The Obenshain remains the same: GOP candidate for AG little different than Cuccinelli on issues

At least one national Republican group, the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC), appears to have gone “all in” for Virginia GOP candidate for attorney general Mark Obenshain, leaving current Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and his ‘running mate’, E.W. Jackson, in further electoral dire straits. On Friday, the leadership committee contributed $660,000 to Sen. Obenshain’s campaign, bringing the committee’s total Obenshain contributions to $2.6 million, the largest amount the Virginia state senator has been able to raise from any other sources.

According to its website, the RSLC is “is the largest caucus of Republican state leaders in the country and is the only national organization whose mission is electing Republicans to the office of attorney general, lieutenant governor, secretary of state and legislator.” What this means for Cuccinelli and Jackson is clear: Obenshain is seen by the RSLC as having the best shot at being elected on November 5^th.

A Christopher Newport University report released on October 8, 2013 showed a 3 percent “edge” for Democratic candidate for attorney general, Mark Herring, an edge that the report noted is within the poll’s margin of error. Thus, Herring and Obenshain could be tied for attorney general.

In case you wanted to see a comprehensive list of Obenshain’s positions on issues pertinent to Virginians however, you’ll have to rummage through his public statements, introduced legislation, and other campaign activities since he has declined to tell Virginians where he stands. Why would anyone vote for a political candidate who won’t make their positions on issues freely known to their constituents? Of course, 

Obenshain has good reason to hide his issue positions from Virginians.

While Mark Obenshain has done his best to keep his distance from Cuccinelli’s falling political star, the truth is that Obenshain is little different in terms of issue positions than the extremists Cuccinelli and Jackson. The Republican Party ticket for this November’s general election is packed full of extremist nut-jobs, in other words.   

If Virginians want more fear and government intervention into their private lives, then by all means vote for Mark Obenshain. If not, please look a little bit closer at the issue positions of Mark Herring and Mark Obenshain. One of these candidates stands for tolerance and a positive vision for Virginia. The other, well, not so much.

Bob McDonnell’s legal ‘shipwreck’ is still costing Virginia’s taxpayers thousands of dollars

While the country’s attention has once again been drawn almost exclusively to economic-related issues, notwithstanding the attempt to draw in the Affordable Care Act into the economic debate, it’s only appropriate that legal fees related to a federal investigation into Gov. Bob McDonnell’s behavior in office is once again making headlines.

In the latest cost to Virginia’s taxpayers, the attorney general’s office hired a private attorney in August, Amy Austin, at a rate of $250/hour to “handle inquiries at Virginia Commonwealth University [VCU] from federal prosecutors examining McDonnell’s relationship with a wealthy donor.” For former students of VCU still paying down student loans such as myself, the irony is twofold:  not only are my state tax dollars going towards the fees of a private attorney representing VCU, I’m still paying a significant portion of my paycheck towards my time at VCU. There’s your “Golden Alumni” contribution, VCU.

Austin’s appointment as private counsel for VCU has added yet another attorney to the docket of counselors that Virginia taxpayers have had to foot the bill for. In addition to Austin, legal counsel has been hired for the Virginia State Police, the police investigator that is working on the McDonnell case with federal officials, and two different law firms that are representing/defending Gov. McDonnell and his staff.

According to the Washington Post, Virginia’s taxpayers had been billed $244,000 since the end of July for all of the combined legal services mentioned above (excluding Austin’s representation of VCU). More recent bills have not yet been released.

According to VCU’s counsel, Virginia’s Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli was not given the green light to defend the university because “the university’s counsel did not feel he had the resources or expertise to handle the federal inquiry.” So the question then becomes, what resources or expertise does Cuccinelli actually possess as Virginia’s highest attorney?

The investigation and the accompanying legal representation surrounding McDonnell has undoubtedly become a complex and economically draining affair that should have been downgraded in importance by McDonnell’s resignation. But in an era of American history where eluding responsibility for one’s actions in elected office is the rule rather than the exception, it’s little surprise that McDonnell has chosen to stay aboard the sinking ship that is his political career.

Unfortunately for Virginias’ taxpayers, we weren’t given an insurance policy to avoid the costs of McDonnell’s shipwreck. 

