"When I visited this chamber last year as a newcomer to Washington, critical of past policies which I believe had failed, I proposed a new spirit of partnership between this Congress and this Administration and between Washington and our state and local governments...seldom have the stakes been higher for America. What we do and say here will make all the difference to auto workers in Detroit, lumberjacks in the Northwest, steelworkers in Steubenville who are in the unemployment lines, to black teen-agers in Newark a nd Chicago; to hard-pressed farmers and small businessmen and to millions of everyday Americans who harbor the simple wish of a safe and financially secure future for their children...To understand the State of the Union, we must look not only at where we are and where we're going but where we've been. The situation at this time last year was truly ominous...The last decade has seen a series of recessions...If we had not acted as we did, things would be far worse for all Americans than they are today...The economy will face difficult moments in the months ahead. But, the program for economic recovery that is in place will pull the economy out of its slump and put us on the road to prosperity and stable growth by the latter half of this year...Our current problems are not the the product of the recovery program that's only just now getting under way, as some would have you believe...because our economic problems are deeply rooted and will not respond to quick political fixes, we must stick to our carefully integrated plan for recovery...-The only alternative being offered to this economic program is a return to the policies that gave us a trillion-dollar debt...and unemployment...Now the budget deficit this year will exceed our earlier expectations. The recession did that. It lowered revenues and increased costs...We look forward to the enactment of a responsible Clean Air Act to increase jobs while continuing to improve the quality of our air...The Federal Government will still subsidize 95 million meals every day. That's one out of seven of all the meals served in America. Head St art, senior nutrition programs, and child welfare programs will not be cut from the levels we proposed last year. More than one-half billion dollars has been proposed for minority business assistance. And research at the National Institutes of Health will be increased by over $100 million. While meeting all these needs, we intend to plug unwarranted tax loopholes and strengthen the law which requires all large corporations to pay a minimum tax..."
Sounds like what we heard a few nights ago? This was from Reagan's 1982 State of the Union speech. I have my opinions on this (I agree with both of them for the most part; whether good or bad, most policy on such a large takes time for the impact to be seen), but the main thing that has stood out for me in the current debates is the lack of consistency. Most of my friends and relatives have different views than I do and I respect that. However, I find myself questioning the sincerity of many of the arguments I hear when they run contrary to those they exhibited under a different administration. If deficits are bad, then they are bad under either party; if large health care entitlements are bad, it doesn't matter who proposes it; if a president is held to account for a failed terrorist attack, this should apply to all presidents. Again, I am not trying to convince anyone of any point of view, only asking that all stop to consider whether they truly believe in a philosophy or principle or if they are merely trying to help their team by attacking the other side.
All of this is not said because of offense taken at the humor; I think both sides need to be able to laugh at themselves and politics as a whole. The context merely brought up something that I had been wanting to address for some time now.
