DC politics is controlled by an exclusive power club. The real "us -vs- them" is "We the People -vs- the DC Powerful."
The entrenched DC powers are a bipartisan collection of moneyed backscratchers and button-holers who do a lot of winking and nodding. They also know how to circle the wagons. Note how Fannie, Freddie and the rest of the gang escaped unscathed from the ruins they created. All that "Republican versus Democrat" stuff is just for the rubes watching CNN and Fox. Both parties are branches of the same powerful DC tribe, and they all subscribe to a modified version of that old Arab saying:
I against my party; I and my party against the opposition party; I and my party and the opposition party against the reformers and the people.
Ordinary citizens get madder and more emotional over politics than the politicians themselves do. We observers take personally what the politicians themselves do not. They get over it and keep climbing. They routinely cooperate with their rivals to gain some later advantage. The Washington Power Elite are more deal makers than ideologues.
I am not a conspiracy theorist, but I often wonder if overheated partisan rhetoric is designed to keep us proles occupied with arguments over personalities and trivial surface issues to divert our attention from the real dirty work Republicans and Democrats routinely cooperate in.
Who wants to talk about the constitution? Let's shout at each other over abortion and gay marriage!
Stuff like this is stupid. Impeach Obama? He's not even in office yet! An impeachment arises from high crimes and misdemeanors while in office, bozos!
This is also stupid. President Bush is not Hitler, despite pronouncements by policy experts Michael Moore and Sean Penn.
My advice? Be more like Lee Troxler. He started a fairly well-reasoned anti-Obama site that is now in hiatus as he decides what to do next. His last post was to congratulate Mr. Obama on his victory and to wish him well.
Think about the Anti-Bush wackadoos and their purple rage, foam at the mouth rants. Did they sway your opinion? How effective was Cindy Sheehan bleating on about how George Bush is guilty of murdering her son? Did those calling President Bush chimpie, Bu$hCo, and other flattering names make you more or less likely to support him?
Emotional, over-the-top diaper rash rants may be fun to watch, and even engage in occasionally, but they're not very effective in swaying partisan opinions. Relax. It's only politics.
Follow the Money: If you think Wall Street gives overwhelmingly to the GOP you're wrong. Democrats have been raking in investment banker money almost 2-1 compared to Republicans. Merrill Lynch was the only big firm whose employees gave more to Republicans than Democrats. Michael Franc provides an excellent summary over at National Review.
Blame Liberalism: Democrats caused our current financial calamity. I know, the liberal press echoes the liberal politicians who bawl that it's the fault of those mean, deregulating Republicans. Noel Sheppard at Newsbusters gives us the real reason why: Jimmy Carter and a Democratic congress passed laws that forced lending institutions to loan money to people who couldn't pay it back. These stupid policies were egged on by the Clinton and current Bush Administrations.
It's Not Bush's Fault. It's Barny Frank's Fault. In President Bush's defense, he tried to overhaul Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac back in 2003, but was rebuffed by Democrats (and some Republicans) in congress. Here's the money quote from Barney Frank:
''These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are not facing any kind of financial crisis,'' said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ''The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.''
John McCain Saw This Coming And Tried To Stop It. He cosponsored legislation (blocked by Democrats) that would have reformed reformed Freddie and Fannie. Here's a McCain quote from 2005:
I join as a cosponsor of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, S. 190, ... If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole.
Capitalism didn't cause this crisis; government intervention in private markets did. Kevin Hassett at Bloomberg.com has written what I think is the best summary on why this is the Democrats' fault.
Bipartisan Sleaze. Wall Street became a giant hog wallow where Democrat and Republican, politician and banker, rooted cheek by jowl in piles of government and private sector money. Even President Bush's overhaul proposal wasn't to sell off Fannie and Freddie, but to create another bureaucracy to oversee the current bureaucracies.
Bipartisan Corruption. Liberals and conservatives must understand this. Our political system is corrupt. And it's a bipartisan corruption: Democrats ran Fannie and Freddie and Republicans lobbied for them while both parties lapped up bribes disguised as political contributions. The only way we can keep sleazy politicians from doing stupid things with our money is to take the money away. Government has no business in business, and business has no business in government. Take away the Federal safety nets for gamblers, and sanity will return to the markets.
We Must Stop Them Before They Breed Again! The regulatory firewall that is needed is between Wall Street and Washington, before their amorous cavortings spawn another monster.
