This week, we welcome to Agent Genius Ken Montville of College Park, MD who will be bringing a fresh voice to the Sunday Political column. Ken is a highly respected Realtor who is actively blogging to serve his community well with his focus on news, stats, and practical advice for home buyers and sellers.
We invite you to pour a cup of coffee, tune your television to the talk show circuits this morning and read the fine lineup, kicked of by Ken who makes no apologies for his leanings. Please welcome Ken in the comments section and don’t forget to opine on his debut post (whether you agree or disagree)!)
This week in politics
It looked like a good week for the “‘Just Say No’ to Everything” party when they were able to convince voters in New Jersey and Virginia that their guys had what it takes to run things. Yeah, they lost one of the safest Republican seats in the country after they threw one of their own under the bus but, hey, it was only the largest Congressional District east of the Mississippi and not that important after all.
Yeah, “the Sarah” did a little promotional work and de facto Republican head honcho and, certainly, the loudest screamer Rush “I’m not on drugs anymore” Limbaugh was on the airwaves shouting about how moderate Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava was “screwing every RINO [Republican In Name Only] in the country”. The important thing was that two governorships fell into the Republican column.
It was unfortunate that John Corzine of New Jersey was riddled with corruption within his own inner circle and enough local politcos were doing the perp walk to make Tony Soprano look like a Sunday School teacher. Virginia’s Governor is term limited and the Dem candidate that made a surprise win in the primary just couldn’t get the juice flowing for the general. Oh well. Maybe next time.
Will $8,000 Help if I Don’t Have a Job?
I’m sure the folks at the NAR and the State and Local Associations were all doing the end zone happy dance when the Congress passed the extension and expansion of the home buyer tax credit. Unanimous in the Senate, even the GOP didn’t want to seem like total Grinches especially since it was tied to unemployment benefits
Speaking of unemployment. It seems that we keep bleeding jobs, although at a slower rate, and the recovery everyone seems to be talking about hasn’t quite hit the home front yet. At 10.2% we’re not quite halfway to the all-time Great Depression high of 24.9% but it’s scary nonetheless. Of course, the numbers don’t count al the people who have stopped looking for work since they been out of work so long or the people that might not qualify for unemployment benefits — like Realtors®.
My libertarian colleagues would say that all these folks just need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and stop their belly achin’. After all, this is not a Socialist country and we’re just darn sick and tired of payin’ for everyone else. I want mine.
I wish it was that easy.
‘Just Say No’ to Health Care
One of the saddest parts of the unemployment story is that most of these folks will now go without any health insurance or access to affordable health care. No matter. We don’t want to become a Socialist country so let ’em get sick. We have a unified “‘Just Say No’ to Everything” party standing on the steps of the Capitol screaming about how dangerous health care reform will be.
Dangerous? Sure will be…to generous campaign contributions come 2010.
It’s really time to stop the screaming and think, just for a minute, about our society at large. Horatio Alger stories of people rising from rags to riches are nice to listen to and inspiring. The hard truth is that those are the exceptions. Millions of people in our country need help. We built our country and our society on a sense of shared values. Continued polarization takes the “United” out of “United States of America”.
A Postscript
Just a small note of remembrance and sadness for the tragedy at Ft. Hood, TX this week. My heart and thoughts go out to the families of the fallen and wounded.
