Abandoned by policies of Bush administration

Ronald M. Kelly
Published: April 3, 2008

Like the rest of us in the American middle and working classes, James Simpson, unfortunately, finds himself (figuratively speaking) in the Emergency Room awaiting treatment after having been beaten, robbed, stripped, humiliated, violated and abandoned by the “conservative” policies of the Bush administration during the past seven years. But, strangely, unlike many of us, he does not seem to be bothered by the fact that his assailants are still at large, out on the streets, and are still victimizing even more of his fellow citizens. 

On the contrary, Mr. Simpson seems more worried that a new sheriff-in-town (A liberal? A Democrat?) may actually put a stop to these activities or even bring some of these thugs to justice. He seems more worried that the doctors and nurses (health care reformers) may actually do something to alleviate his suffering. In his understandably delusional state (considering what has happened to him),
James Simpson is impressed by a French voodoo economist, Frederic Bastiat, who thinks that “bad” economists restrict themselves to visible effects while “good” economist consider the unseen.

It’s a very interesting idea, whatever it means. But I kind of wish, given the high cost of so many of the “visible” problems that beset us (gas prices, the weakened dollar, the housing bubble, the financial meltdown, the $10 trillion debt, the quagmire in Iraq, etc.), that some of the “bad” economists out there might have helped us avoid these disastrous laissez-faire, guns-n-butter, borrow-n-spend policies. I do agree that there is a heath care crisis, that something must be done and that another huge, government entitlement program is not a good idea. 

But we have to use our brains, not our knee-jerk attitudes, to find a solution, though it may upset a lot of entrenched interests. We should not be too hard on Mr. Simpson, though, considering that he, too, has been traumatized by years of ill-use and abuse at the hands of some very bad people.

RONALD M. KELLY

Manassas