson, Jim H UT D $24,500 $24,000 $500 Schumer, Charles E S NY D $24,250 $1,500 $22,750 Durbin, Dick S IL D $23,750 $14,000 $9,750 Rogers, Mike H MI R $22,750 $21,000 $1,750 Lynch, Stephen F H MA D $22,500 $13,500 $9,000 Rockefeller, Jay S WV D $22,250 $5,000 $17,250 Smith, Gordon H S OR R $22,000 $20,000 $2,000 Mikulski, Barbara A S MD D $21,750 $16,500 $5,250 McCain, John S AZ R $21,550 $0 $21,550
Obama took far more than McCain who is at the bottom of the list, but that doesn't excuse McCain. You can't take money from the very people you are demonizing and expect to have any kind of credibility on these issues. If both sides were taking so much money from their friends in these organizations, how can we trust them at all to fix the situation? All they will do is protect their friends' and own interests. Add to this the fact that neither candidate seems to understand basic economics and we're in for a disaster. When Obama backed off of his raising taxes on the rich in a crisis because it would hurt the economy, he just proved his naivete when it comes to economics. Shouldn't he now explain how raising taxes in a good economy does not harm it?
It is time for true conservative/libertarians to stand up for our principles and against the kind of hypocrisy that gives the Bush administrations a pass for something that is unthinkably big government. It is this kind of hypocrisy that drives people away from our philosophy. If people see that we're big government, too, then what is the real difference between the modern liberal and us? Not much.
Check us out: thejtandbearshow.com/Audio.html
Check out the latest show:
The JT and Bear Show09.14.08
Check out Obamalujah and Red, White, and Blue on Youtube:
Obamalujah
Discuss the issues in our new forum:
Ground Zero
Email us: jtandbear@thejtandbearshow.com
Checkout our myspace: http://www.myspace.com/jtandbearshow
Join our facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/groups.php?ref=sb#/group.php?gid=15305890845
Comments