That Sound You Hear is the Quiet Before the Storm

So yesterday, the state House recessed until February 9th. I hope they enjoy their time on the jungle gym, because I have no doubt that once they reconvene all hell is going to break loose.

I have to say, the events of the past week have been pretty amusing to watch, but happy fun time is just about over. Come February 9th, the business of legislating will come falling down like a bag of hammers. I suggest the new Speaker take this time to get fitted for some kind of protective gear. Pretty soon there’s gonna be more poop flying in the House chamber than at a monkey display at the zoo, or more preaching…whichever. Working out the committee assignments might be nice too.

Back in November, our state, turned out in far higher numbers than just about any other state to elect Republicans to state government. I don’t know why, but I have my suspicions. Now we’ve got Republicans in charge of the legislature, even if it’s not the Republicans that Republicans wanted.

They ran on a 3G platform; Guns, Gays, and God. Why this playbook was more successful here in Tennessee than in the rest of the nation says more about Tennessee than it does about the Republican Party, but I won’t go there right now.

Republicans, how are you going to make Tennessee better? How do you intend to use these three planks to benefit the people of the state of Tennessee? How will your 3G platform provide economic development and jobs to the thousands of Tennesseans who are either out of work or underemployed? How will the platform you ran on ensure that Tennesseans are safe in their homes from the predatory lending practices that have contributed to these unstable economic times? What will your platform do to educate our children, not only for the jobs of the 21st Century, but a job market that is contracting? An increase in violent crime almost always follows uncertain economic times, what does your 3g platform do to keep our communities safe? Seriously, I want to know.

From a practical standpoint, your 3G platform doesn’t say anything about these issues. Nothing. If we go beyond the 3G platform, we find that it gets even thinner. As a general statement, Republicans want to reduce taxes, and government spending to keep the budget in balance. We don’t have an income tax, we have a consumption tax (sales). We also have a deficit staring down our throats. Some might argue that reducing the consumption tax would spur spending. This of course assumes that people have money to spend. People have to have stable good paying jobs to have money to spend. If no one’s spending money, employers can’t hire people. Do you see the Catch 22 yet?

Maybe the 3G platform does answer these issues…Pray you keep or get a job, arm yourself heavily to protect against those who don’t have jobs, and don’t worry about decorating your home tastefully…strike that…you already don’t do that…ummm, be suspicious of anyone that tries to get in your foxhole? I dunno, I’m still working on that.

The point is, you may have won on old dumb ideas, but you won’t stay in power long with those old dumb ideas, which suits me just fine. Unfortunately, I have to deal with you bozos for at least two years, so try not to wreck the place, even though I know that’s what you guys do best. Until then, I’m wearing a poncho whenever I go to Nashville to protect against the poop you guys’ll be throwing all over the place.

Cheers!