Conservative Silence on the Bailout
A personal rant for today:
As much as conservatives claim to care about the constitution, the economy, the military, or other issues, all I’m hearing these days, especially on the blogosphere is anti-Obama rhetoric. I’m not against such rhetoric on it’s own (I think Obama is a socialist in Democratic clothing), but I think it really ignores a real issue conservatives have been pretty darn silent on as of late: the role of the constitution in terms of the domestic economy and discussion about the economic “crisis” in our midst.
For the last couple months, we’ve all seen that most mainstream news coverage has been dedicated to financial turmoil. The drop in housing prices, home foreclosures, Fannie and Freddie, economic bailout, and global economics have taken the news media by storm. And yet, it seems that major conservative outlets only really care to talk about why you shouldn’t vote for Barack Obama. They’ve blatantly ignored what brought this financial mess to begin with, refusing to discuss why things happened the way they did. Conservatives have continuously sought to discuss why John McCain should be elected, instead of focusing on tearing apart the details about why there is global financial instability. Part of this it seems, is the lack of education about the issue. Conservatives continuously proclaim that the free market is the best mechanism for economic growth. This I don’t deny, and I agree with it. But along with that discussion, conservatives have forgotten that a government bailout is a contradiction of free market principles. What I’ve found ironic is that conservatives have praised a Bush home ownership record (which he’s been so proud of in previous State of the Union addresses) that has improved home ownership rates through sub-prime lending practices and manipulated, “unnatural” credit requirements in some areas. They’ve ignored that there is much risk with placing assets in mortgage-backed securities, which were sure to drop in value once capital dried out because of home foreclosures.
It is troubling to me that major conservative outlets have simply skipped town on this issue and frankly, I’d like to hear more discussion. I have been educating myself about the “crisis” in an effort to understand what went wrong. Instead of simply deferring to government for reasons why things happened, I wish conservative commentators would educate themselves on the issue.
Not to mention, not once have a heard a conservative commentator ask if a government bailout of private investment firms is constitutional. Seems conservatives have once again ignored the constitution they so proudly claim to defend.
October 6th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Good to hear your voice of reason. I agree 100% with all you’ve said, which has made me reconsider if I can align myself with Republicans. Don’t get me wrong, they’re the lesser of two evils, but they’re not the solution.
I’m seriously considering throwing my vote away to a third party, in hopes that they haven’t sold away all their ideals to politics.
October 6th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
I honestly don’t understand the bailout. I don’t know where we are going to get the money and I dont’ understand who we give it to. I don’t even know if the bailout was necessary or not. But, I know that small businesses were starting to get hurt because they couldn’t get any credit. If the bailout is going to help, I sure hope that it works quickly because it is getting really bad for people.
First gas price, then mortages, now jobs and a bailout. It seems like Congress doesn’t have any idea how much people are suffering. I found this site that is collecting stories about how the economy is affecting us. They plan to put them together so they can relay a message to Congress. I sent in my story. Check it out. . .
http://www.friendsoftheuschamber.com/email/wall_street_3.html
I keep checking back because they are going to post the stories on the site. I really want to see what other people have to say. I hear stuff from my neighbors, but what about people in other parts of the country.
Bailout or no bailout, the country has to find a way out of this economic mess.
October 6th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
This bailout is just one more example of the indivisible handjob stroking irresponsible CEOs and CFOs with billions so that they can run the American economy even further into the ground. So much for Keynesian economics. If the goal is to stimulate the economy, why not give the money directly to the American taxpayers? We could do twice as much good for the economy by giving half as much money directly to hardworking American taxpayers. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush administration.