Hello moderates,
It's me, your friendly neighborhood liberal. I just wanted to drop you a line and point out one of those glaring moments in history where we see an example of Republican ideology play out before our eyes. And so now I'm going to say something that's really going to leave you scratching your head: Republicans LOVE Europe. What? You heard me. Didn't you know that Michelle Bachmann was planning to become a dual Swiss citizen until the media got a hold of the story and it started to tarnish her patriotism credentials? True story. But that's not really what I'm getting at. I'm really talking about state rights, and the Republican desire to return more power to the states. Please follow me over the fold to see what I'm talking about.
What do we see happening in Europe right now. Oh, I'm sure it's all very complicated and has a lot to do with derivatives and financial markets and currency and egos and blah blah blah. Once someone says derivatives, at some level we all need to find a "dumbed-down" simplified way of talking about it anyway. What's the core of their problem. Time and time again I think the analysts settle on this idea of Europe needing a central bank and a strong sense of Federalism if they're going to be a healthy sustainable Union. And the rich countries in Europe realize that it's in their best interest for that to be the case. However much Germans might resent the Greeks (even though the Germans got their own international bailouts throughout the early and mid 20th Century), they don't want to see the European Union collapse. They know they're richer if it doesn't.
But in Europe, we actually see the Republican wet dream playing out right in front of us. Why don't we give more power to the various American states to regulate their own societies, their own economies, their own laws? Why? Because the current global financial realities would destroy us if we did. In a global economy like ours, who wins? The BIG boys. China, India, the USA, Europe. The bigger you are, the bigger your swagger, largely because you've got the biggest companies, the biggest industries, the biggest banks, etc. The eternal question is how to balance all that and make it sustainable, how to reign in the big dogs and keep them on a shorter leash so they're always pulling you forward, but not too chaotically.
But what happens if the social and cultural conglomerates we call Unions start breaking up in terms of their cohesiveness? What happens when differences in law, debt, worker's rights, lifestyles all start actually impacting the economy without a strong Federalism within said Union?
Europe happens.
State's rights over Federalism. State bullying over Democratic Federalism.
So while Republicans and Tea Partiers go on and on throughout the summer about state's rights and state powers and how bad it is for us to have a stronger Federalism ala the Democrats, this is a message to all you moderates who still make a habit of thinking logically.
This is a global economy.
Germany has about 80 million people. England has 50. Italy and France have about 60 each. California has about 40. Texas has about 25. Florida has 20.
Greece has 11 million people. Georgia (the state) has 10 million people.
Do we really want one state, one Georgia to bring the United States to its knees because of problems in their debt or because they were prayed upon by Texas' banks and their banking practices (ie Germany's banks)?
Europe may see negative growth over the next few years while they grapple with not having a strong Federalism - ie a set of cultural and social units they call countries that are about equivalent in size to two our our states (and sometimes only one) that are governed by a strict set of Federal rules at the national level.
That's the system that Republicans want here. That's why I say they secretly love Europe. Europe chose to be largely more socialist-leaning than we are (and bless their hearts for it), but they gave their "states" the right to decide for themselves.
But that doesn't work in a global economy if you want to remain top dog.
Not with China on the horizon.
If moderates want the Tea Party and Republicans to hold us hostage over the debt ceiling and implement austerity programs like they did in Europe, if they want to see more local rights over a strong Federalism capable of competing with China (rather than cannibalising each other), then they can certainly vote that way.
I just don't think they will.
It's all relative folks. The dirty secret is that Republicans like a lot of the way Europe works as a "Union." But of course it's the part of Europe that obviously doesn't function very well at all.
A strong sensible practical Federalism is the way forward. Moderates and liberals can't afford (literally cannot afford) to be held back by these Tea Party types in 2012.
It's killing us, especially in the pocketbook.
The US will see about 2% growth over the short term, maybe a bit more. That's sustainable. Beware of wolves promising fast, slick, greasy-haired paced growth (Romney). We've seen where that leads. Europe may see negative 2% growth. They tried austerity. They tried local rights over Federalism.
Republicans want to do what Europe is doing.
Americans should go a different way. We always have, this time it's right.
I hope all you moderates out there agree.
Sincerely,
Your friendly neighborhood liberal.