Anybody Hear a Fiddle?

I have nothing against violins, really!

I have been trying not to rant about the nonsense going on in Washington D.C. since the fiscal cliff non-event, but it is a target-rich environment that I can no longer avoid. The Republicans held a three day retreat this week before going home for the weekend. Some people wonder why folks who have a three day work week need a retreat, but I understand that Congress does not have to be in session for my elected official to be “working.” In fact, with all the arcane shenanigans that hobble true accomplishment in government, maybe not being at the Capitol leads to more work actually getting done.

Anyway, according to The Hill, the GOP went off to Williamsburg to seek unity as a party after the fractious fiscal cliff fiasco. The concept sounds great; the question becomes what they will unify around. Hugh Hewitt has a great satire of what the welcoming speech should have sounded like on his blog. Hewitt’s point is well taken: the current face of the GOP is as telling as a poker player holding a royal flush. It is unclear if they really stand for anything, which according to popular wisdom means they are primed to fall for anything.

Perhaps the poet in me makes me more attuned to curious metaphors than most, but I could not help seeing the irony of a keynote speaker at the GOP retreat being blind. Erik Weihenmayer was the first blind person to climb Mt. Everest, so there is reason to believe he can help the Republicans. They have a mountain to climb, and they have been acting as if they are blind recently. To extend the metaphor, perhaps Weihenmayer can provide a few tips regarding preparation and equipment necessary to scale the heights of the debt ceiling debate which looms before them.

As Charles Krauthamer said on O’Reilly this Tuesday, President Obama has been consistent in his approach to the fiscal problems facing the country. He has not been providing serious plans to avert the cliff or solve the bigger issues; his strategy has always been to add gasoline to the flaming factions within the Republican Party to render them impotent. Back to Hewitt’s point, the GOP has not presented any real solutions either (if you discount Ryan’s budget plan of campaign days and a few other unsupported efforts.) The best defense against Obama’s tactics would be to propose real solutions and force up or down votes in Congress. Maybe they would only be congratulated by half the country, the other half not wishing to lose their entitlements, but at least they would stand for something.

The Bible says, “where there is no vision the people perish.” We are dying out here in “Red State America.” As Dorothy said when the strange landscape of Oz overwhelmed her, “We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto.” Neither are we, if by Kansas we are referring to Cohen and Winston’s What’s the Matter with Kansas? The ideals that spawned the Tea Party seem to be forgotten or ignored in Washington these days. Just like buying a vowel on Wheel of Fortune to make sense of a puzzle, I wish we could buy an idea in the game Congress is playing. Could this be why Nero fiddled while Rome burned?