7thriv

100 Years Young: The Reagan Centenary

Lots of talk out there about Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday (he was part of the "Taft Boom," along with the Free Will Grandparents), but if you want to read just one essay, you can't do worse than this Steven Hayward piece about the Reagan presidency and its connection to the Statue of Liberty

Reagan formally launched his 1980 campaign on Labor Day across from the Statue of Liberty, and his entire speech made reference to the "Great Lady" in the background. Reagan's upraised arm looks almost like a mimic of the Statue's countenance, and perhaps this was not a coincidence.

In that speech Reagan referred to "the torch that many times before in our nation's history has cast a golden light in times of gloom." He closed out the speech with the phrase, "Let us pledge to each other, with this Great Lady looking on, that we can, and so help us God, we will, make America great again."
It is important to note, though, that in 1980 the Statue of Liberty, like the nation, was in serious disrepair. It was corroded and rusting; there were rust holes all the way through in places. The paint was peeling. Structural engineers warned that the arm bearing the torch was in danger of falling off. It was swaying dangerously in the strong winds that blew off the ocean.
In other words, the condition of the statue was a perfect metaphor for Jimmy Carter's America.
During Reagan's first term, the statue underwent a complete renovation. It cost $350 million--every penny privately raised. Who says only the government can do large things? The great Lady of Liberty didn't need a "stimulus" bill to get fixed up.
Reagan presided over the unveiling of the refurbished statue in 1986, a bit past the halfway point in his presidency. His approval ratings were at an all time high, as the economy was booming. In his remarks before throwing the switch to turn on the nighttime spotlights, Reagan said: "We are the keepers of the flame of liberty. We hold it high tonight for the world to see, a beacon of hope, a light unto the nations."

I was 10 years old when Reagan became president. He was, by miles, the best president of my lifetime. Even at the elementary school level, we were aware that Jimmy Carter's America was one beset by energy shortages, double digit inflation, hostage crises, and a Death Wish style urban environment. Not only that, liberals actually seemed to enjoy all of this misery, whether inflicted by Communists in the Third World or by themselves in the US of A. When Reagan came into office, Americans knew that things were going to change for the better. So did Reagan's opponents. That's why they spent their time during the Eighties and after trying to recast his presidency as little more than David Stockman, Oliver North and "I just ordered a missile attack against the Soviet Union." But we knew the truth and in the years since, the truth has won out.

Mark Levin spent three hours last Friday playing soundbites from Reagan's career. It was one timeless quote after another, all on the themes of freedom, opportunity, and America. He may have been the Great Communicator, but so much of what he said seems so obvious, both then and now. Yet, so few American politicians are able to do the same. A Clinton or Obama supporter would never be able to fill three hours of radio time with similar quotable quotes (the Bridge to the 21st Century??) Indeed, it's inconceivable. Will an aging David Axelrod be cuing up portions of Obama's "Cairo Speech" 30 years from now? Even now events are diminishing the "Progressive Reagan's" legacy, something that never happened to the real thing.

Every president has ended his addresses to the American people with a heartfelt "God Bless America." But when Reagan said it, you got goosebumps because you knew that, at least for those 8 years, He did.

Here Comes The Summer

It is my understanding that other parts of the country are experiencing some dramatic winter weather. Here in San Francisco, it's a beautiful day in the mid-seventies. So, if you'll excuse me, blogging will be light:

What the Huck?

In light of polling that consistently shows Mike Huckabee to be among the top tier of aspiring Republican presidential candidates, Patterico asks a damn good question: do you know anyone who is a Huckabee supporter?

They aren’t on blogs, as far as I can tell. So where are they?
I feel like a conservative version of Pauline Kael. who famously said: “I live in a rather special world. I only know one person who voted for Nixon.”
Well, I don’t know anyone who supports Mike Huckabee.
Anyone.
I see that he consistently pulls numbers in the same ballpark as Romney and Palin. But I do not personally know anyone who supports him. I have never in my life spoken to a single person who supports him. What’s more, I read conservative blogs like Hot Air and Ace of Spades, and sometimes dip into the comment sections. I have never seen a commenter, on my blog, those blogs, or anywhere else for that matter, who says they support Mike Huckabee.
Not one.

