Interior design and the Democrats

I’m one of those people who can walk into a room and instantly recognize what’s wrong with it design-wise. Thus, I can tell when the colors are off, the furniture is too this or too that, the floor plan is awkward, etc. This would be a very useful skill, and make me a fabulous interior designer, but for one little problem: I have absolutely no ability to correct the problem by coming up with a better design. Mine is a purely destructive ability. I can throw out everything that’s wrong in the room, but I’m utterly incapable of replacing it. Hire me as your interior designer and you’ll be much worse off than when you began, because you’ll end up, not with a functional room, but with nothing at all. In that way, I remind myself strongly of the Democrats.

The Democrats are excellent in the destructive area. There’s nothing in the political world today that doesn’t excite their disdain. Bush is bungling (a) the war in Iraq, (b) the war in Afghanistan, (c) Iran, (d) North Korea, (e) the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, (f) the economy [forget its current booming status], (g) American race relations, (h) managing the UN and Europe, (i) accommodating our more extreme Muslim “friends,” and so on, ad nauseum.

Let’s assume solely for the sake of argument that the Democrats are right and that Bush is making such a severe hash of the White House it would function better even if the Three Stooges were its official residents. The question then becomes what the Democrats plan to do about the situation. I haven’t heard any concrete alternatives from them.

With regard to Iraq, for example, even they must realize that abruptly pulling out of Iraq is impossible. To do so would create Ross Perot’s giant sucking sound, this time with the sucking being the sound of every radical Islamist in the world, not to mention all of Iran, hastening to create a power base in Iraq. Until the Democrats start talking about the realities on the ground, rather than re-re-deployment (or whatever euphemism they’re using now for turning tail and running), I’m going to have to go with the Republicans, figuring that any plan is better than no plan.

When it comes to the economy, the Democrats holler about unfair tax cuts and way too much Republican spending. As for the tax cuts, I can only conclude that the Democrats’ plan is to end those tax cuts and take more of my money. They wouldn’t be planning on doing this unless they were also planning on spending more of my money — which makes their legitimate complaints about out-of-control Republican spending rather suspicious.

It seems more likely, in the absence of any information to the contrary, that the Democrats want more of my money so that they can spend without restraint on their boondoggles, rather than Republican boondoggles. (And no, I haven’t heard a word about using increased tax revenues to pay down the deficit.) This is not a comforting alternative. I’d rather pay less of my money to Republican spendthrifts, as opposed to more of my money to Democratic spendthrifts. And all of this ignores the fact that the lower taxes have stimulated the economy to such an extent that, even with the lower rates, tax revenues are way hope. In other words, if Congresspeople really want more money, whether for their partisan boondoggles or to pay down the national debt, the low tax status quo is the best way to go.

And so it goes. It’s easy to criticize; it’s much harder to do something about it. Perhaps the Democrats do have an alternative vision for everything that is a subject of BDS criticism. Right now, though, I’m just getting a sense of a house stripped bare, without anything decent replacing its former furnishings.

UPDATE:  If you doubt me regarding the Dems’ inability to think constructively regarding Iraq, check out today’s Best of the Web, which runs a portion of a 60 Minutes interview with Nancy Pelosi, who, if Republican voters sit out this election, could well become Speaker of the House.