Effective Government

"In his first Inaugural Address, Ronald Reagan remarked that "government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." While the quip has provided Republicans with a cheap slogan for two decades, the philosophy behind it is beginning to box them in. If they govern effectively, they invalidate their own antigovernment ideology. And when you elect people who believe that government won't work, you shouldn't be surprised when government stops working." -- Markos Moulitsas in "Make the Bush Record the Issue", Newsweek, November 26, 2007.

This quotation helps to explain the unrelenting incompetence of the Bush administration.

Later in the essay, Moulitsas says: "Democrats, on the other hand, believe government can be a resource for promoting the common good and thus are invested from the beginning in governing competently, efficiently and fairly. Their ideology demands it."

Understanding these two basic ideological truths makes choosing a political party to support simple.

Full Confidence

I just heard on NPR that Paul "Let's invade Iraq" Wolfowitz, Head of the World Bank and one of the Bushites, is being investigated by his Board and may be removed from his position. The thing that caused me pause was the spokesperson for Bush saying, "The President has full confidence in Mr. Wolfowitz...."

Haven't we been here before? Didn't Bush have "full confidence" in Donald Rumsfeld? Doesn't he have "full confidence in Dick "Sharpshooter" Cheney and in Alberto "Fire 'Em" Gonzales? Isn't the fact that George W. Bush has "full confidence" in these guys the clearest possible indication that they are incompetent and dangerous?

While I fully agree that Wolfowitz should get canned for using his position to take care of his girlfriend, and Gonzales should be fired for politicizing the "Justice" Department, what I want to know is why these guys weren't removed for sheer incompetence years ago?