State of the Union
February 1st, 2010 | 
Author: Greetings fellow conservative democrats, this week we will take a gander at the State of the Union address for 2010. (Transcript: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-state-union-address) I have several thoughts on the matter that I figured I would share. My first impressions were not good, but after dissecting and letting my knee-jerk reactions settle I think I will stick to the positive, which essentially means the first part of the speech. I will probably add a paragraph or two at the end of what I would like to see different, but most are personal.
My biggest take away was the verbal refocus of the administration on what I think is the number one issue facing this country: jobs and economic growth. Many of the words spoken in the speech are good, but they need to become reality. They also must not be tempered by nullifying policies that were not mentioned in the speech, but all too often become proposals if 2009 is any indication. The Liberal controlled congress does not believe much of the things that Obama discussed. If it did it would not of increased deficit spending by 500 BILLION!!!
The congress must NOT allow the US credit rating to drop below triple A. This would have negative effects that are very difficult to describe and would be very immediate. The only way to do this is to stop spending. Solutions can be generalized into three reduce bureaucracy (size of government), finish up the external wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and begin to preach personal responsibility. I will make Personal responsibility a topic for another day, but this is a big difference between liberals and conservatives, so it deserves more discussion.
I have three weak spots where my conservatism is vulnerable to liberal solutions and President Obama hit all three of them. Do you think he was going after people like me? Right of center? The words were there and my hopes rise when I hear them getting attention from the bully pulpit. I am praying they are not dashed again…
The first is education. I believe that education is being priced out of reach for so many who are willing and capable of so much more. I love Pell Grants and want them available for all students whether young or old. For example I would love to see the white collar father in his 40s, who just got laid off be able to go back for his masters. Or the young teen who just graduated from high school and would like to continue his/her education at a junior college, but is reluctant to take on massive student loans. Now don’t get me wrong, I have not totally abandoned my conservative core, I believe that for anything to have worth it must require sacrifice and be earned. However, I would love to make the process a bit easier than it currently is (personal experience). That requires an overhaul of the education bureaucracy as well as the loan/grant programs. Perhaps some sort of matching funds. And I would really like to get rid of the income qualifications. Too often I bump into middle class families who make just enough to be disqualified from grant programs.
Another weakness is the area of small business. Entrepreneurs take on so much risk it is often amazing to me why anyone would do what they do and start a new business. Whatever policies the government can put in place to reduce these risks and burdens the better. Here comes my conservatism (warning to all of you liberals); the biggest burden to small business is the government. Over regulation (can anyone say Sarbanes-Oxley or OSHA or EPA?) kills small and midsized businesses. We place an enormous burden on everyone in or to try to catch the 1%ers. So along with small business friendly tax polices I call on President Obama to cut regulations. Let some of the guilty get away with it in order to encourage many of the honest small business owners to succeed. Quite frankly I think everyone should try to start a business at some point in their life. This used to be an American cultural trait (what do you think the family farm is?) that we have lost. And we are not the better for it as a nation.
The third weak spot is innovation. I love investments in innovation. This ties in with my love of entrepreneurs. I am for government assistance in the pet innovation areas. Encouraging innovation in any way is positive for me.
This administration is into “clean energy” which is fine if not misleading. I wish they would refrain from demonizing current energy sources (or demonizing any industry for that matter – I will have to recount my true story about the industry I am in and what liberals think of it.) Frankly, the alternate energy sources are not ready for primetime. It is my hope they will be someday soon, but they are over-hyped for political and economic gain.
Discouraging innovation is bad and demonizing and politicizing innovation and industries serves no public good. Carbon-credits, global warming, and artificial government mandates are negative effects on innovation. I love tax incentives versus tax penalties. Investments instead of fines. There are so many ridiculous stories about companies and municipalities having to do crazy activities in order to meet some government regulation. You need look no farther than water and waste management policies around the country. There are some crazy things there.
No a short word on the end of the speech. I was taken a back on the tone President Obama took with Congress and the Supreme Court. It was very condescending and a bit self-aggrandizing. In short, he still needs to earn the right to be a critical as he was. I think he was trying to express the frustration of the American people, but it came off badly and made him look like a politician instead of a statesman.
I think I will take on the Supreme Court reversal of part of McCain-Fiengold. Perhaps not. See you all in a week. Feel free to write (conserve-democrat@gmail.com) or comment here.
Michael
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