It seems to be shrinking. Like the ice caps.
Here at Liberadio(!), we had high hopes after the bittersweet moment of Election Day 2008, where Democrats and progressives were jubilant at the election of President Obama but frustrated at the loss of both state houses of the General Assembly to Republicans for the first time since Reconstruction. Our hopes were high because, despite Tennessee’s electoral contrarianism, we had a pair of Republican Senators who did not seem to take cues from the Inhofe/Palin/Limbaugh/Beck wing of the party.
They were heady days in early 2009, when we saw former Sec. of Education and now Tennessee’s senior U.S. Senator Lamar(!) Alexander join current Sec. of Education Arne Duncan in co-writing an op-ed for The Tennnessean on the importance of improving Tennessee’s charter schools laws. This was meaningful bipartisanship. It was almost—dare we say it?—statesman-like.
Our hopes, however, have since been dashed. It was not long before Lamar(!) was using Glenn Beck math in a prelude to boycotting bipartisan committee meetings.
And once he had set foot on the slippery slope of being a member of Republican leadership in an era in which true leadership seems to be in hiding, it wasn’t long before he had slid down into the depths, where he saw fit (with the blessing of advisers?) to repeatedly call Medicaid a “medical ghetto.”
“Or arrogant in its dumping of 15 million low-income Americans into a medical ghetto called Medicaid that none of us, or any of our families, would ever want to be a part of for our health care.”
We’re left wondering whether he feels similarly about all government services, including public education.
Now we discover that he’s “quietly” trying to provoke teabaggers into another wave of astroturf town halls.
We can and should advocate for effective government, but achieving this model must always be done in recognition that there is a group of people, now including Lamar(!), that hate government and want to see it fail. We want to see good governance and a sound legislative process that attracts the best and the brightest to the domain of public policy. We want programs that are well-run so that they serve the American people well. With detractors and obstructionists like Lamar(!) thinking that his family is too good for government services, success is made difficult but not impossible. Fortunately, there are 100 Senators, and Lamar(!), should he choose to stand (a process requiring a spine) for re-election, will be up again in 2014.
We proudly present the 2009 Liberadio(!) Jive Turkey Award to… Lamar! Congratulations, sir. We hope that you and last year’s winner Bill Hobbs will enjoy cigars at the reception. The buffet table will be full of leftovers.
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