“Voters Want Congress To Get Stuff Done”

February 8th, 2010

In today’s edition of Politico Playbook by Mike Allen, the content of a memo from Steve Hildebrand of Hildebrand Strategies to “Democratic Consultants” contained this as one of three things critical to keep in mind:

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2. Voters are tired of the blame game and they want solutions. One of the lessons taken from the Massachusetts result was that voters want Congress to get stuff done. There is huge support in public polls for any solution that is bipartisan — Americans are so tired of the parties blaming each other, they rally around anything that shows a glimmer of cooperation.

Pardon me while I bust a gut laughing.

Scott Brown, now sworn in as the junior senator of Massachusetts* and settling in to Teddy Kennedy’s old office, ran as the 41st vote, explicitly to vote against partisan Democratic health care reform that boils down to a federal takeover of the health care industry.

Democrats aren’t going to win over Tea Partiers by hogtying a couple of RINOs to stand up as cardboard cutouts of bipartisanship. That will only result in lowering the re-election outlook of the hogtied RINOs.

If Democratic leadership follows this kind of strategic advice, Election 2010 will be very kind indeed to Republicans who sing the Tea Party anthem of limited government and fiscal sanity.

UPDATE: results of a new Rasmussen poll strengthen my argument. Rasmussen says:

75% of likely voters now say they are at least somewhat angry at the government’s current policies, up four points from late November and up nine points since September. The overall figures include 45% who are Very Angry, also a nine-point increase since September.

But beware smug Republicans:

Part of the frustration is likely due to the belief of 60% of voters that neither Republican political leaders nor Democratic political leaders have a good understanding of what is needed today. That finding is identical to the view last September, just after the tumultuous congressional town hall meetings the month before.

* If I were a Massachusetts voter, I would be red-faced that my senior senator is John F. Kerry. Please: no snark about my own state’s Senate delegation. I will be working to unseat its junior member, Barbara Boxer, in this year’s general election. Kudos to Bay State voters for electing Scott Brown. Next go-round, can you please toss Kerry out?

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Frugality Hits Charity

February 8th, 2010

If frugality is the new normal, it also hits charitable giving.

A new Barna research study from earlier in the year shows that donations to charity are another victim of economic turmoil.

From the report:

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While many church donors have been able to maintain their typical level of donations, those who have cut back have dropped their giving substantially. Nearly one-quarter of church donors had cut contributions by 20% or more. That compares with just one-tenth who had done so in the first few months of the crisis. In other words, the segment of donors who have dramatically decreased their contributions to churches has more than doubled in the last 14 months.

Further, these donors expect a slow economic recovery:

Perhaps most concerning for charitable organizations, Americans are settling in for what they perceive to be a long recovery. Three-quarters of adults (75%) believe the economy will take two or more years to recover, and nearly half (42%) contend the economy will take more than three years to come back.

David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group, concludes:

“The implication is that church and non-profit leaders should prepare for another lean year. Response to this reality suggests avoiding high-risk and untested fundraising efforts and communicating effectively with constituents. In addition, consider proactive financial management, including adjusting income expectations. Avoid using traditional financial projections as reluctant donors are likely to cut back on the number of organizations and frequency of their support. One of the fundamentals is relentlessly addressing six donor motivations – as identified in previous work by the Barna team – including: operating efficiently, featuring the compelling cause at the core of your work, communicating the urgency of the need, nurturing personal relationships with donors, demonstrating transformational impact, and helping contributors feel a sense of personal benefit from giving. These appear to be as important as ever as donors scale back their giving.”

My personal view is that charitable giving will recover as people regain control of their home budgets and restore cash flow. If that control depends mostly on someone in the household finding a new job, then expect a slow recovery because the job market will likely be bad into 2011. If that control can be reached through cutting expenses and paying down high-cost debt, then a slightly faster recovery may be in the works.

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A Tea Party Exemplar: Flint Hills In Kansas

February 8th, 2010

Flint Hills Tea Party handout; source: Flint Hills Tea Party

(Click for full-size)

Centered on Manhattan, Kansas, (“The Little Apple!”), Flint Hills Tea Party is an exemplar of the independence and self-reliance prized by Tea Partiers. It was formally organized by participants in last September’s March on Washington after they returned home and wanted to continue their effort to change American governance. They’re working locally, supporting local issues and local candidates.