While House members of the tea partly implicitly or explicitly argued that their goal during the government shutdown was to create policies that would somehow reduce America’s debt and reduce the size of the federal government, it seems clear that in terms of the former goal, America has only been plunged deeper into short and long term debt (not to mention President Obama has overseen record-setting declines in public employment). For this reason, Sen. Mark Warner (VA) recently requested the Government Accountability Office (GAO) conducta report that analyzes the economic impact of the 16-day federal governmentshutdown.  

In his request letter to the GAO, Warner stated, “We just concluded the first shutdown of the federal government in nearly 20 years. Abruptly closing and opening the world’s largest enterprise was completely irresponsible, and there are some indications it caused unnecessary hardship across our economy.” Sen. Warner went on, “The best way to prevent another unnecessary shutdown is to better understand how this irresponsible action fully impacted our economy.”

Somehow along the road of political strategy, tea party Republicans convinced themselves that sacrificing the certainty and well-being of millions of Americans was a necessary evil to shake off the greater evil of supposedly inescapable public debt and a menacingly big federal government. In this way, if they ever had a sense of what it means to govern responsibly, they lost it in the haze of ideological fervor, and the people of America suffered.

Opponents of Sen. Warner may respond that his request for an economic analysis of the government shutdown is little more than a political stunt. As a politician, there is little doubt that Sen. Warner’s request is at least in some respects a political act, but it’s a good political act. Unlike the tea party Republicans, Sen. Warner’s request could actually help Americans from across the socioeconomic range in America by preventing fiscally disruptive legislative acts that achieve more harm than good. That is, Sen. Warner actually understands what governing is all about.  

Safety is in the eye of the beholder and these eyes see too many risks in uranium mining

Safety, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. When it comes to the issue of uranium mining in Virginia, there are two main groups: those who believe that adequate safety measures can be put in place and those who don’t. I fall in the latter group.

By safety measures, I don’t simply mean physical protections against the various environmental and human health risks that milling and mining uranium pose to Virginians. I also mean legal protections afforded any individual who believes themselves injured by the processes of uranium mining or milling.

When asked if “a locality may subject a uranium mining operation to civil penalties or liability for loss of revenue by agricultural operations for cancellation, rescission, or modification of agricultural contracts due to uranium mining,” Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli responded, “no.”

And what, you might be asking, is Cuccinelli’s reasoning? The federal government prohibits these protections! That is, the Republican candidate for governor who has essentially campaigned on a theme of ‘too much government’ is conveniently using the federal government to oppose local government protections against a sector that Cuccinelli is clearly beholden to (i.e., energy). Something smells rotten in Denmark…

The concern over protections is not just pertinent to Southside Virginians. It is suspected that the uranium deposits found at Coles Hill could be the tip of the iceberg. According to a report by New Republic, “geologists suspect that the Coles Hill deposit is not isolated. Scientists argue about the origins of the ore, but it’s most likely a remnant of the same ancient tectonic processes that created the Triassic Basins--meaning that there could be similar deposits up and down the East Coast.” That is, uranium mining might be coming to a town near you in the near future.

What happens now in terms of staying the moratorium on uranium mining or establishing regulations that will open the door for lifting Virginia’s moratorium on uranium mining will have repercussions for additional discoveries of uranium ore in Virginia. Now is therefore the best time to ensure that we, as Virginians, make the right decision on how to move forward.

Unfortunately for advocates of uranium mining and milling, safety is not something that be assured anymore than someone can be assured that the airplane their riding on won’t malfunction. Since the moratorium was placed on uranium mining in Virginia in 1982, the ball has been in their court to prove that uranium mining can be done safely. But apart from generalized conclusions and half-baked case-study comparisons, advocates of uranium mining have been able to offer little in the way of effective arguments for lifting the moratorium.

The bottom line, however, is that the majority of Southside Virginians and their elected representatives have called for maintaining the moratorium until further notice. Why, then, are we even still talking about this issue?  

Cuccinelli’s next book: governing responsibly is a big government conspiracy

The man who attempted to arm the state of Virginia with the ability to criminalize certain sexual acts between two consenting adults (i.e., Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli) “attacked” President Obama’s (nay, Americas!) Affordable Care Act (ACA) with a “full-throated blast” during the weekly Republican address, calling the ACA an example of big government. Did I also mention that the anti-big government Cuccinelli has also attempted to change Virginia’s divorce laws?

In his address, the attorney general stated, “Let me be plain, the law that carries the president’s name is the hallmark of a reckless federal government that has lost its way.” So, in essence, a law that seeks to allow millions of Americans affordable health care is a “reckless federal government” initiative. I have a solution, let’s shut down the government!

