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cloudboy -> RE: The Oil Spill (6/8/2010 8:53:39 PM)
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It's a highly political issue.
After eight (8) years of the Bush administration, which staunchly opposed "regulation" and let business interests actually select the regulatory heads in our federal government --- its no wonder safety regulations weren't in place when Obama took office. Furthermore, in his quest for bipartisanship and centrism, Obama did not clean house with the federal agencies that regulate big oil, and he also capitulated to the drill-baby-drill crowd.
So, this oil spill is a political-governmental failure.
As I see it Republican policies have failed the nation all over the place:
(1) Not regulating the financial sector and neutering the SEC contributed to an economic meltdown.
(2) Tax cuts have not been the private sector driven, economic panacea promised. The US economy ran aground awash in tax cuts.
(3) Unbridled militarism has been both expensive and costly. The IRAQ war has cost us $1 Trillion Dollars.
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What policies in the Republican bag of tricks will protect Americans going forward? What lesson has the Republican party learned from their failures?
Government needs to play a role in American society -- in a fashion other than national defense and law enforcement. How exactly do the Republicans plan to expand their sights beyond these two points?
And what about the bully pulpit (Obama) -- to get on Americans to do their part an conserve more energy, ride more public transport, and get away from their beloved gas guzzling automobiles?
Yes, we need to clean up the spill, but more importantly we need to look to the causes of the spill and make some permanent changes in our policies.
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