Me? I live in San Francisco, so I barely know Republicans. But, among those I do know - whether Tea Partiers, Big Business types, old Reaganites, or members of the Palin Army - I don't know a single die-hard Huckabee man. I don't know anyone who would donate money to him, work a phone bank for him, or walk a precinct on his behalf. The Free Will brother once spoke admiringly of Huckabee's Baptist Preacher stage manner, but I don't think he would go out of his way to support the Hucker.

Patterico's commenters seem to know a few scattered Huckabee supporters, all of whom are evangelicals and, uh, low information voters, if you know what I mean. I note that Huckabee hit the big time with a strong showing in Iowa, a state whose voters like aw-shucks personalities in their politicians and big government farm/ethanol subsidies in their politics, both of which Huckabee has in spades. Also, I don't think we should forget that Huckabee came in third place behind Romney and McCain back in 2008. Not exactly a resume' of destiny.

Yes, yes. It's early. But we're hearing a lot about how Huckabee is one of the front runners for the GOP nomination, at least according to the media. Hard to know how far he can get without an obvious base of support.

The View From The Back of the Bus, California GOP Edition

For whatever reason, this article about the California GOP's pointed refusal to "help" Jerry Brown raise taxes was the above-the-fold headline of the SF Chronicle the other day. Actually, the reason is obvious. No matter how many liberals are elected to the Legislature/Governor's Mansion, the root of California's fiscal crisis is always the same: the GOP. It's kind of like how riots in Egypt are somehow Israel's fault.

A day after Gov. Jerry Brown challenged Republicans to put tax measures on the ballot and chided them for not having an alternative plan, GOP leaders said that proposing a balanced budget is the governor's job, not theirs.
Speaking to reporters after the speech Monday, Brown said of Republicans, "Just show me an idea. I've had drinks with people, but I haven't gotten any paper or any articulated position other than 'no' or 'no for now but check back later,' " Brown said.
But Republicans said they have for years put out ideas for changing the state that have been summarily rejected by the majority Democratic Legislature, and they have no reason to expect something different. The challenge from Brown is a red herring, they said, and an attempt to knock Republicans off their message.
"The governor is the one who is supposed to prepare a balanced budget," said state Sen. Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar (Los Angeles County), who is the top Republican on the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee. "The governor put out his own budget with an $11-to-$12 billion hole in it. That's not our responsibility, that's his responsibility."
He added later, "We're the minority party here, we don't have a lot of say."

That's right, we're just sittin' here in the back of the bus (or is it by the side of the road?), drinking Slurpees and havin' a grand old time. That's the life. We heard a lot of big talk during the campaign about how Jerry Brown was going to make the tough choices. Well, we're watching.

The fact is California's fiscal crisis is entirely the result of Big Government progressives, abetted by a handful of (since defeated) moderate Republicans and (sneer) the former "Republican" governor. If Jerry Brown can explain where in the GOP platform it requires us to go along with tax hikes, unsustainable pensions, fat public sector union contracts, and boondoggles like High Speed Rail or stem cell research, then maybe we'll go along. But we all know he can't.

There is literally no rational political reason for California Republicans to sign on to Jerry Brown's solutions to the fiscal crisis. For one thing, his solutions are intended to preserve progressive governance, not reduce it. For another, California's fiscal crisis is a crisis of progressive governance, not the result of the usual bugaboos like tax cuts and "deregulation." If liberals think raising taxes are the answer, they are welcome to try.

Phoning It In: SF Proposes Yet Another Ban On Commercial Activity

The new President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors is David Chiu. The CW has been that his ascension, along with that of interim mayor Ed Lee, was a sign that Asian-Americans were "rising" in SF politics, which would become more moderate as a result. Makes sense now that Sup. Chiu has proposed his first major legislation: banning the distribution of the Yellow Pages within the City limits:

San Francisco would become the first city in the nation to ban the unsolicited distribution of the Yellow Pages under legislation to be formally introduced today by Board of Supervisors President David Chiu.
The thick volumes, dropped off at nearly every home and office in the city, are becoming increasingly obsolete in the Internet age, Chiu says, and often end up unopened in the recycling bin.
His office estimates that more than 1.5 million Yellow Pages phone books are distributed in San Francisco every year.
"If we're serious about the environment, it's time we recognize that phone books are a 20th century tool that doesn't meet the business or environmental needs of the 21st century," said Chiu.

The rationale, of course, that "no one" refers to the Yellow Pages anymore because everyone in San Francisco is a hip, Twitter employee who gets all of his information on-line. This unwanted deluge of contact information is destroying the environment, naturally, and interfering with similarly well intentioned bans such as the plastic bag ban at the grocery stores and the Happy Meal toy ban at McDonald's.

Moreover, the Yellow Pages ban must go into effect because its distributors are demonstrably insane. They keep producing - and distributing for free - books that "no one" uses! This insanity is shared by their employees who still manage to sell hundreds of pages worth of ads, and their attorneys who sue advertisers who don't pay their sizable invoices on time.

Now, Psota, of course, is a member of the hip, plugged in set that hasn't cracked open a phone book in years. But I also know enough to realize that there are people out there who do not do Google searches every time they need to find a plumber. Shocking, I know. If people weren't using the Yellow Pages, and businesses weren't paying thousands of dollars to advertise in it, then the phone company would stop producing it. The marketplace really is that simple. But, that's obviously not good enough for Sup. Chiu.

Ethnic stereotypes about moderate "practical" Asian-American politicians are fine, but in the last year we've seen Eric Mar obtain national prominence by pushing a ban on Happy Meal toys, State Senator and mayoral candidate Leland Yee get into a whiny beef with Rush Limbaugh over Hu Jintao (he also spent much of last year "investigating" how a state university paid Sarah Palin for a speech), and now "moderate" David Chiu proposing to ban the Yellow Pages. Moderation must be the new Progressive.

The Yellow Pages are, admittedly, a bit of a relic. But people still use it, especially in the less hip areas of town. Why ban the distribution of something that is still useful? Guess it's easier to do that, rather than ban homeless people from peeing on our doorsteps.

The Analogy Pathology

Governor Brown gave his State of the State speech last night. He again called on the Legislature to schedule (yet another) Special Election where voters will have a chance to vote on whether they are willing to raise taxes to partially resolve California's fiscal crisis:

Gov. Jerry Brown said Monday that lawmakers have an obligation to let California voters decide whether to extend taxes to stave off huge budget cuts, taking a forceful stance in his State of the State speech on what is likely to be the biggest debate over how to close the deficit.
...
"In the ordinary course of things, matters of state concern are properly handled in Sacramento. But when the elected representatives find themselves bogged down by deep differences that divide them, the only way forward is to go back to the people and seek their guidance."

Ah, yes! The Guidance! Of the People! We are all knowing and all wise, don't you know. Good luck with that, as voters rejected a similar proposal back in 2009. Supposedly, the plan is that The People will be more willing to trust Jerry Brown because he will "level" with them. Also there seems to be a threat out there that, if we don't raise taxes, then Brown will move towards making deep cuts in K-12 education. I don't know. He might find that voters recognize there's a difference between cutting, say, classroom supplies - which people will hate - and cutting teachers salaries/pension, which I'll bet a lot of voters won't mind seeing go lower.

Speaking of public sector unions, Brown's speech included one of the most inapt political analogies of the year, warning that if California doesn't act quickly, we could see street riots just like the one in... Tunisia and Egypt??

Brown's 14-minute speech to lawmakers and other state leaders in the Assembly chamber referenced uprisings in Arab nations as he argued that it would be "unconscionable" to make deeper cuts than he has proposed without asking voters to weigh in.
"When democratic ideals and calls for the right to vote are stirring the imagination of young people in Egypt and Tunisia and other parts of the world, we in California can't say now is the time to block a vote of the people," Brown said.

Uh, no. I think the riot-torn country you're thinking of is Greece. You know, unsustainable pensions, overweening public sector unions, too much debt and taxes. I am sure you've seen that on the news. Not sure how Egypt fits in there, unless you think the Nurses Union is "just like" the Muslim Brotherhood.