America's decline, pt II...

So, while drinking my morning joe, I'm reading a transcript of a Pelosi interview with former CNN host Amanpour (sp?), and Pelosi's portion of the interview was telling, indeed.

She seemingly doesn't feel there is all that much "partisanship" in Congress today... but, instead, that there is a real divide in the ideology of the two parties. While I can't say I have supported each and every GOP initiative to come down the pipe since 1994, I'd have to say that the fundamental "planks" of the GOP platform are not that much different than they were in 1980. In fact, I'd say that many of them are quite "watered down" from what they were when names like Dole, Gingrich, Reagan, and Quayle were still front-page names. People like Jindal, Paul Ryan, and Christie aren't saying anything that Reagan, Dole or Gingrich wouldn't have said (or didn't say, in fact).

So, if the ideology of the conservative movement in America is basically the same as it was 25 years ago... then what has changed?

I am convinced that Presidents like Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon all knew that lower taxes were good for the economy, and while none of these Presidents effectively lowered taxes across the board, all did their best to make the tax burden as one-sided as possible (with the burden always being highest with the largest earners). All were bent on growing the size and scope of the Fed (given their records), but none did so as openly or brazenly as today's DNC is doing. They did so out of a sense of necessity, while today's Dems are doing so out of the (seemingly) thought that the Fed can actually FIX what is wrong in America.

In short, I can't help but think that many Dems (and, in fact, many GOPs, too) in the 50s, 60s and 70s were working on the premise that much of what we today call "New Deal politics" was worth continuing... but not ALL of it, and not at the expense of basic, fundamental individual freedoms and liberties that have been a foundational aspect of the American "dream" since the nation was founded.

Today's Liberal Left is trying to fundamentally re-structure the manner in which our nation operates... and it is seeing success that it couldn't have imagined even 15 years ago. The basic concept that "less government is better government" is so antithetical to the liberal movement today, that even the sitting President of the United States is forced to repeat the phrase "Only government can fix this" over and over again... apparently in the hope that if it is said enough, it will become true.

Back to my original point... Pelosi's interview is a great example of this. In the entire interview, she didn't discuss what the Democratic Party's agenda was ONCE, outside of remaining in control of Congress through the 2010 midterm elections. That is IT, it seems... the whole agenda is to maintain their control of Congress, and the recovery from the current (or next) recession is secondary, at best. I can look to the failure of the Conservative Revolution in '94 and see a similar outline... but not to the point that Pelosi and the Dems have taken it since 2006. The scope here is truly mind-boggling.