Indeed, instead of discussing ways to legislate towards the elimination of the ACA, Cuccinelli and his band of mindless firebrands (aka, the tea party) decided that shutting the government down was the best route to take, thereby abdicating their responsibility to actually govern. How will Cuccinelli decide to handle the next budget debate, by sending the country into default? A brilliant strategy that present and future generations will certainly hold him in high regard for.

For all of Cuccinelli’s talk about the federal government “eating away at our liberty and crushing opportunity,” the greatest tyrant/bully that has been installed in Virginia’s government over the past four years has been Cuccinelli himself. Cuccinelli has unceasingly attempted to promote his own social agenda against the wishes of many Virginians on a host of issues (e.g., abortion, contraception, the science of man-made global warming). That doesn’t seem very “hands off” to me.

The primary faux pas directed against Cuccinelli and the tea party is their unwillingness to play by the rules that everyone else has to play by or shrugging off their responsibilities to govern when they don’t get their way. If they cannot win by the traditional means of legislating, they won’t legislate.

Cuccinelli may not like the ACA, but there are responsible ways to deal with derailing this legislation. The responsible ways are, however, not the easy ways and don’t therefore appeal to Cuccinelli. But Virginia needs a leader and not a kamikaze who is more inclined to send the state over the proverbial cliff than to let cooler heads prevail and live to see another day. That’s a big part of what governing is, and that’s a reason why Cuccinelli should NOT be Virginia’s next governor.  

Using the hateful words of a political candidate is not an “attack,” but a fact

Somewhere along the road of mainstream media political coverage, facts directed towards an opponent became an “attack,” a term once reserved primarily for military actions that has become ubiquitous in mainstream media political coverage. Witness one of CNN’s latest headlines:  “Virginia Democrats attack [emphasis mine] Cuccinelli for comparing abortion to slavery, Civil War.”

As Blue Virginia’s Lowell Feld pointed out, however, it’s unclear how the Democratic Party is “attacking” Cuccinelli by pointing out the audacity of his own words. Better said, the Democratic Party is highlighting Cuccinelli’s proclivity for extreme rhetoric and ridiculous comparisons.

It’s no secret to many Americans that the mainstream media has become little more than a frontline source for sensationalist ‘news’ as opposed to a nonpartisan, fact-finding institution that takes its role seriously as the private and public sector watchdog of first resort.

Thus, it’s little wonder that a minority of House members can grind America’s economy to a halt when many outlets within the mainstream media refuse to focus on the root-causes of the problems and instead focus on John Boehner’s fallout with his “troops” and the like. Had the mainstream media been more forthcoming about who was really to blame for the government shutdown and why, the government shutdown may have been ended on the first day.

Instead of lambasting House Republicans for their careless tactics and unknown goals, a number of mainstream media outlets continued to talk as if all parties were equally to blame, perhaps fearful of being tagged as “partisan.” But speaking to facts is not “partisanship.”  

If the Democratic Party had pulled a stunt like the Republican Party, I would have expected the mainstream media to blast the Democratic Party just as forcefully. Ultimately, facts shouldn’t be partisan and aren’t partisan.

So when one political party turns the hateful words of a political candidate against him or her, it’s not an “attack,” it’s a fact, and that’s what makes it so powerful as a political tool. 

Cuccinelli on wealth: it’s great unless you’re a Democrat

In ground breaking news, Virginia’s Democratic candidate for governor revealed an extraordinary fact about himself: he’s wealthy. The horror!

On Wednesday, Terry McAuliffe’s campaign released his 2012 tax summary which showed an adjusted gross income of $9.4 million. According to the Richmond Times Dispatch, “The McLean businessman and former Democratic National Committee chairman also claimed roughly $1 million in itemized deductions on the income and paid $2.74 million in taxes, according to the two-page Form 1040 provided by the campaign.”

Between 2009 and 2012, the tax filings equate to a total of $24.9 million in adjusted gross income.

The highly ironic aspect of Ken Cuccinelli’s strategy to brand McAuliffe as wealthy and therefore as somehow “other” is that wealth is exactly what the Republican Party claims to be so enamored with, unless it’s a candidate from another political party who happens to have more of it.

I tend more often than not to perceive the Republican Party as the ‘Tin Man’ of politics with no heart, but a strong motivation to earn, earn, earn. Of course, I’m over-generalizing to make a point (there are a lot of good Republicans!).

