New Era for the Gruntlwagon

I removed about a dozen stickers of all kinds from my van after the election. It was time for renewal.

I stripped down to the basic loyalty stickers.

Each Saturday for the next month or so I will add a new one and post it.

Centre at the Rally to Restore Sanity

Some 70 Centre College people, almost all of them students, went to the Rally to Restore Sanity in Washington. Adam Brown, Centre's electronic communications guy, came, too, and made this film. I think it captures our intent pretty well.

One Rally Victory: No More 'Worst Persons'

Keith Olbermann, the vitriolic liberal commentator on MSNBC, criticized Jon Stewart and the Rally to Restore Sanity as naive for criticizing cable news, left and right, as equally culpable for spreading fear and anger.

However, Olbermann later decided to drop the "Worst Persons in the World" feature of his show.

We may hope for a similar step to "take it down a notch" from the vitriolic conservative commentators on Fox.

Election Post-Mortem

I think whoever inherited the multiple disasters of 2008 was going to lose in 2010.

I am glad that we made as much progress as we did over the last two years.

The best thing about divided government is that the two parties have to work together to actually solve problems.

The special moving force in this election was anger at the party in power for not solving our economic problems fast enough. Next time, both parties will be the party in power. This should motivate them to work together.

Hooray! Election Day!

Today is the greatest holiday of democracy, Election Day.

Vote Cheerfully, please.

Political Myths 5 Through 8

Leading up to the election I have been reposting this article, ending today.

5) Businesses will hire if they get tax cuts.
Reality: A business hires the right number of employees to meet demand. Having extra cash does not cause a business to hire, but a business that has a demand for what it does will find the money to hire. Businesses want customers, not tax cuts.

6) Health care reform costs $1 trillion.
Reality: The health care reform reduces government deficits by $138 billion.

7) Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, is "going broke," people live longer, fewer workers per retiree, etc.
Reality: Social Security has run a surplus since it began, has a trust fund in the trillions, is completely sound for at least 25 more years and cannot legally borrow so cannot contribute to the deficit (compare that to the military budget!) Life expectancy is only longer because fewer babies die; people who reach 65 live about the same number of years as they used to.

8) Government spending takes money out of the economy.
Reality: Government is We, the People and the money it spends is on We, the People. Many people do not know that it is government that builds the roads, airports, ports, courts, schools and other things that are the soil in which business thrives. Many people think that all government spending is on "welfare" and "foreign aid" when that is only a small part of the government's budget.

Rally to Restore Sanity Was a Hopeful Reminder

Some seventy members of the Centre College community went to the Rally to Restore Sanity (and/or Fear) on the Mall in Washington yesterday. The crowd was huge - well beyond what the organizers had prepared for. Nonetheless, the mood was friendly, helpful, and moderate all day. The signs were not angry - many were witty, and all that I saw were properly spelled and punctuated.

Jon Stewart gave an excellent closing speech about working together, keeping a sense of proportion, and not promoting fear. Standing on a stage that framed the Capitol, he said

We hear every damn day about how fragile our country is—on the brink of catastrophe—torn by polarizing hate and how it’s a shame that we can’t work together to get things done, but the truth is we do. We work together to get things done every damn day!

The only place we don’t is here or on cable TV.

Go Sanity!