Economy the wrong angle for Sharron

I support Sharron Angle’s candidacy for U.S. Senate, but I question the wisdom of her attacks on incumbent Harry Reid. I also question her focus.
Most of her campaign ads blame Reid for Nevada’s poor economy. Her campaign blames Reid for the loss of real estate values. And the Angle campaign blames Reid for Nevada’s high unemployment.
I’m not saying that these attacks aren’t without merit; but they aren’t entirely accurate, either.
Reid alone isn’t to blame for our economy, job losses or real estate values. All of those things came as a consequence to the recession, the worst one in decades. The plain reality is that we all are to blame to some degree for the mess that our state, and our nation, is in.
The individual is to blame for reckless abuse of credit and borrowing. We are to blame for the mess we have put our own households in. I’m as guilty as the next person of buying things with credit cards.
The American public is to blame for its complacency and apathy in the political and economic process. When times are good, the public doesn’t seem to care that its actions now may have consequences later. The public has turned a blind eye on Washington, D.C., letting elected representatives do whatever they want. We’ve allowed politicians like Harry Reid to become entrenched in power, surrounded by influence and fueled by money. We are to blame for becoming so sick of politics that we just don’t want to hear about it anymore. We would rather live in blissful ignorance than know the truth and feel powerless. That is our fault exclusively.
Where Harry Reid has responsibility in this recession is his support of legislation and policies that either led to, exacerbated or perpetuated economic anemia. He is supposed to promote and provide for the general welfare of the United States; meaning as a representative, he should be supporting policies and laws that will foster and encourage growth and prosperity for all.
Instead, he has supported policies and laws that are counterproductive to the economy. For example, he supported the establishment of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac federal home loan programs. And he supported their management, which eventually became mismanagement by Reid’s own colleagues and close political allies in Washington.
It was the federal government’s insistence on providing affordable loans to low income consumers that helped lead to the mortgage catastrophe that started the recession in the first place. The mortgage industry was strongly encouraged with tax incentives, and even required in some cases, to offer products that low income consumers could afford. Nobody had any objections to the interest-only products with expiration dates offered on the market; that is, not until the real estate balloon popped. Then all of a sudden, it was the fault of greedy sub-prime lenders out to make a fast buck. Somehow, the government’s role got swept under the rug, and with it, the responsibility of our lawmakers in promoting policies that led to the real estate collapse.
Reid as Senate Majority Leader is arguably the third most powerful politician in Washington, D.C. And yet, in the three and a half years since ascending to that position, the economy in Nevada has only worsened; in spite of all the “help” that the Reid Campaign claims he sent us.
Where is the bail-out money for the numerous casinos that have closed their doors over the years? Is City Center more deserving than Fitzgerald’s?
If Senator Reid is so effective in securing pork for his state—and it’s true that he is—then why hasn’t he secured more to help more Nevada businesses from going under and to save more jobs?
I ask this question as the devil’s advocate; not because I believe the feds should be bailing private industry out. I don’t believe in doing that at all. But it has been Harry Reid who claims that no one, not even the individual like you and me, can do more for Nevada than he can. That’s his campaign slogan this year, after all.
It has been Harry Reid who has supported corporate bail-outs and throwing money at every economic problem that Nevada and the nation have faced.
And yet, despite hundreds of billions—trillions, in fact—of dollars in bail-out cash being spent to infuse the economy, the national jobless rate remains near 10 percent, consumer spending remains anemic, and venture capital investments are still on shaky ground; investors still very weary of recovery.
Huge national corporations representing their industries have had to file bankruptcy despite being bailed out by the government. In the case of the Big Three Detroit automobile manufacturers, they were bailed out twice, and still had to file bankruptcy. Vast amounts of public tax dollars and borrowed deficit wasted, and Harry Reid has been there in support of these actions.
As skilled as he is at bringing home the bacon to Nevada, he has not been able to bring home enough to lower the nearly 14 percent statewide unemployment rate to a significant degree. He has not been able to bring significant relief to the real estate market by reducing the number of foreclosures. He has not been able to bring significant relief to small, medium and large businesses struggling to stay afloat and keep their doors open. And he has not been able to bring more education dollars to his state, which is among the nation’s worst in drop-out rates, graduation rates, and test scores.
If you listen to all of the education experts these days, more money means higher quality education. Well, if that’s so, then show us the money, Harry. Where’s the beef—er, pork?
If Harry Reid is so good for Nevada, then why is his state leading the nation in many negative socio-economic categories, despite his position of power as U.S. Senate Majority Leader? If federal funding is the solution to so many of our ills, then why hasn’t Sen. Reid been able to lead Capitol Hill in the amount of pork secured for his state to help ease unemployment, save jobs, improve education, bail-out homeowners facing foreclosure, and so on?
I ask only because I personally haven’t seen where Reid’s influence has been a benefit to the state of Nevada during the recession.
Frankly, Sharron Angle’s campaign should be asking the same questions, instead of simply blaming Reid for the economy.
She is just asking to be humiliated because Reid secures pork for political purposes. The more he brings home to Nevada, the more feathers he can put in his election cap and point to when people ask, “What have you done for me lately?”
Pork is buying votes. It is bribery of the electorate. Reid knows this, so he’s going to exploit it for all it’s worth.
Angle should avoid falling into the trap, because eventually, the Reid Campaign will counter her claims that he has hurt the economy by showing the money that Reid has brought home. It is called empirical evidence, and it is difficult to refute.
Instead of outright blaming Reid for Nevada’s economic woes, the Angle Campaign should be focusing on Reid’s overall ineffectiveness as Senate Majority Leader with regard to Nevada’s economy and its dubious national distinction.
Angle ought to be focusing more on Reid the career politician, and Reid the wheeler-dealer, because that is the root of the angst these days. People are fed up with political demagogues who have feathered comfortable nests for themselves on Capitol Hill and established for themselves castles and kingdoms within the Beltway. People want citizen legislators who will be responsive to them and not patronize them.
They don’t want someone who has made a career for himself by buying support with government pork. They don’t want someone who thinks so lowly of them that he believes his constituents will vote for him just because of what he claims to have done on their behalf.
Harry Reid doesn’t listen as well these days to the voices of his constituents. He listens better to the jingle of cash.
If Sharron Angle is going to win in November, then she would do much better to focus on Reid’s obsession with money; his ineffectiveness as Senate Majority Leader toward his state’s problems; his distinction as a party mouthpiece, attack dog and, frankly, political thug; his rise to the top of national politics because of greater loyalty to his party than to the people he represents; and his corruption as a career politician rather than statesman and advocate for his state.
Those are the things that will hit Harry Reid square in the jaw and below the belt. They are the things that will make him buckle over. They are blows to his popular façade, because they are true.
But if Angle continues to simply blame Harry Reid for the economy, then she is going to lose. It isn’t hitting Harry where it hurts, but rather playing right into his hands.
Right now, he’s bluffing her with a lot of rhetoric; and if Angle isn’t careful, she’ll fold to a losing hand.