Not only does Cuccinelli’s attempt to tar and feather McAuliffe for his wealth prove that Cuccinelli is a hypocrite with little integrity, McAuliffe also clearly demonstrates that Democrats are not a bunch of non-material loving individuals (there are Democrats who love giving back AND making money). Democrats are on the whole individuals who recognize social oppression or injustice and hope to do something to alleviate it. This means that members of the Democratic Party can come from all walks of life.

McAuliffe’s wealth simply makes him simply, not anymore or any less capable of governing with the people’s best interests in mind. Unlike Mitt Romney, McAuliffe wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth. 

Tea party crazy train may be finally coming to a stop

Before the ‘breaking’ news that U.S. senators had reached a deal to avert the country’s first economic default, congressional representatives from Virginia showed their frustration on Tuesday as the prospects for a resolution then looked bleak.

During a conference call on Tuesday, Sen. Mark Warner said, “The damage that’s being done each day by this political circus is really unprecedented.” For anyone who’s followed Warner’s political career, he’s not one to lay down such emphatic verbiage unless there’s good cause. And what better cause could there be to be upset about than the present “political circus”?

As usual, Sen. Tim Kaine sounded a positive note (given the current political environment) in a call on 

Tuesday: “What we need to do is get over this hump this week, reaffirm our fiscal soundness, continue government operations to reopen government so that people aren’t continuing to get hurt every day, and then we’ll have a budget negotiation.” The “hump” that Sen. Kaine is referring to are the intransient representatives within the Republican Party in the U.S. House.

The unfortunate part of what the radical nuts in the U.S. House are doing is that I don’t disagree with some of their ideas. What I do unequivocally disagree with is the way that these individuals have gone about attempting to solve America’s perceived woes.

Just as bleeding a patient doesn’t get the doctor any closer to curing the disease, so too does the act of recklessly jolting and slashing the American economy not move us any closer to a long term debt reduction. As the libertarian type should know, you don’t change someone or something by force, you convince others that your way of viewing the world is the right one. Given the recent default debacle, however, it’s difficult to see how anyone but the most ideologically stunted individuals could sign up to ride on the tea party crazy train.

As the congress moves closer to finally ending this round of the default debacle, it appears that most Americans, and their representatives, have had enough of the crazy train as well. 

Add to the list of potential casualties: government shutdown threatens veteran’s benefits

Among the multitude of Virginia’s citizens who have been, and may be, economically harmed by the latest Republican Party tantrum is that insignificant group of Virginians known as “veterans,” those individuals who served their country, a country that many Republicans in the U.S. seem hell-bent on destroying.

Instead of the certainty of receiving ‘socialist’ government benefits, veterans in Hampton Roads, Virginia in particular have grown concerned about the prospect of not receiving their government handouts. To tea party Republicans, I suppose these individuals are a bunch of paupers just like the so-called ‘welfare queens’ of America. Say it ain’t so, Papa Cruz!

According to Veteran Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, “without passage of appropriations soon, veterans won’t be paid their earned benefits on November 1.” According to Daily Press, there are 837,000 veterans in Virginia. Translation: almost a million veteran Virginians, a number of which are disabled in some form or another, won’t be able to cover all of their monthly expenses. But as the apparently widespread sentiment among the radical right in the Republican Party goes, you have to break a few eggs to get an omelet.

What some within the Republican Party have unfortunately forgotten, if they ever remembered, is that behind their grand scheme to set the country on a better economic footing, real people would be significantly hurt in very real ways, including Virginia’s and America’s veterans. To add insult to injury, it’s still unclear what the ultimate goal of the Republican Party’s behavior was in the first place. Defund ‘Obamacare,’ shoot down any attempts at raising the debt ceiling, bringing back Paula Abdul to prime-time TV? The end point remains murky.

While John Boehner and his group of merry-men (and women) continue to search for a way out of the noose they’ve put around their necks, thousands of veterans across Virginia anxiously await when and if a deal is reached to raise the debt ceiling. I can only imagine that this is not what many of these individuals thought their country would give them in return for their service. 

Tea Party Prince Cuccinelli and the art of bad politics: you don’t need that job, do you?

If you, dear reader, are partying like it’s 1776 due to the government shutdown, then Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is unequivocally your candidate in Virginia’s ‘race’ for governor. If, however, you disagree with the practice of bleeding yourself until the alleged ailment has abated, then Democratic candidate for Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe is your man.  

