The Kids Might Be Alright

The Kids Might Be Alright

6-16-2009

I was listening to an analysis of the recent European elections by Daniel Hannan, in which he argued that the Europeans had a tendency to bring in the adults- the conservatives, when things got too fiscally bad after a stretch with socialists in power. He argued that once things started to get too expensive either literally or socially the European public usually came to its senses until it lost them again once things were put in order.

Aside from a few comparative government courses in college my knowledge of the domestic European political scene ends at about the Bundestradt. But Hannan raises an interesting point for American politics.

What happens if the conservatives lose all sense of themselves and go off the deep end? Like say, how they did in this country over the last decade. Not that many “conservatives” were really conservative anyway.

The people lose the counterweight to the hard core statists is what happens. Not that conservatives can’t be statists-most are really. But if the political and economic pendulum stops swinging in the middle and then starts to swing back left what have we got?

Many have portrayed GW Bush as some kind of rabid right-winger. Hardly. The man expanded the state, with the help of a compliant Republican Congress, more than any president since LBJ. The man was a centrist at best, and abandoned the concept of the Republican Party as the party of smaller government.

But the debate in many ways has been shifted such that Bush’s positions are considered the right side of the political spectrum. Hell, if Bush is for the universal prescription drug coverage for senior citizens a good liberal must be for the government control of the means of production. We should give the car companies to the unions!

Bush ceded the economic high ground for at least a generation.

In this country much has been made over the years of the male/female dynamic of the 2 dominant political parties. The Democrats were the mommy party- always happy to buy the kids new toys, to bake cookies, to hand out a couple of bucks for the movies even if all the chores weren’t done. The Republicans were the dad party- perhaps not as fun as mom but the one who made sure the bills were paid and the grass cut.

Forgive the broad generalizations here.

But dad has become a miserable irresponsible lout, something akin to Homer Simpson. Mom has the credit card and is going nuts at the mall. The dad party, now tired and out of ideas rolls over on the couch resigned to the impending bankruptcy.

I say that it is time to say goodbye to mom and dad. Their time is over. It is time for the American people to strike out on their own.

Such a break will be painful. One will have to make one’s own way through the world. One will have to pay one’s own bills, plus those of mom and dad.

But I say we must stop looking to mom and dad for deliverance. The only solution is to abandon the ideas that have mired the old folks and to start fresh, while of course learning from the prior generation’s mistakes.

Perhaps we should even look back and learn something from great great great uncle Revolutionario who broke away from his British parents long ago and built the fortune the American family has been living off of for generations.

Time to replenish the coffers.

-Nick Sorrentino