They are independent of Republican string-pullers. They are as likely to oppose a GOP spendthrift as a Democratic porker.

These folks are middle America, salt of the earth, neighborly folks who mostly go about their business and let you go about yours.

Rachel Maddow is an exemplar of ignorant blather. Along with the rest of the mainstream media, she projects her own fears on Tea Partiers, people who don’t deserve the slander. She and other MSMers cling to their delusions so hard that no amount of cold reality breaks their grip.

Pity them, but don’t join their delusions.

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Tea Partiers Throw A Convention In Nashville, MSM Gets The Coverage Wrong

February 8th, 2010
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Hey, MSMers and other liberals! The Tea Party Nation convention in Nashville was not the same thing as the Democratic or Republican National Convention.

The Tea Party is not a formal political party.

Last weekend’s convention was pulled together by a couple who looked at each other and said, “Let’s throw a convention!”

The convention had to pay for itself, and pay its speakers. Hence the high cost for attendance.

But the folks who pulled together that convention are not national Tea Party leaders in the sense that Michael Steele is a national Republican leader.

You’re mixing up two meanings of the word “party.”

You’re being both too serious and too frivolous. You’re getting the coverage wrong.

Tea Partiers want small government, which naturally means lower taxes but it also means limiting government to its necessary functions like national security. Government may not do anything well, but there are some things that it must do. One of those things is national defense.

Running the automobile industry, or the financial industry, or the health care industry — none of those fall under the category of “things the federal government must do.”

Tea Partiers want small government, which naturally means greater individual liberty but also means greater disparity of outcome. Being free means being free to fall on your face — but it also means being free to pick yourself up and try again.

On that theme: have you ever watched a toddler learning to walk? The kid falls down a lot. If Mom or Dad hovers and fusses, the kid learns to howl and whine. If Mom or Dad allows room for bumps and bottoming out, the kid takes the lumps as part of the learning process.

Americans don’t need the federal government hovering and fussing. Nanny McGovern should learn Tough Love and back off.

We’ll be fine, thank you.

And we’ll not overlook helping out those who need the help. Charity is a Christian concept, not a political concept. As with most things, the government screws up charity, turning short-term help into long-term dependence.

Tea Partiers want small government, which naturally leads them to oppose many of the policies of Prez B Cool. That opposition attracts hangers-on who aren’t really Partiers themselves. Birthers, I’m talking to you. Anybody who turns Tea Party principles into personal attacks is undermining the movement, not strengthening it. Swastika Guys and Hitler Moustache Jerks: I’m talking to you.

Tea Partiers want small government, but allow a breadth and depth of outlook on how to get there. That’s hard to capture in a lead paragraph for a news article or a 30-second sound bite for the top of the hour — or even a tweet.

Summarizing the Tea Party movement in a single pithy statement is hard without sounding like those aliens on Star Trek: The Next Generation who talked in metaphors muddy to those outside their culture.

MSMers should go back to civics and history class to study the original American revolution, with an emphasis on those riotous Bostonians behind the original Boston Tea Party.

They might get a clue.

While they’re hitting the books, let’s Party!

UPDATE: John Fund in today’s WSJ’s Political Journal on Tea Partiers:

The lesson: Just when politicians think they have the perfect pitch to appeal to Tea Partiers, someone comes along and moves the populist stakes on them. The people attending Tea Party events like it that way, because so far most of the politicians who are courting them keep following their lead. Together, the Tea Parties are reenergizing the wing of the Republican Party that is most skeptical of big government programs.

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Rick Snyder For Governor

February 8th, 2010

Dang. I wish Meg Whitman would make a campaign ad like this one for Michigander Rick Snyder:

Run during the Super Bowl in Michigan, this would rank as the fourth worthwhile ad had I seen it here in California.

If I lived in Michigan, Snyder would have my vote — pending my read-through of his nerdy position paper on re-inventing the state.

(Hat tip: Jim Geraghty at The Campaign Spot.)

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