Baraka_Guru

The Republicans haven't been fiscal conservatives for decades. Any Republican criticism of Obama is a criticism of how he's handling what is, in large part, a mess of their making.

I mentioned this while Obama took office: it is like taking over driving a car that's already heading over a cliff. There is only so much the new driver can do in reaction to what is already a reckless and devastating situation. If the car does indeed go over and crashes into a burning heap, Obama and the Democrats are hardly deserving of most of the blame.

If the Republicans want lessons on fiscal conservatism, they should look at the governance of the Conservative Party of Canada. Though their methods are often questionable, their goals are as close to fiscal conservatism as one should expect.

George W. Bush wasn't a fiscal conservative. He had the opportunity to balance budgets, but he decided to play war instead. That makes him a war hawk. I can't think of any modern Republican president that even remotely resembles the fiscal leadership of the current Conservative Party. I'd really like to compare apples to apples—you know, conservatives to conservatives—but this comparison feels awkward.

The Republican Party is in shambles. They're destructive and need to regroup and jettison the worst of them. Failing that, the best thing for America is to avoid handing them any meaningful power of office.

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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot