Newsletter: The Good, the Stupid, and the Evil

The Good, the Stupid, and the Evil

Conservative Washington journalist Stan Evans, a frequent columnist in Human Events magazine, tells a hilarious story of Russian legislators touring Washington to investigate our two-party political system just after the fall of the old Soviet Union. They had no idea how anything ever gets done here, since all they had known was a single-party system under which all opposition to the communist party was outlawed.

They asked Stan to explain the term "bipartisanship". He replied that in America we have not just one, but two parties - the Stupid Party and the Evil Party. The Stupid Party tries to pass stupid bills, the Evil Party tries to pass evil bills, and they fight each other tooth and nail over which gets done. Occasionally, however, they agree to pass something that is both stupid and evil.

This, Stan explained, is what we call "bipartisanship."

I've often wondered if Stan's counsel has played some role in Russia's less than successful attempts at democracy.

The 110th Congress kicked off this week with the Democrats in the majority for the first time since 1994, and everybody calling for bipartisanship.

I'm all for that, as long as we're compromising for the good of the country, in concert with the wishes of the people, instead of just the wishes of the politicians. In my 12 years in Congress, I have consistently participated in bipartisan campaigns on specific issues in which large numbers of Republicans and Democrats found agreement. I felt those campaigns were for good purposes, not stupid or evil, based on a key political barometer - they represented the wishes of the overwhelming majority of the people in our congressional district and across the country, to the best of my ability to determine it.

Among these are the Patient's Bill of Rights; tough new measures to combat our illegal immigration crisis without amnesty; and elimination of income tax and the IRS with a national sales tax. All of these issues register around 80% support in our district and much of the country. None of them have made it into law - yet.

Meanwhile, major bills that were opposed by the majority of the country did find their way into law, under both Presidents Clinton and Bush. The massive '93 Tax increase; NAFTA; Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China; CAFTA. The difference is that while these bills were bitterly opposed by the majority of the people, they were supported by the majority of politicians in Washington.

This is indeed "stupid and evil". I believe it is also the major reason the House and Senate have changed hands again, as Americans' increasing frustration with their federal government was displayed at the polls in November, just like it was in '94 after Democrats passed the biggest tax increase in world history and NAFTA in the same session.

The challenge to the new Democratic majority is whether they can break the cycle of catering to the whims of the inside-the-beltway crowd to the detriment

of the nation. If they and the Administration decide on a course of "stupid and evil", we'll soon see a revival of the Kennedy-McCain illegal alien amnesty bill and tax increases.

If they choose to follow the will of the people, we can work together to start reversing the damage from out-of-control trade deal give-ways and the outsourcing of American jobs. We'll take the necessary steps to bring our illegal immigration nightmare to an end; we'll pass a real Patient's Bill of Rights; we'll hold the line on federal taxes, and start dismantling the horrible bureaucracy of the IRS.

This is the only version of bipartisanship America can afford. If the new Democratic majority embraces it, they will have my support - and that of the American people. If not, America will have some real decisions to make about both the Stupid and the Evil party in 2008.

http://www.house.gov/list/speech/ga10_norwood/GoodStupidEvil.html