Politics As Usual

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by baltassoc
I think I agree with you here, somewhat.

I was shocked when so many Congressional members from Texas voted against NAFTA, for example. It seemed very principled (if, well, stupid), since clearly Texas stood to gain more than any other state from free trade with Mexico.

But I'm not talking about pork (and I don't really consider NAFTA pork). Republican reps from the South will fight just as hard as any to keep an unneeded army base open in their constituency. I'm talking about Republicans running on promises to eliminate all welfare in districts with double digit unemployment rates (and winning by huge majorities). I'm talking about running on school vouchers in communities that have failing public schools and no possible way to create viable private ones (school choice only really works where you have enough people in a close enough area such that one can have more than one choice).

These may or may not be the right choices for America as a whole, but they sure are dumb for the person pulling the lever.

Don't disagree, but I also agree that you're not talking about pork.