Well, you were wondering ..

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Republican agenda revealed
by kos
Thu Jun 01, 2006 at 06:23:44 PM PDT
It's a local story from Lincoln, Nebraska, except that it offers us an insight into the Republican mind. And that makes it a universal, national story.



The mayor said she wanted specifics, so City Councilwoman Robin Eschliman gave her specifics about where she would cut the city's budget.

After a semi-scolding in a memo from Seng about how generalities don't help with budget-cutting, Eschliman responded with a list of specific budget cuts she supports, largely based on a survey she did over the winter. Here are a few areas in which she said she'd support "substantial cuts":

* Merit pay increases for city employees

* Swimming pools, unless attendance goes up

* Bus routes

* Expenditures involving water runoff, flood plain issues, etc.

* Libraries, unless usage is increasing

* Capital improvements to parks

* Funding for the Women's Commission; she suggests moving it under the umbrella of another department.

When contacted by the Journal Star about her letter, Eschliman said it was mistakenly released to the public and was only a preliminary list.



The New Nebraska Network pounced:



Though many Republicans are ideologically opposed to the above sorts of spending, it's rare indeed that one will come right out and tell families that they should go without popular services that government has long had an essential, oftentimes exclusive, role in providing.

When Eschliman talks about substantially cutting funds for public parks, libraries, and swimming pools, she's just being honest about the Republican party's priorities. It just so happens that when Republicans are honest about these things, they reveal themselves as completely out-of-touch with mainstream voters and their values.

Sure, people like to complain about paying taxes, but not to the degree that they're willing to give up those things that so enrich our quality of life and give our communities character. Eschliman and her like may prefer to see that money returned to citizens for investment in real estate and the stock market, but real people accept and embrace these limited trade-offs of their private gain for the public good .... a concept the true Republican ideologue simply can't grasp.



That's just the thing. Republicans will talk a good game about returning money to taxpayers, yadda yadda, but they are hard pressed to make the cuts. Because ultimately, at the end of the day, people like things like parks and swimming pools and libraries. Republicans may consider such things "non-essential", but most people consider those places community hubs.

So Republicans, when in power, cut taxes and starve government, but they rarely have the balls to actually cut popular programs. Because if they did, that would be the end of their political careers. And when their agenda sees the light of day, like it did in Lincoln, Nebraska, Republicans find every excuse to disavow that agenda.

If conservative ideology has supremacy in this country, why do conservatives hide in the shadows? If people really wanted government stripped to the bone, why not proudly display that agenda in all it's glory?

The "why" is easy. Republicans are afraid to reveal their true stripes.

Just another manifestation of Republican cowardice.