Inequality is based on structural changes in family

This election you will hear a lot that inequality is a problem.  It is and much of the problem has little to do with the economy and more to do with the the structure of the family.  This article from the New York Times shows this better than most.   http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/15/us/two-classes-in-america-divided-by-i-do.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

How Newsroom went from watchable to Liberal Attack machine

HBO’s Newsroom started as an interesting show on what an imaginary news program would be like.  I really liked the pilot.  By the third episode it was unwatchable and yet another line of attacks on conservative politics.  I guess I should have known what was coming but I hoped they would be more informed, more balanced, or just plain more interesting.   Instead, we get the same old trope that the tea party is controlled by the Koch brothers.  Each show is shriller, less interesting, and more liberal.  It got so bad by the third episode that they decided there is no use debating since they know better.  This is what Thomas Sowell calls the liberal vision of the anointed and makes it unwatchable.  I wonder how much of the audience is conservative and when the others will stop watching.  My limit was the third episode.  

Romney's Timing

We keep hearing from the so-called smart people that Romney needs to define himself.  The reality is that his timing has been great so-far.  This election, like most second-term elections, is much more a referendum on the incumbent than about the challenger.

Romney needs to announce his running mate about 2 weeks before the convention.  About one week before the convention he should make a major speech about the themes that he will focus on for the campaign.   His major address at the convention will focus on the themes and the future of the campaign depends on the themes at this point in time, not what is going on in July.  Most undecided people will not look at the campaigns until the elections.  So everyone should take a breath and stop worrying about what Romney is doing right now.

What states will decide the election?

Right now people want to believe that the election will be decided by 8 or 10 states.  The Romney campaign is doing its best to expand the number of states that Obama will have to play in.  For instance, the states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Iowa and Indiana all went for Obama last time and this time Romney is putting a little time and money in these states to make Obama expand the number of states he must defend.   Can Romney win any of them?  If he does it is game over for the President.  It looks like the President is running a Western strategy but that only works if he carries the states in the East that he carried last time.  The Presidential election is a chess like game with 50 different state elections.  Right now Romney has made an aggressive move.  Obama countered with a move on immigration that only works if he carries the East.  It will be a real interesting election season.  Make sure you have lots of Beer and popcorn!

Gas Grill or Charcoal Grill?

My old grill is dust!  I need a new one and I am trying to decide between propane and charcoal.  Pro and con?  Any recommendations? 

Obama and the Stimulus

The Stimulus that Obama passed three years ago still bothers me.   As almost everyone knows the Stimulus was one of the biggest amounts of money ever passed on stimulus ever.  As almost everyone knows what we need according to the Association of Civil Engineers is that kind of money spent on bridges, dams, and roads.  The Stimulus was a once in a generation chance to get that kind of money and use it for real significant needs.  Instead more than half the stimulus went for phony shovel ready jobs that do not amount to much.  Now the Democrats want to work on the infrastructure but the money is gone.  This is another reason that Obama should not be reelected.  The time he had the money he did not use it for the most important needs and now we still need to fix those bridges, dams, and roads and the money is gone!

Academic Political Science and Republicans!

The academic world is blaming Republicans for the grid lock in Congress.  A prime example is Norman Ornstein and Tomas Mann in their book, It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism.  They argue that the problem in Congress today is that the Republicans will not make compromise.  They say that the Republicans oppose everything the President has done.   They say that the President’s health care plan should have had some Republican votes.

    This week we saw one of the people I would bet they liked, and who occasionally supported the President, Richard Lugar loses to a tea party candidate Richard Mourdock.  There are many reasons Lugar lost including his age 80, the fact that he had not really livid in Indiana for years, and he never took his opponent seriously until it was too late.   Mourdock is no doubt more conservative than Lugar and if he wins will make it hard for compromise to take place.

Here is what I see.  Ornstein and Mann are right that the Republicans no longer want compromise.  Every compromise I have seen in the last 20 years has been to spend more, tax more or both.   The conservatives on economics have had enough.  The Tea Party has had enough.  They are electing people who really want to cut the size and scope of government.   They are electing conservatives on politicians.

For a professional who believes in governance the idea of a Conservative party means that government must work more efficiently, with fewer resources.  For many in the establishment and professionals like Ornstein the only way to govern is by compromise.

The Republican electorate is more conservative and voting that way.   We are never going to see the politics of past since comprise is mostly gone.  What replaces this will tell us what kind of Country we will have.