We are Like a Dog Chasing its Tail

I never thought I would be agreeing with Michael Reagan, but he’s right. There’s just so many times that we can repeal Obamacare, revisit the different philosophical disagreements and pretty much “scrub, rinse and repeat” the same ol’ subjects’ day after day. In Mr. Reagan’s latest column, he was complaining about Sean Hannity running roughshod over selective liberals over the identical subjects' night after night. He said that was getting stale and I agree.

The different factions have been arguing gay marriage, abortion rights, immigration, sequester, gun control, and just about every fiscal policy under the sun. We’ve heard the arguments; let’s get to the solutions, keeping in mind that we can revisit the problem if we made the wrong choice.

The gay marriage or marriage equality issue will be before the Supreme Court this week but no matter how they rule it’s inevitable that gay marriage will not be an issue five years from now... The court may take a bold step and decided it as a human right issue or take the easy way out and kick it back to the states. This issue used to be stale, but I’ve noticed that the evangelicals are no longer using the scriptures to argue their case. Yesterday on Fox News Sunday, Gary Bauer was using his own set of poll numbers and saying that the latest polls are skewed. Mr. Bauer said that over 30 states voted again same-sex marriage, but that was back in 2004. I think the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) will be ruled unconstitutional because the federal government has no business defining marriage. I think California’s Proposition 8 will be kicked back to the state, but no human issue should ever be on the ballot.

There’s no use arguing about brand new gun laws anymore because the opposition to them has settled on an answer. Any newfangled gun law is a step toward confiscation, so it’s no longer about the Second Amendment. The answer to background checks is that they don’t work because criminals in will not be prevented from buying guns. The politicians know that 92% of Americans want background checks, so they inserted a poison pill like the record keeping process. They adamantly oppose any type of record keeping or time consuming background checks for private sales. A watered-down version of a universal background check is a complete waste of time and resources. Instead of doing what’s right, it’s about passing a version that can get six Democrats elected in a red state and that’s just in the Senate. There’s no telling how much more water they’ll have to add to pass a bill that will get an up and down vote in the house. Perhaps they’ll settle on a lottery where only the unlucky few will have to go through a background check.

It’s funny how politicians from both sides of the aisle know that their budgets are dead-on arrival, and that they are too far apart to be reconciled. I can’t imagine any scenario where President Obama would say, “hand me those pens, so I can sign this budget that repeals my signature legislation." President Obama is going to have to enlist the help of Houdini if he’s going to submit a budget that both sides can agree on. Lately, he hasn’t turned in one that even his own party likes. I still think jobs, and growth projects should be the emphasis in the short-term and after the economy rebounds, we should immediately turn to fixing the long-term debt.

The abortion issue is going to get attention because once a state prohibits an abortion after six weeks, it’s begging for an immediate court ruling. There’s no doubt that a ruling like that is unconstitutional and the legislators know that. They’re begging for another chance for the Supreme Court to strike down Roe v Wade.

It’s not like the committees who are working on an immigration policy don’t have a template to work from. I heard a discussion between Governor Rendell and a GOP legislator this morning. Governor Rendell asked the legislator for a definition of a secured border. The legislator tried to avoid the question but Governor Rendell kept pressing asking him why E- Verify couldn’t be the answer. The representative said that he liked Rand Paul’s idea of revisiting border security on a yearly basis. That sounds like a delaying tactic looking for a perfect solution and one that labor markets will not be able to rely on.

I hope we can come to some kind of resolution on the issues I mentioned because we still need to start a discussion about our future energy policy, climate change, education, jobs, Wall Street and tax reform while we are working on world peace..