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Letter to: THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, September 6, 2008 (not published) Professor Alan
Brinkley’s THE PARTY’S OVER, featured in WEEKEND JOURNAL, September 6-7,
deserves a high grade for the facts and trends summarized and a poor mark for
the related facts and trends neglected. Among the neglected
are: In 1956 President
Eisenhower, reelected in a landslide, became the first President in American
history to have won office with a popular majority and to face a new Congress
controlled by the other party. The traditional
partisan unity of the three elected branches continued after that for
Democrat Presidents who won popular majorities, but for none of the several
Republicans (including landslide winners Nixon ‘72 and Reagan’ 84) – until
George W. Bush in 2004. Democrat Carter,
winner by 50.1% in ’76, got larger congressional majorities, both houses,
than any Republican President has ever had.
Clinton, winner in ’92 with 43% of the popular vote, got larger
congressional majorities (’93-94) than any Republican President has had since
the 1920s. Clinton was also
distinguished by becoming the third President, since popular election of
Electors became common, to win two terms without a popular majority either
time. Since Franklin
Roosevelt entered the Presidency, Congress has shared the party of Republican
Presidents in only six years, and all of those were by narrow margins. My conclusions:
without great and somewhat balanced attention to both sides, as in most
presidential races, the party favored by the media of information, academic
as well as journalistic, dominates.
Thus, the House is now practically a Democrat precinct; the Senate
leans Democrat; Presidents, especially popular ones, are soon greatly
diminished in office. I.W. Parkins, 90608 |
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The Political Long View This commentary (web site) is based
on Dr. Parkins observations and experience in American Politics over the last
8 decades. As a result, there are
observations on the current issues of
today and then a related article from the archives of Dr.
Parkins. The following series of
articles concern the disinformation by the left on the economy and the media.
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CREAKING CREATIVITY Or the
Jig is Up, the disinformation of the left By Ivan W. Parkins An
old philosopher said: those who do not study history are condemned to relive
it. To
that, I add: but, that drowns the joy of feeling creative while repeating old
errors. In
1952 (we) Democrats nominated Adlai Stevenson, age 52 of Illinois, as our
presidential candidate. Like Barack
Obama, he was a charming and eloquent man.
He was the favorite of most intellectuals, especially young college
graduates.
Stevenson differed from Obama in that he had been a special assistant
to Secretary of the Navy Knox during WWII; had, at the request of the
Department of State helped to promote the United Nations, and later become
our Delegate there; had won the Governorship of Illinois by the largest
popular plurality in the state’s history, and made significant reforms there.
Also in 1952, (our) Democrat Platform called for: greater reliance
upon the UN; increased nuclear disarmament; more spending for social welfare;
“a full and integrated program of development, protection, management, and
conservation of all of our natural resources;” plus, greater peaceful use of
nuclear power. It denounced
Republicans as “amateurs” and as “dominated by representatives of special
interests.” Of
course, Stevenson and Democrats were at a disadvantage compared to Obama
today. Eisenhower was still the
revered “old soldier.” And, the great
disinformation machine that has now grown out of television, huge college
faculties and student bodies, and the celebrated Hollywood Left was in its
infancy. But, that machine’s glory
years were 1968-2000; it is now beginning to creak. I.W.Parkins 91208 |
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THE HOUSING CRISIS By Ivan W. Parkins If
the current housing bubble is to be officially investigated, and it surely
will be, I’d like to suggest more than just the “usual suspects.” The bubble developed from two major
phenomena. One was speculation in
markets with rapid price increases. The other was too many unqualified
buyers. No
doubt speculation itself is a factor, but it is by no means alone as a cause
of price increases. Population
increases within a limited area are another large factor. And, that factor has sometimes been
increased by unnecessarily restrictive zoning, some of it prompted by
environmental extremists. Speculation
requires advertising and finance; we have too many institutions that profited
from both.
Unqualified buyers may themselves be more sinned against than
sinners. Perhaps salespersons who won
bonuses should be held liable, at least to the extent of their own “takes”
from sales that resulted in early foreclosures. And in this regard, at least one national
figure became famous for the pressures that he generated upon lenders to
accommodate his “brothers.” I.W. Parkins, 91208 |
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OUR ECONOMY AND DISINFORMATION By Ivan W. Parkins
There are few subjects about which disinformation is more prevalent
than about our economy. For decades
opinion surveys have found that most Americans are more optimistic about
their own economic future than about that of the nation. Individuals answer
such questions about their own case from experience; their responses
regarding the national economy come mostly from what they learn in the
media. And the media emphasize the
negatives.
