As Published On

→The Human Conspiracy Blog: http://www.jaygaskill.com/blog3

→The Policy Think Site: http://www.jaygaskill.com

All contents, unless otherwise indicated are

Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 by Jay B. Gaskill

Permission to publish, distribute or print all or part of this article (except for personal use) is needed. [Permission for use in group discussions is almost always routinely given.]

Please contact Jay B. Gaskill, attorney at law, via e mail at law@jaygaskill.com

 

 

On Not Over-Paying Hell

The Case for Adult Supervision in Washington, DC

 

When isn’t there “hell to pay”?

 

  • If Iran goes nuclear (in the military sense) there will be hell to pay; if the US stops Iran from deploying atomic bomb tipped missiles with another massive troop intervention, there will be hell to pay.

 

  • If we remove our stabilizing military presence from the fledgling Iraqi democracy too soon, there will be hell to pay; if we leave a substantial part of our military ground strength tied down in Iraq too long, there will be hell to pay.

 

  • If we don’t curb the rampant growth in under-funded entitlements, there will be hell to pay; if we eliminate those entitlements for the millions of Americans who truly need them, there will be hell to pay.

 

  • If we don’t reform and revive the public school system in the US, there will be hell to pay; if we don’t provide families with realistic options to leave their local broken public school systems, there will be hell to pay.

 

  • If we don’t reverse the out-sourcing of the core American manufacturing capability, there will be hell to pay; if we clamp down the arteries of free trade in a foredoomed attempt to prevent out-sourcing, there will be hell to pay.

 

  • If we act too slowly to achieve national energy independence, there will be hell to pay; if we waste precious resources on unrealistic programs in failed attempts to achieve energy independence, there will be hell to pay.

____

 

The constellation of long-neglected problems and unintended (or disregarded) consequences that now have to be handled, neglected or dispatched is not fully captured in my list above. The pending question of the day is not, “Will there be hell to pay?”, but “How much hell can we afford?”

 

Children at Play

 

At the moment, my fellow democrats are behaving like errant teenagers who take advantage of Mom and Dad’s vacation (and misplaced trust) to wreck the house, litter the pool and drink up all the liquor.  There will be hell to pay.

 

Bate and Switch

 

In every presidential election there are two or three “issues” that seem so important to voters at the moment that the presidential selection tends to be governed by our selection of priorities.

 

Ah, but the real question will always dog us– Which three issues should make up our personal litmus test? Over and over again, as if governed by some perverse law of nature, the actual issues on which the fate of the country will turn perversely are not located on our original list. 

 

I hate it when that happens.

 

The wiser voter looks closely at the intelligence, character, competence, reasonableness, and common sense adaptability in a candidate.  That candidate who, by virtue of character and judgment, will give us our best chance for wise leadership on all those unanticipated issues, problems and consequences will trumps the ideologically perfect candidates with less character and judgment every time…

 

In our moments of sober refection, we secretly realize that now, above all times -

 

  • The democrats need adult supervision. 
  • The republicans need adult supervision. 
  • The country needs adult supervision.

 

So I must ask: Who is the real adult in this race?

 

JBG

 

If you haven’t done so already, do check out these earlier posts: http://www.jaygaskill.com/GaskillPerplexicon08.pdf and http://www.jaygaskill.com/HILLARY.htm