State of the Union

Last night, Bush delivered his ambitious State of the Union Address. Here are the goals that I liked and my commentary:

--Stabilizing Iraq - That may mean having to cease playing incessant politics or letting the Iraqis do the hazardous interrogations.
--Reform Social Security- Bush is on the right track with having private accounts. I would prefer to be in control over my own destiny regarding my retirement. Give me, my 12% (or at least part of it) to invest as I see fit. Even a 4% money market account is better than the 0.68% rate of return of the current social security. At least a money market would keep up with inflation. Once people start seeing statement slips informing them how much money they have, they will respond well to the changes that have been made. It’s like income tax in reverse. People would revolt against high taxes and out of control spending if there were no federal withholdings and everyone had to write Uncle Sam a big fat check in April.
--Appointing conservative justices – Two words not to forget: David Souter. Don’t appoint a liberal justice to the Supreme Court. The Democrats will do that when they eventually get reelected. Don’t try to appease the left. If the Democrats threaten filibuster, be men and force the filibuster. Make them actually stand and talk until they can’t talk anymore. Then force a vote. If you all have to stay late: DO IT! Be men!
--Limiting lawsuits – Mass class action lawsuits tend to make lawyers rich only, while bankrupting honest companies. I’ll expand on this more in a future posting.
--Curb spending and the deficit. – Democrats are supposed to rampantly spent government money. Don’t be Democrats.

What was missing in Bush speech:
--Finding Osama Bin Laden – What emphasis has been made of finding Bin Laden recently? He’s all but forgotten. However, he still needs to be caught because he hasn’t stopped planning his next attack. I don’t care that perhaps he’s been marginalized. He is still responsible for 9/11 and attention in his capture shouldn’t be taken away.

What I didn’t like about his speech:
Does terrorism pay? It probably does. Bush has promised “Palestine,” $350 million in aid. A small violent society ceases to bomb civilians for a few weeks and we throw money at them in praise and hope that they will stop slaughtering innocent people? I’m not impressed.
AIDS, AIDS, AIDS – More federal funding for AIDS this and AIDS that. Being an entirely perventable disease, AIDS gets way too much attention. How about using the money to help fight cancer? Why continue to throw money at AIDS?
Immigration – Is his immigration policy, a sugar-coated amnesty program? He was very vague in his termonology, so we’ll have to wait and see.


I responded well to the bulk of Bush’s agenda. However, having an agenda and pushing it through is what separates the men from the boys. If Bush is going to be a leader, he has to hammer through his agenda. Sure he might face harsh opposition, but it will be appreciated 20 years from now. This is the Republicans time to shine. The Republicans will NEVER have a better opportunity to push through their agenda. Republicans always seem to claim to have something hampering them like a Democratic senate, or liberal Republicans. No more. They have a 30 seat advantage in the House and 55 senators in the senate. If they don’t act, why bother voting Republican if they will act like Democrats once elected?

Don’t try to appease the Democrats by trying to compromise much. The American people have voted the Republican party into a vast majority because we believe in its agenda. Don’t waste that mandate with trying to appease the people whom the American people don’t agree with anyway. If you give them an inch they will take a mile. Bush decided to work with Teddy Kennedy on his education plan. Did that abate Kennedy’s relentless attacks? No!

The next 4 years will make or break the party. The have a opportunity to present real change, but they also lack any real excuses for failing to complete their agenda. If the Republicans get comfortable and sit on their hands…or worse yet…swing to the left, they will be defeated harshly in the next elections. State of the Union Transcript