While Cuccinelli has recently taken steps to distance himself from the radical Republicans in the U.S. Congress (e.g., Sen. Ted Cruz), the attorney general’s early and consistent tea party rhetoric has seemingly formed a strong link between himself and the behavior of congressional Republicans who have refused to stop holding America’s economy hostage.

Such a link in the minds of Virginia’s voters can perhaps be seen in poll numbers that have been taken since the government shutdown began on October 1. According to the L.A. Times, “With the election just weeks away, Cuccinelli's poll numbers have tumbled [emphasis mine] since federal agencies were closed Oct. 1.”

For anyone who has been keeping up with the governor’s race in Virginia, it’s not surprising that Cuccinelli has had difficulty shaking off the tea party image that he has worked so hard to capture. Tag, you’re it! Now that Cuccinelli has been crowned one of the princes of the tea party movement, he can either sink with the rest of his friends in the political nuthouse or betray the revolution that hoisted him to national prominence and allow his old comrades to undercut his aspirations for higher political office. Decisions, decisions.

Who would have thought that Virginians connected to the federal government for their paychecks would dislike moves to throw their well-being into a tailspin?! Cuccinelli won’t even give up his position as attorney general while he runs for governor. Anyone else see the hypocrisy?  

Republicans like Cuccinelli are a party of destruction and demolition whose political creativity runs dry in the face of solving problems with constructive and positive solutions (e.g., create more jobs, create a larger tax base, lower the nation’s debt, etc.). No, the Cuccinelli Republicans appear to find joy in the destruction they cause until their respective constituencies take notice and throw them out of office.

There’s an old wisdom saying that goes something like this: the road to paradise can’t be paved with wrongful acts. Throwing people out of their jobs and throwing the economy into default are certainly wrongful acts. If Cuccinelli is elected governor, we can expect more of the same. 

Moderate McAuliffe, a recipe for taking over the Executive Mansion & governing effectively

Citing Democratic candidate for governor Terry McAuliffe’s pragmatic governing style, the Washington Post and the Daily Press both endorsed Mr. McAuliffe for governor in lieu of his opponent, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. Ultimately, it was Cuccinelli’s less-than-moderate political tactics that lost him the moderate Virginian vote.  

Come this November, then, Virginia could serve as important model for the rest of the country dealing with radical right-wing candidates for political office (assuming Terry McAuliffe wins the election for governor). Virginia and its citizens could be the dose of political moderation that some of our country so desperately needs.

In each of their endorsements for Terry McAuliffe, the Washington Post and the Daily Press cite a few reservations about Terry McAuliffe’s ability to effectively govern. McAuliffe has no governing experience, for example, a proposed weakness that has been held against the one-time superstar Democratic fundraiser. Each recognized, however, the perilous shift in political culture that could result from a Ken Cuccinelli governorship.

For Cuccinelli, governing has consisted of putting his own social agenda ahead of his duties to uphold the laws of Virginia, ‘doubling down’ on a number of social issues ranging from abortion to what sexual acts individuals can perform in the privacy of their own homes. Furthermore, not only did Cuccinelli’s decision to stay on as attorney general while running for governor fly in the face of Virginian political etiquette, it also flew in the face of the political positions that Cuccinelli has claimed he supports (e.g., fiscal conservatism).  

Virginia hasn’t been a bastion of moderation throughout much of its history. But when it comes to electing representatives to public office, the moderate vote has more often than not declared victory in a state that still hosts sizable pockets of radical right-wing political beliefs. That is, Virginia is far from perfect.

While Virginia may be a far-cry from perfection, however, it does given the rest of the country struggling with issues of political moderation a model to at least provide a glimpse of a political environment not completely upended by partisan fighting. If McAuliffe does win the election in November, the country will see that moderation can still be a winning formula in politics. 

E.W. Jackson, the Anti-Environmental Candidate for Lieutenant Governor

Luckily for Ralph Northam, the senator’s environmental positions appear ‘radically liberal’ in comparison to his drive-the-planet-into-the-ground opponent for lieutenant governor, E.W. Jackson. Not only are Jackson’s political positions on the environment inimical to its preservation, Jackson represents the wing-nut group of conservatives in Virginia whose primary forte is cooking up conspiracy theories regarding every level of government.

Jackson has argued, for instance, that the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality is a puppet of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, ‘killing’ Virginia’s coal-mining sector as a result. While Jackson may believe it’s just good politics, a part of me also thinks that Jackson actually believes some of the far-fetched conspiracy theories that he spins out for the mainstream media to print across its front pages.

