Some Thoughts On Bailout Bill And Disgusting Partisanship

So the big bailout bill has been rejected, at least for now. I do expect to see the bill come up in some revised form over the next few days but the rejection and the stories circulating about it prompted me to write this post.

Looking at the bill itself, I must admit to having mixed views on the entire bailout concept. People talk about how, if we don’t bail out Wall Street, that the entire world will come to an end. This is a bit of an exaggeration though certainly there would be serious consequences. We would likely face a number of years of hard economic times and people would certainly suffer from those hard times. But, in time, things would improve and, in the long run, it might be the best way to go.

But the question is are we ready to suffer and endure to fix the problem so that our children and grandchildren don’t? That answer is most probably no. It is not unlike the overweight man who has to face the choice between a harsh diet which would have minimal cost but would take a long time to work through versus having surgery or liposuction to solve the problem in the short term but leave it unsolved in the long term.

Neither choice is good and so the decision is not easy. Were I a member of Congress, I am unsure as to how I would vote.

Having said that, I do know that I am greatly disgusted by the partisanship that has been demonstrated.

Republicans have condemned Nancy Pelosi for delivering a partisan speech right before the vote. I have not yet found a full text of the speech but, from what I have seen, they do have something of a point. The entire point of this bill was to put politics aside and work together but she chose to deliver a Bush/Republican bashing speech right before the vote. That was in very poor form and she should be ashamed for trying to make political hay out of it.

But even more disgusting is the report that some Republicans who were planning to vote for the bill decided to vote against it because of her speech.

This is a somewhat unique piece of legislation in that I don’t think there is anyone out there who is really FOR the bill. Either you are against the bill outright on principle or you don’t really like it but you are supporting it as the necessary step.

Now, if you are in the former category, I understand your position and you should vote your conscience. As i said above I m deeply-troubled not only by the idea of the quasi-socialist nature of the bailout proposal but also of burdening future generations with nearly $1,000,000,000,000 (yeah that’s a trillion) in debt. So I have no issue with those who sincerely opposed the bill and voted accordingly.

But if you see the bill as necessary and important to our economy but voted against it because someone said something you didn’t like, that is DISGUSTING.

To put your personal feelings before your country is WRONG WRONG WRONG.

I have long contemplated whether I would remain a member of the Republican Party or not. This may well help me make my decision and you may very well see another post in the near future.