Somebody has to do it sometime, and as much as it pains me, I volunteer to list the 10 stupidest things the Republicans have done or talked about in the past year. Whenever you take a hyperactive group of dittoheads and near-dittoheads and attempt to prune the ill-informed activities of that group to just 10, you are going to run into problems.
Here are the ones that finally made the list. My apologies to the ones that didn't.
1. The budget gridlock. If the Republicans were concerned with actually balancing the budget rather than with merely blowing hot air, they would be satisfied with setting the direction the budgets should follow rather than trying to micromanage the process for seven years.
A seven-year economic forecast is almost worthless. The Congressional Budget Office will revise its seven-year forecasts about 100 times between now and 2002. Of course, Clinton is to blame, too, at the very least for playing the Republicans' game. The difference between their plans is less than the margin of error in those CBO estimates.
2.California's Proposition 187. This poorly drafted legislation, if the courts approve it, will force public, school and hospital workers to deny services to anyone they suspect might not be a legal resident. How will a worker determine who is a resident and who isn't?
Does anyone else think this proposition will lead to rampant racism?
3.The flat-tax proposal. I agree with almost everyone, except maybe the IRS and assorted lobbies, that deductions other than those predominantly used by the middle class (such as the mortgage deduction) ought to go. But a flat tax is a crazy idea because it penalizes the middle class the most and the rich the least.
4. Refusing to discuss abortion. It has been decided that the abortion issue will not be discussed in the Republican primary.
Although I am pro-choice myself, I agree that pro-lifers have a valid argument when they contend that pinpointing when life begins is ambiguous at best. Yet refusing to even discuss this issue doesn't bode well. Anyone who has a strong ideological platform should be willing to subject it to debate.
5. Internet censorship and cyberporn. The printing press may have been first used to print the Gutenberg Bible, but for a long time after that, its main use was in the manufacturing of soft-porn literature. The Internet, at least so far, has a far better track record. The pornographic sections are reasonably insulated and can easily be blocked off by concerned parents. Why bring the government into it?
6. Oklahoma's concealed weapons act. Ever wonder why the "law and order" party keeps making the cops' jobs harder and harder?
Besides, the problem with an armed citizenry is that at times when you would merely punch someone's nose, you will shoot him.
The idea of handguns being widely owned is scary enough. We don't need them concealed.
7. The three-strikes law. California's three-strikes law has now run into a problem. Criminals are not pleading to a guilty charge, afraid of accumulating felonies that will come to haunt them later. Instead they are holding out for jury trials and lesser charges.
The courts are swamped, and increasing numbers of new jury members have to be selected. Of course, these members of the jury will have to forego work on those days, leading to lost productivity. Meanwhile, the criminals are receiving less stiff sentences. But then, who cares? As long as the conservatives can sound tough on crime.
8. The rap music ballyhoo. Dole got on his high horse and lashed out against what he perceived as filth in rap music. I, too, think rap music is filthy rot. Unlike the presidential candidate, I also believe in free speech. If a man wants to sing trash or listen to it, let him.
9. The capital-gains tax cut. If there is no tax on capital gains, can I interest the university in buying shares for me in the open market and then letting me buy the shares at a discount (equal to my salary, of course)? I can then turn around and sell it at market rates. All my income is capital gains, and I don't pay a cent in taxes.
It isn't as far-fetched as it sounds. Many companies pay some part of their employees' salaries in stock options. That portion will simply increase.
10. The recent bad weather. Oh yeah. They are to blame for that, too.