Bush sticks to his guns... kind of

Well, the President spoke last night in what seemed like a much subdued tone from his previous State of the Union Addresses. Although he did not change his mind on Iraq, the way he put it was almost implorative. No longer is he "Staying the course". It was strange to hear the President ask for his plan to be given an opportunity to work. Like a misbehaved teenager pleading with his parents for one more chance.

The problem here is that he will have a very hard time selling this plan to just about anyone. Not that he has to since he is, after all, the Commander in Chief. So, why does he feel the need to plead his case? The American political system is great because it is based on consensus. Just as with Veto, having the authority and/or power to do something doesn't mean you have the backing to do it. Not only does the President benefit from finding support for this plan, so does the Republican Party of which he is the top representative at the moment.

Unfortunately, historical actions play a large part in future forgiveness. Had the President been more open to listening to the concerns of the people when they (we) were asking about progress in the war and getting lies for responses, the people might be more open to support this new venture.

It is also unfortunate that our government system only allows for a token resolution to go through Congress. Something must be said of the inability of our representatives to block an action seen by most as incorrect. To play devil's advocate, if Congress is unable to stop the Commander in Chief from taking military actions regardless of their consequence, what would happen if the he decided to turn the military against our own people? This is completely hypothetical and most likely impossible since he would not have the support of the troops, but...what if? You get the idea.

What is needed in Iraq are non-military measures to support the military mission. It is impossible for a small force of soldiers and marines to run a country. There needs to be support from the State, Agriculture, Energy, and other infrastructure departments to aid in the rebuilding of Iraq. Is it dangerous for these civilians to go there and help? Certainly. But our government created this and they must solve it. Perhaps once these desk jockeys have a little time in the field, they will better understand why we need to get out in a hurry.

What about the rest of the speech? As predicted, Mr. Bush spoke about social programs and immigration reform. There were some ideas I had to agree with while others just seemed like a last ditch effort to do nothing. Below are some good and bad ideas, summarized:

1. Reform Immigration- I have to agree. The system is broken. The problem here is that they are taking the wrong approach. Think about root causes. Why are immigrants coming to this country? For about 99% of them the answer is work, plain and simple. They are not here to become citizens nor do they want to learn the language and become activists. How to address the problem? Simple common sense- eliminate the jobs available to them. I will expand on this and other ways to solve the problem in a separate post.

2. Reform Health Insurance- Being involved in heath care, I can see the benefits. However, the plan proposed, although better than most others, has one fatal flaw. The idea is that if you receive a tax break, you will use the money to purchase health insurance. Think about this. How many of us say we are going to pay off the credit cards, or student loans, or reduce our debt with the refund money? How many of us actually do this instead of spending it on something new? Like I said, think about it. In my opinion, a better way would be to offer 1-2 state plans. Instead of a tax break, the Federal Government can then take a percentage off the taxes we pay now and pass it on to the states to fund these programs. More on this on a different post.

3. Balance the budget without increasing taxes- Great idea! Now how can this be done? Many-a-president has taken this approach without success. They have all talked about reducing government spending, which only ends up translating to cutting back on social services. The only time in recent years when the budget was balanced and our national debt was almost at a negative, the Democrats increased taxes in several programs to achieve this. As I recall, my paycheck and standard of living didn't really change for the better or worse. The point is, a small increase in taxes to offset the cost of social programs is not a bad trade off. Don't take me wrong, I do have some issues with our tax code and will discuss these further on a different post.

There were many other issues mentioned last night. Of course every analyst has their own opinion on what each means and whether the proposals are possible or not. The only thing that can really help our country is for our government to stop worrying so much about ratings and start worrying about what is best for OUR country. Until this happens, we will continue to "police" the world only to come up with excuses, apologies and half truths to justify our endeavours.