When Giants Roamed the Land

James Madison was the “Father of the Constitution” and championed the idea of checks and balances.

This will be my last post for 2009.  It seems amazing that we are already witnessing the close of the first millennial decade.  As we move so rapidly into the twenty first century we seem to be picking up both speed and weight.  A scary thought to those of us who were born in the 1950’s, and probably scary to everyone else as well.

If you are reading this, I thank you for the opportunity to express my humble viewpoints.  I realize I must seem like a modern day Don Quixote.  I know the usefulness of these exercises is in doubt—the sound of one hand clapping.  By way of defense of this peculiar behavior, I’d like to address a couple of questions that people must be wondering about:  What in the heck are you doing, and why are you doing it?

Too Light/Too Heavy Taxes

I ended my last post with a plea for Americans to step up to the plate and show real leadership in regards to the problems confronting us as a nation.  The subject of this post—taxation—is probably the most vexing issue afflicting the Party.  There is no doubt that a free, open and prosperous society requires low tax rates to function properly.  This statement requires no defense, and, I believe, is supported by an overwhelming majority of Americans. 

The G.O.P. Sloggin Thru Copenhagen

What will be the G.O.P.’s agenda for the 21st Century?

The signs  are not good going into the Copenhagen climate conference.  The great political divide is widening, and it seems likely that the only “winners” will be the political dirt mongers.  Politics being “the art of the possible” aside, there are good arguments for wanting “Cap and Trade” to go down, but bottom line, the U.S. really does need to find a reasoned approach to the issue of global climate change. 

There is precious little political safe ground in regards to this issue.  I believe this has more to do with where you rank the issue as a problem rather than the reality of mankind’s impact on earth’s natural processes.  If you don’t think the issue is as important as the economy, you are likely to scoff at the tree huggers.  If you worry about environmental degradation and/or the political insecurity caused by continued reliance on fossil fuels, you are likely to blame the greedy corporations.  Paradoxically, both these viewpoints have validity.  So where does the middle approach lie?