Last night a guest on one of the Air America Radio shows quoted Franklin Roosevelt’s stark description of the Republicans of the day. FDR said they were “frozen in the ice of their own indifference.” My parents lived through those times, and my mother related stories that merged with my own study of the period to suggest Roosevelt was correct, that corruption of the distinctly American principle of government for the common good sent the Republican Party into a tailspin. It took two decades for it to recover

When the Republican ranks finally cleansed itself of those corrupt influences, it was able to regain the respect of the people, and forward-thinking men guided by core American conservative principles were given the opportunity to lead. Both Eisenhower and Nixon were the embodiment of what I think of as “Progressive American Conservatism.” The intelligent use of government and the People’s Purse for the common good as expounded in the preamble of our constitution:

“…to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence [sic], promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity…”

But in the end poor Nixon went mad. Overcome by his megalomania, he lost his office and he lost the people. But the real tragedy of Nixon’s disgrace was that he so weakened the Republican party that those same corrupting cliques regained their foothold. Ultimately they seized the reins of power and united behind a clever spokesman, Ronald Reagan, who preached a subtle disestablishmentarianism cloaked in faux populist rhetoric. I voted for Reagan over Daddy Brown for Governor of California. I thought the state needed “change.” We got change alright, we witnessed Reagan’s decimation of the University of California system over the ensuing years. Watching California’s crown jewel decline into near-mediocrity was an eye-opening and heart-breaking experience.

For the past eight years of retirement I have focused as a keen student of America and her marvelous government. Now I must ask if we have not come full circle? I fear that Mr. Roosevelt’s observation is once again valid, but this time it seems that Republicans and Democrats alike are frozen in the ice of their own indifference. I think it is important now that we question our elected representatives, whether Republican, Democrat, Independent or Green, about their core beliefs. Since my (Blue Dog) Democratic congressman, and Republican senator are both asking for my vote this November, I feel they are obliged to explain their theories of ethical governance. To that end I have written to them with a single question that I posed to them in both narrow and general terms.

In the context of the current economic downturn and the housing credit crisis, I pose my question as follows:

Government of, by and for the people has declared that it must and should open the People’s Purse to bail out bankers and speculators who failed in their due diligence out of greed. Please make me understand why we must not and should not do the same for those people who failed in their due diligence out of yearning for the American dream.  

In a broader context, I put the issue this way:

Government of, by and for the people has declared that it must and should open the People’s Purse to insure the economic health of multinational corporations. Please make me understand why we must not and should not do the same to insure the physical health of our Nation’s greatest asset – her people, our citizens, ourselves.

These are fair questions that we have both the
right and duty to ask. They go to the very core of the ethics and morality of
governance. But we must be prepared to reject any recitation of proposals made
or supported, and snub the inevitable litany of partisan talking points void of
critical analysis or factual basis. It is their core principles, and how they apply
them to any particular issue of governance, that we must understand. Make them
proclaim their principles so that we may hold them accountable now and in the
future.