National statistics comparing family incomes over time are terribly
misleading unless they make difficult allowances for the changes that take
place in the numbers and ages of family members. Comparisons of worker incomes over time are
largely meaningless unless they include benefits such as insurance and paid
holidays. The
national economy does fluctuate up and down over time, but much less
radically than it used to. Too much is
made of the year or administration in which each change occurs. In President Clinton’s first campaign he
talked of making our economy more like with those of Germany and Japan; in
his second campaign that was not an issue. Presidents Reagan and Bush (’41) took
lots of heat for policies that enabled our businesses to become more
competitive. That, and the end of the
Cold War, was Clinton’s inheritance.
George Bush (’43) inherited an
economy in which the Dot-Com Boom had recently crashed and the
Twin-Towers fell soon after. As
a professor, I often invited students to make me President-- for one term
only. I would cut taxes, balance the
budget, offer better retirements, and reduce the debt. Those who came after me could pay for
it. Our national budget contains far
too many details, and very little realistic accounting for maintenance of
capital (road, bridges, armaments, and parks). It is an old and primarily political
device.
Keep in mind, also, Presidents are the chief targets of both the
praise and the condemnation for the state of the economy. Congresses enact the laws, especially the
budget. And, for decades now the
Democrats have dominated Congress. I.W. Parkins, 91408 |
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REGULATION? By Ivan W. Parkins Our
politics are too much driven by what the media say at the moment. Yesterday, September 18, even THE WALL
STREET JOURNAL carried a front page story headed “Worst Crisis Since ‘30s,. .
.”. They might have noted that in one
day of 1987 the Dow fell by over 23%, about as much as it has lost in the
past year, and unemployment was higher then. Has
government intervened too much or too little?
In 1977 the Community Restoration Act required that lenders invest
more among people who failed to meet the usual requirements for
borrowers. That was reinforced in 1999
by legislation promoted by President Clinton and enacted by large majorities
of Congress.
Derivatives spread risks among financial institutions. Was it too
little, or the wrong kind of, regulation that contributed to this crisis? |
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Recent Congressional Response to Housing Debacle:
Some important Members of Congress, many of them being designers
and builders of SS Titanic, want to know who will be first in
the life-boats before rushing to prevent it from sinking. See
the more on bailout on the front page. |
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CONGRESS IS THE CRISIS By Ivan W. Parkins The
inability of Congress to resolve itself into a body that can distinguish
quickly between photo ops and a crisis, and to respond to the latter
appropriately, should produce a public demand for an end to Congress, as we
have known it.
The world-wide reach and velocity of communications, economic transactions,
and violent attacks now requires political responses that are many times
faster than those of two centuries ago.
Unfortunately, the authors of our Constitution, in their foresight
regarding its change, seem not to have contemplated that the very structure
of Congress itself might be what most required overhaul. The amending process is unduly, but not totally,
dependent upon Congress.
More than half a century ago, when I first suggested to young college
students a reconstruction of Congress, some of them questioned the difficulty
of any such change. I replied, then,
that I did not expect it to become possible soon, but thought that by the end
of the twentieth century we would face a situation in which either the
American people would force a reconstitution of Congress or Congress would
destroy the nation as we had known it.
Obviously, I was impatient, but recent events lead me to believe that
I erred by only a decade. Few
things were more clear in 1787-9
than that the ‘Framers’ expected the
Representatives to live in active association with their constituents. Now, Representatives live, mostly, in
Washington and contact their constituents chiefly thru aides and commercial
media. In that, they are much like
Senators and Presidents. Furthermore, all three are chosen by similar
processes of election. Regarding the
original Constitution’s provisions for separation and balance, little except
confusion remains. And, Presidents,
being much more in the media/public eye, are arguably closer to the people
than Representatives are.
What our Founding Fathers borrowed and invented has been allowed to
become a musty monument to some distinguished ideas. It now serves neither the ideal of a
People’s Government nor the more urgent needs of a Great Nation. . |
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©Ivan W. Parkins 2010, All articles, text, web pages property of
Ivan W. Parkins. Use of any material
requires permission of the author
and can be obtained by contacting,
info@americanpoliticalcommentary.com |