While I believe that the so-called earmarks of the Stimulus Package, like the family planning programs, etc are actually good and necessary, and good for our economy too in the long run (what can I say, I’m a liberal), I recognize that they might be better received elsewhere. I mean, I understand that the democrats want to make sure that their agenda (fueled, we should hope, by their constituent’s demands and not by lobbyists) is met by adding earmarks to a sure-thing bill, but ironically it has had the unintended effect of creating controversy for the Package.
Bills have earmarks, and the ones in the Package make up a small percentage of its budget, but right now McCain’s recent presidential campaign, and Hollywood movies like Dave, tell us that cutting earmarks will help balance our budget. Unfortunately, we’re in debt too deep for that to be the case. Sure, I am appalled at the gigantic irony of the democrats meeting in a luxurious resort to talk about our crumbling economy. And yes, pork is sneaky tactic.
But I find it ironic, too, that after we’ve spent trillions in Iraq for “freedom,” suddenly, some argue that it is too much to ask to invest in our future. Heaven forbid we provide health care, decent roads, bridges, and levees to the people. Opponents say we can’t throw money at our problem, but apparently, it’s OK to throw money at Iraq, to spend on weapons that are now unaccounted for, and to throw TARP money, with next to no oversight, at the car industry and the banks who failed us. We throw money at oil, excuse after excuse for oil, in the name of keeping blue collar factory jobs. Well, there are jobs in new energy and in better car industries, and money to be saved there, too, and we elected Obama to create just those jobs and release us from our dependence on oil. We elected him to do just as he’s trying to do, but a small minority continues to oppose him in a big way.
I recently heard an interview with a civil engineer about how the country’s infrastructure is crumbling due to generations of neglect. The amount of money allotted to infrastructure in the Stimulus Package is insufficient, he said, it’s the tip of the iceberg. So when I hear Obama say, and I love that man, I think he’s the best thing that could happen to our nation, not because he’s a historic figure, but because he was the only presidential candidate who saw that we DO need to act now to fix our infrastructure, education system, and health care system with BIG changes, but I hear him say that the Package needs to be passed in its however imperfect state, because of our urgency, now, and I want to shout at him, “But it’s not enough!” To be fair Obama acknowledged in his speech that his is a modest package.
As Obama said in his speech, replacing fleets of government cars with more sustainable cars is not pork because it’s the purpose of the Stimulus to create demand and jobs for innovative energy. But there are items that are clearly earmarks, however much I agree with some of them. I can’t help but think that those earmarks do not belong in the Package. And I know that they represent a small percentage of the Package, but I still can’t help but think that if we take that small percentage and add it to the portions allotted to infrastructure, public education, or health care, that symbolically, at least, Obama would regain the confidence of those of us who supported him, elected him to do what he is doing, just a little more confidence that the nay-sayers are not using their best judgment, and that this Package is the way to move forward.
I have the TARP nagging in the back of my mind. We rushed into that; where was the oversight? Will the Stimulus Package money be distributed wisely? Will all expenditures be carefully monitored? Will democrats continue to fly private jets and go to luxury resorts while I wonder how I’m going to pay next month’s student loan payment? And whether I will ever be employed again?
Then again, I can see how the political machine could split hairs for weeks on end about which items are or are not pork, and I see Obama’s point. Maybe we do need to just take it as is, after all.
What do you think?
