Republican Ideology in a Nutshell

Recently Mitch Daniels, Republican governor of Indiana, former George W. Bush budget director and consummate GOP insider, was on NBC's Meet the Press. This is what he had to say: Republicans believe in "an affirmative pro-growth, pro-jobs message that says everything else must take second place to that."

"Everything else must take second place."

Presumably that includes Americans having enough to eat; having adequate shelter and medical attention; getting a decent education; and living on safe streets within secure borders. Kind of what distinguishes modern America from the 19^th century version.

Also coming in second would be bridges that don't fall down; an uncontaminated food chain and clean drinking water; rivers that don't catch fire; and sufficient government to prevent chaos in a country of 312 million like the means to cope with natural disasters, terrorist attacks, oil spills and bank failures.

Now Republicans will tell you the only way to pay for all of that "secondary" stuff is to have a growing economy and full employment. I couldn't agree more…about the paying part not the secondary stuff. When Democrats do go astray it's because in their compassion they sometimes forget about the paying. But for Republicans to declare growth and jobs are the foremost objectives of the nation, second to nothing, is like claiming eating is the foremost objective of living.

Growth and jobs are merely tools, albeit pretty crucial ones, that undergird a world class standard of living. For a century we've agreed there are certain things such as workplace and product safety, a clean environment, a social safety net for our most vulnerable citizens, affordable housing, health care and higher education that take second place to nothing, not the other way around. And until the Bush tax cuts for millionaires we had figured out ways to pay for those while still growing jobs and expanding the economy.

This isn't just semantics. If, as Daniels asserts, everything else takes second place to growth and jobs that means they become ends onto themselves. If that's the case then of course adequate taxation and regulations are impediments to be discarded. Bring back the sweatshops, child labor and Pinkerton strike breakers. Pollute the skies and rivers; ditch the 40-hour work week and minimum wage. Make profits the ultimate arbiter of American values. Some would say we've already turned that corner.

Anyway, that's it! That's the nutshell. Unfettered profiteering for the few at the expense of the American standard of living for everyone else.

Sure, the country's experiencing a severe economic crisis requiring harsh but hopefully temporary measures. But if we allow Republicans to redefine national objectives in purely economic terms, hello Charles Dickens.