While Northam may not be the environmentally concerned Virginian’s first choice for lieutenant governor, he represents a candidate who environmentally concerned Virginians can work with to ensure that our environment is not disregarded for the ubiquitous quest of ‘economic growth’. The first thing we can do as Virginians who care about the environment is urge political candidates like Ralph Northam to start talking about the environment in terms that make its intrinsic worth clear.

Jackson, for instance, speaks as if refusing to dig anymore coal out of the ground has no value in and of itself. Just as the government has put a value on an individual life, the environment can also be valued in a similar way. But Democratic representatives in Virginia have been slow to embrace the idea that the environment is more than a foundation for productive units. Members of Virginia’s Democratic Party have also fallen in the “economic development” dogma regarding nature, a similar framework for viewing environmental worth that many within Virginia’s Republican Party share. That is, the environment is only as good as its tangible economic benefits.

There is nothing wrong in believing a healthy environment is a ‘stand alone’ good. For E.W. Jackson and his republican running mates, however, the environment appears as little more than a stepping stone that is either limitless, unimportant, or both. It is the ultimate irony that the economic growth that political candidates like Jackson claim to so ardently support is ultimately undermined by their careless political positions towards the environment.  

Robert Sarvis: The Image that Defied Policy Substance

In a perfect world, political candidates running for office in Virginia named Robert Sarvis wouldn’t be far-right libertarian ideologues hiding behind the farce of moderation.  As Virginia’s very own governor has demonstrated, however, we are far from living in a perfect world.

We are living in a world where the image is rarely the real picture of truth. And so it with Robert Sarvis, the libertarian candidate in Virginia’s contest for governor who has slowly captured more attention from the mainstream media of Virginia with his shadowy political positions, his relative youth, and his heavily underdog status.

What is interesting about some of this ‘coverage’, however, is the lack of political positions that Robert Sarvis is asked to discuss. Instead, the main story is about a plain-ol’ Virginian trying to take on two political goliaths. As has been pointed out by Lowell Feld, however, if Virginians knew about some of Mr. Sarvis’ political positions (or lack thereof), they probably wouldn’t be as enthused about his entry into the governor’s race (at least 8 percent).

Mr. Sarvis can prove me right or wrong by letting Virginians know where he stands on issues pertaining to the environment, corporate spending in politics, the social safety net, and so on. In the case of environmental positions, his website doesn’t even list the environment on his “Issues” page! Again, it’s for the best because we know what the ‘free hand’ of the marketplace will reap upon this beautiful planet of ours.

I don’t know where, when, or how substance became a back-issue in Virginia politics, but if we want to retain the integrity of our democratic system of government, we’re going to have to be serious about holding candidates for political office accountable for building their campaigns on an image and not a positive vision. If we value the great experiment that is popular politics, we’re going to have to focus on the issues that can make and break our way of life, not primarily the personality of the individual running for elected office. 

The Tea Party of old versus the Tea Party of today

Whatever infantile world some so-called libertarians are living in, it’s clearly not the world that the rest of us are breathing in. According to one author, the furloughing of 800,000 federal government employees hasn’t caused a tangible disruption within our society. Another chestnut is the old Tea Party fallback quote, “Obama’s…just pure distilled Marxism.” Not only can a man not be a system of thought, President Obama’s policies have come nowhere near socialism, let alone Marxism.

These common beliefs among the Tea Party base (i.e., government employees, on the whole, serve no critical function in our society and President Obama is a shady Marxist/socialist/communist (?)) have continued to be a distorted but nonetheless real set of beliefs that only increases in severity with each political move that President Obama makes. That is, President Obama can do no right in the eyes of some within the Tea Party movement.

As such, it’s no longer acceptable for President Obama to negotiate with a group of individuals who would no sooner trust our nation’s elected president than they would Joseph Stalin, a group of individuals who would no sooner honor their commitments to a deal(s) reached with President Obama than they would with the Devil.

Perhaps a big reason why we are even in an unnecessary situation of government shutting down is President Obama has handed this tiny group victories in the past, emboldening them to take ever more drastic steps. We’ll never know if this situation would have played out differently had President Obama held firm in the past.

