A Crisis Of The Middle Class

...some fairly thoughtful commentary, courtesy of Instapundit. Don't really have a point in posting this, except this last paragraph caught my eye:

At the moment, American politics offers two separate, distinct ways not to address these issues: Either the brain-dead populism of the Left that blames it all on trade and the decline of unions, or the brain-dead populism of the Right that extols the working class without taking serious note of its agony. We’ll have to do better: There’s a crisis in the middle.

This is an absolutely perfect definition of our political system. I love it, because at the core of it, it's entirely true. While it's laudable that Republicans are currently showing some connection with reality vis-a-vis the burgeoning spending crisis and the deficit, I believe that their 'connection' is tenuous at best. Why?

1. There's been little or no visible mention of pensions reform. We can't afford to pay the Baby Boomers everything. They're just going to have to suck it up. I'm certainly not expecting a dime from any government job I may or may not be in by the time I retire. At the age of 120.

2. The excess fat in government is at the top, not the middle or the bottom. Border Patrol Cops, Nurses and a lot of other public sector employees out here in the Boonies really do get paid diddly squat compared with the private sector. Now, Washington D.C. on the other hand is full of UnderSecretaries of Paper Pushing that get paid obscene amounts of money to pick their noses all day. Them we can do without. (Bobby Jindal's mention of making Congress part time is worth exploring as they don't seem to do anything other than raise global carbon emissions by spouting a shitload of hot air.) But, will they start cutting with themselves? Oh hell no... so the Republicans will continue to push policies that exacerbate the wealth gap in this country and inevitably lead to a political resurgence of 20th Century progressive nonsense that gives the Republicans so much ammo these day to begin with. Conservatives simply cannot spout off about how tax cuts benefit everyone when Ma and Pa Public are struggling to pay their mortgage. Policies cannot merely be words- they have to benefit the greatest amount of people in the most practical, sensible way possible. I'm not convinced modern Conservative thought- or Republicans for that matter have that in them. LIke the above quote states- it's brain-dead populism that completely ignores the Middle Class.

3. How many government agencies are going to go? Sure, Republicans want to get rid of the Corporation of Public Broadcasting, NPR, The Department of Education and all the other Conservative g-spots, but what about bureaucratic waste at the Pentagon? WIll Republicans share the pain? Will they consolidate agencies to make the Department of Homeland Security less of a bureaucratic nightmare? I don't want meaningless Pledges. I want action. And I will be watching and quite displeased if the Republicans eff it up, yet again...