Right Wing Activist Jururiprudence

ILLUSTRATED: Scalia and Thomas have overturned the most legislation is the last 15 years, Clinton's sppointments have overturned the fewest.

The "Hillary: The Movie" case will be used to open up corporate spending in campaigns. The conservative movement knows that in 2008 the Democrats sewed a funding and organizational network to keep them in power for a generation. Overturning prior legislation to achieve a conservative goal will be the next episode of right wing judicial activism.

"Family Values" and the Rural vote

ILLUSTRATED: Just speak concretely about Democratic programs that value families.

This month, two socially conservative Republicans (Senator Ensign and Governor Sanford) have admitted adultery. The hypocrisy of its leaders is doing serious damage to the GOP brand. However, we might ask, why did they campaign on this and why was it successful?

My take is that rural states and rural counties generally have an ideology and political culture of limited government. In addition, non-profit capacity is far below what is needed in those places.

Thus it is not surprising that in such a region, people will listen to a politician talking about "family values", it is what we yearn for. There are great benefits to programs from governments, non-profits, and religious organizations. These programs help raise children, help care for our elders, and build cohesive communities for family life.

To counter this, simply list programs that help people and ask if local taxes create value for the public. You'll be surprised how responsive the American people are to well spent tax money.

How to defend the Deficits

ILLUSTRATED: We're still climbing out of the Bush debacle AND moving forward for the 21st Century Economy.

For all of this talk of "unsustainable deficits" there are two things to keep in mind.

#1: The Democratic Party has long realized that to be economically competitive, America needs a nationwide health care risk pool with cost controls, we need to get off oil, and we need fundamental improvements in education. President Obama is committed to that. And...........

#2: The natural, private economy stalled in September, 2008. The housing market was already breaking, and the overall banking system would have collapsed but for massive, immediate government intervention.

For point one, the opportunity cost of not doing transforming health care, energy, and education are greater than these deficits and the inflation and interest rate hikes that may come.

As for point two, coming out of a "severe recession" takes years. The GOP is entirely responsible for derailing Bill Clinton's economy. I write this at only the 9 month point.

With conservatives all of a sudden being born again on fiscal responsibility, as them the counterfactual. Give us an alternative, and we will discuss.

Who do you trust to make these tough choices?

ILLUSTRATED: With excruciating decisions that government must make, the key is that the voters trust your party to do these things.
As a Californian I like to come budgeting by direct democracy to a football teams where fans get in on the play calling.* In the next year, the social fabric our state will be shook up more than any earthquake ever has.
There will be cuts, the issue is WHO will make the cuts. With detention of terrorism suspect, there will be indefinite detentions, the question is WHO is doing the detention.

Branding a candidate and a party is about getting the public to trust that you to handle these issue and not the other side.

*In California we have 45% of the budget set by the voters, 25% in federal mandates, and Prop 13 capping property taxes at 1%. Imagine a football coach who wants to script his first 20 plays (as is typical). Now imagine if the fans in the stands could vote on 9 of those plays, and the NFL Commissioner's Office could mandate 5 of those plays, and back in 1978 the fans in the stands voted to limited season ticket prices to 1% increases a year. That team would go 0-16, and would be losing millions a year.