Thursday, January 20, 2011

Reviewing regulations


It's not just lobbyists, either. Every one of our regulations and our exemptions has fierce supporters. In order to get anything through Congress, you generally have to accept something you don't want - or many somethings you don't want, in most cases - in order to get something you do want. And all of these competing interests are reflected in the executive branch, too.

So we end up with a rickety, hole-filled system of regulations and a Rube Goldberg system of taxation. And it's often a system locked in by law (although George W. Bush always seemed able to just ignore laws he didn't like, didn't he?).

Reviewing regulations is a good thing,... but I must admit that it makes me nervous. We just went through a presidency filled with anti-regulatory ideologues, and look how that turned out.

Furthermore, despite the loony "socialism!" charges of his political enemies, Barack Obama has proved to be a pretty conservative Democrat, and one far too willing to accept the right-wing slant on things, even when the evidence shows just the opposite.

And he seems to be so eager to get along with his enemies - who won't ever stop opposing him, no matter what he does - that he'll eagerly abandon his friends. That's how progressives see it, at least. And in politics, perception is everything.

Well, I don't know. The past two months, Democrats have seemed to develop a spine - or at least they started that process, anyway. Let's hope they don't stop now. And let's hope that Barack Obama starts leading our country, instead of just trying to get along with the people who hate everything he stands for (primarily, his race and his political party).

I don't care what he does, Fox "News" will never change their tune. So he might as well do what's right, don't you think? After all, they won't hate him any more than they already do.

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