The point is not to place blame at President Obama’s doorstep, however. It is to argue that the Democratic Party’s bending position to the crazies of America has left the door open for the kinds of drastic political moves that the Republican Party in the House is taking. If the Tea Party wants their voice to be heard, they better mediate through the saner elements in their party and let them filter what is and isn’t appropriate.

Government is about running the everyday affairs of society to ensure its longevity and prosperity, not to lay dynamite under its foundations and watch it crumble to pieces. The Tea Party of old was fighting a true monarch. The Tea Party of today is fighting a ghost manifested by its own fears of change and uncertainty. In an ironic twist, it is today’s Tea Party which is the real tyrant. 

Two new polls show Terry McAuliffe ahead of the libertarian who wasn’t, Ken Cuccinelli

Unlike America’s elected officials in the U.S. Congress (i.e., Republicans in the House of Representatives), two recent poll that puts Terry McAuliffe ahead of Ken Cuccinelli by 5 points in the governor’s race demonstrates the sanity of the electorate of Virginia.

One could of course argue that given Cuccinelli’s extreme views, McAuliffe should be ahead by more than 5 points. But the allure of the Republican Party in Virginia has not receded even with the clearly inane views of Virginia’s attorney general.

With the exception of Cuccinelli’s surprising position on the government shutdown and the need for government funding, Cuccinelli has been the poster boy for the extremists in the so-called Tea Party (whatever and wherever these individuals are). The right of gays to marry? Nope. The right of individuals to choose how to have sex in the privacy of their own homes? Not on your liberty. And the list goes on.

This leads to the paradox that is Cuccinelli. On the one hand, he holds identifiable libertarian views, but these are mixed with a toxic brew of conservative beliefs that informs his politics and contradicts his otherwise ‘hands off’ ideology that has placed him in the libertarian camp, according to some political commentators.

The primary argument against McAuliffe, on the other hand, is essentially that he has made mistakes. Is there anyone on this planet who hasn’t made a mistake, or lots of them? The difference between McAuliffe and Cuccinelli, however, is that the former is willing to admit when he’s made a mistake. I can’t remember when Cuccinelli gave a hint during his time as attorney general that he could have made a mistake along the way.

More importantly, though, McAuliffe is willing to listen to different viewpoints with a relatively open mind. 

This has not appeared to be true of Cuccinelli. While much of the country appears torn into bitterly partisan camps, Virginia still possesses a strong sense of respecting the viewpoints of others, even if those viewpoints are different from our own. In this way, McAuliffe is clearly a better choice for governor of Virginia, and according to the recent polls mentioned above, most Virginians think so too.

The fiscal kamikazes: how Americans can prevent this situation from ever occurring again

In the ongoing discussion about the U.S. government shutdown, Americans from every layer of our social fabric have assessed the causes and exhibited the frustration of throwing our way of life into an unnecessary tailspin. The political party that takes the lion’s share of the blame for this latest economic and political debacle is clear: the Republican Party. What’s less clear are the reasons why the Republican Party has chosen to sabotage the greatest economy in world history.

Frankly, however, I’m not concerned about the reasons why the fiscal kamikazes in the Republican Party have chosen to disrupt what appeared to be a modestly growing economy. The only concern I have is allowing millions of American workers to get on with life as usual, without the prospect for a repeat of this economic fiasco every time the debt ceiling needs to be increased.

I’m not concerned with the reasons because they are so numerous and varied that putting Humpty Dumpty back together would prove a far easier task. Furthermore, it’s not as if knowing their reasons would make their motives any more reasonable to the average American who could care less about ideological purity, reelection strategies, the pitfalls of the Affordable Care Act, and so on.  

What we should be focused on is not the “why,” but how to make sure that these individuals and this strategy never see the halls of congress again in our lifetimes. Regardless of whether or not this reckless “strategy” by the House GOP works, it’s very likely that it won’t be the last time a group of congressional Republicans pull it out of their proverbial hats and threaten America’s economic viability.

Once this latest round of economic chicken has passed, the Democratic Party in particular must do a better job at aggressively undermining and showcasing the absurdity of the Republican Party’s ‘solutions’ to some of our country’s most pressing challenges. The Republican Party so often wins the war of words because they scream their message so loudly that it becomes the message(s) to defend against and not quickly shrug off.

I’m not suggesting that the Democratic Party sink down into the rhetorical cesspool of GOP political strategy. Rather, I’m suggesting the Democratic Party find issues that a large majority of the party can rally around (e.g., universal health care), and unapologetically advocate for their positions.