South Dakota Politics

Trusting the Government

In this post, Cory over at the Madville times takes aim at Senator Thune and his claims that Americans don't trust the government. Here's some of what he has to say:

But Cory says the problem is Republicans, not government. The government can be trusted he says, if it is made up of Democrats (or, at least, that seems to me to be what he's saying).

All of these arguments strengthen Thune's claim. Even if Cory's comments are fair, and the Republicans alone are to blame for everything from terror to health care crises, leaving health care in the hands of the government might be a very bad idea. For now, Democrats control congress and the presidency. But will they always?

Probably not. This means that, while the Democrats might vote to implement this bill, Republicans may run the system later. Republicans would almost certainly fill many if not all of the appointed positions created by the plan. That's bad news if Cory is right. It's worse if he's not and I don't think he is. While Republicans do deserve much of the blame for the unbridled spending during Bush's terms in office, they are not the only culprits. Indeed, the Democrats stood right alongside them. Bush was president for two terms, but Republicans only controlled congress for one, and, indeed, many Democrats were behind some of the most expensive programs congress implemented.

As far as Bush "not preventing the worst terrorist attack on American soil in history", I'm not sure whether or not Cory is right. If we did prevent a worse attack, it didn't happen, so it would be hard to know. But blaming President Bush for his "failure" to prevent a type of attack that had never before occurred in America and took millions by surprise is, I think, a little unfair, particularly when Democrats complain about the military taking any sort of preemptive measure.

I do not blame Bill Clinton for failing to prevent the Oklahoma City bombing, which was the most significant attack on American soil until September 11th. However, if one is to blame, so is the other and appointing Democrats will not solve the problem. As for Corry's complaint that Bush did not "maintain good relations with foreign allies," Obama has snubbed our closest ally at least twice. So electing Democrats might not be the best solution to that problem either. Time will tell how Obama responds to the other problems Cory lists.

In the mean time, I think Thune is right. It is hard to trust the government when, no matter which side controls it, it has proven itself untrustworthy.

 

Thune gets "thumbs up" for energy work

Senator Thune was on the campus of South Dakota State University on Wednesday to talk about the farm bill and the use of ethanol as an alternative energy source.  The Yankton Press and Dakota gives Thune a "thumbs up" for his work on energy: 

THUMBS UP to the continued emphasis on renewable energy. U.S. Sen. John Thune's tour of the state this week focused not only on ethanol (including a tour of the Poet research center in Scotland) but also possibilities for wind energy and other alternative sources of power. This week also included a U.S. Senate field hearing in Brookings, which gave the state more exposure with its great potential as an energy exporter. Thune termed the state, including the southeast region, as the "Saudi Arabia of wind energy." Across the Missouri River, northeast Nebraska has also found success in it work with ethanol. Hopefully, such efforts can continue to thrive and take new directions.

Thune's visit on alternative energy included a stop in my hometown this week, as well.