Op-Ed Columnist

Making Ignorance Chic

By MAUREEN DOWD

Published: October 19, 2010

[SNIP]

On Saturday, at a G.O.P. rally in Anaheim, Calif., Palin mockingly noted that you won’t find her invoking Mao or Saul Alinsky. She says she believes in American exceptionalism. But when it comes to the people running the country, exceptionalism is suspect; leaders should be — as Palin, O’Donnell and Angle keep saying — just like you.

In Marilyn’s America, there were aspirations. The studios tackled literary novels rather than one-liners like “He’s Just Not That Into You” and navel-gazing drivel like “Eat Pray Love.” Walt Disney’s “Fantasia” paired cartoon characters with famous composers. Even Bugs Bunny did Wagner.

But in Sarah’s America, we’ve refudiated all that.

Read the Full article at NYTimes.com
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I agree with Maureen Dowd. 

Complexities of today's world require that we have at the helm people who are highly knowledgeable, intelligent and smart well beyond street smart, able and willing to put in extended hours of work for the country while keeping their nose clean.


Much of the ailment facing the country has come from the rich becoming richer and not in the frame of mind to create more jobs in the US.  Solving this requires serious structural adjustments that I do not see Republicans doing in this economy.

It is necessary for the US economy that jobs be created in the US and not in China and India. This needs to happen near-term -- and there is no easy way to make this happen other than with legislation, especially tax-related.  That would certainly immediately shift job creation to the US.   Do you see Republicans levying taxes on non-US payroll and non-US revenues?

It is necessary for the US economy that US businesses invest very heavily in R&D.  Do you see businesses investing in R&D? I dont.  I do not expect they do without significant tax incentives.  I hoep the government ties all taxes and tax incentives to job creation in the US.  I am seeing that the Dems have already said yes to R&D tax benefits... without ties to job creation. Do you see Repubs doing better on job creation on this account?  Somehow, I do not. Tell me I am wrong.

The wave of Tea Party has no proposals for job creation. Albeit small in force, as a new trend, the Tea Party college will wag the GOP elephant's tail. But without job creation as an agenda item and some serious thoughts going into that you will not see new jobs,,, nor any restraint on things like derivative trading.


-- Edited by Sanders on Wednesday 20th of October 2010 01:45:43 AM