Al's Opinions

Today the two major political parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, differ with respect to their core beliefs. Republicans seem to have an ideology; a set of ideas that seem sensible and logical on one level but which don't seem to be supported by experience. Democrats seem to have a melange of ideas that one has difficulty associating with a single ideology. Democrats are blamed by Republicans and the news media for not having any consistent ideas on how to lead the country out of the mess that the Republicans have gotten us into.

Republican ideology seems to involve the following ideas or theories of human behavior:

• Government on any level should not interfere with the freedom of a landowner to do whatever he wants with his property.
  
• Government services should be confined to those necessary activities that private companies can not perform and make a profit. Examples are police protection, fire protection, protection of the nation against invasion, and postal delivery service to areas of low population density.
  
• Taxation should not be a means of distributing wealth. Money should not be taken from some individuals to enrich or provide services to others. For example, taxes to support a public school should be levied only on those persons who have children attending the school.
  
• Government is inherently inefficient and corrupt. Assistance to the poor should be provided by non-profit private charities rather than by government agencies that are supported by tax revenue.
  
• In anticipation of a depression, people should work hard and save their money. People should not be taught to expect government assistance during depressions or other predictable disasters. Since old age and retirement are eminently predictable, people should save their money in preparation to living without income from their labor. Government should not provide support for them out of tax revenue.
  
• Labor unions are dangerous institutions. Each worker should negotiate with the employer for wages and working conditions. If the worker does not accept the employer's offer, he should look elsewhere for work. The employer's rights come from his right to manage his property as he sees fit.
  
• Since there is a tendency of people in government to expand their activities, their available revenue must be strictly limited. The Congress and the various State legislatures and the various local governments must cut taxes whenever they get the chance to do so. Only in that way can the bad influence of corrupt and inefficient governments be held in check.

Well, that's at least a partial list.

Democrats, on the other hand, don't seem to agree on a set of ideas based on things that ought to be true or seem to be logical. At this time in our history, Democrats are agreed on one thing: The Republicans, being the party in power, have exhibited arrogance and incredibly bad judgment (or bad luck, certainly) in getting this country into the mess it's in:

• We're in a War in Iraq that seems to be unwinnable.
  
• Our President has defined our military intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan as a "War" against terror. A war against terror is just as unwinnable as a war against bank robbery. It should be known as a police action.
  
• In following an ideological tax policy, the Republican administration has created a structural deficit and has caused a monumental increase in the national debt. Our wasteful war in Iraq is funded in part by borrowing money from China and Japan.
  
• The administration, with the support of the Republican majority in the Senate, has appointed right-wing ideologs to life-time positions in the federal judiciary. They have taken away the right of Americans to having their cases heard by impartial judges.
  

And that's just a partial list.

Historically, each Party has at times adopted an ideology that was eventually shown to contradict experience. Ideologies are adopted and discarded according to the coalition the Party seeks to build to enhance its electoral chances. Sometimes history validates an ideology. The Republican Party began with the ideology that slavery was immoral and that all human beings deserved to be free. That ideology is widely accepted today in this country, but it was not a universally popular idea in 1856. Democrats in the 1890's adopted the notion that our national currency should be based on both gold and silver, with a certain ratio defining the price of each metal. At the time farmers had difficulty getting money to pay the loans extended to them by banks. The proposed solution was to increase the amount of money in circulation by issuing silver certificates in addition to the gold-backed money then in use. History has shown that solution to be a loser.

For the sake of the country, I hope that the Republicans will abandon their ideas that do not have the support of experience. In the mean time, I hope for many Democratic victories in November of this year.