And so ends my very brief, very cursory interest in the Presidential aspirations of Jon Huntsman, a pro-environment and pro civil unions moderate that I wasn’t necessarily willing to vote for but who I felt could lead.
Huntsman was, it seemed, a man who stood apart from the field of expressionless faces and empty suits. The rank and file Conservatives or reformed moderates too afraid to stand by their principles. He is among them now, reaching for the approval of the GOP’s self made chieftains. The party of tea, the holder of purse strings, and granter of legitimacy.
You see, candidate Huntsman favors the notion of a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget. A conservative concoction that sounds reasonable on its face. Hell, I rather like the idea of a balanced budget. I may even be in love with the thought of this government not spending more than it takes in. It is a splendid plan. Alas when Man says plan, God, invariably says ha.
Hurricanes happen, as do tornados. The ground shakes, and the rivers swell, and when that happens people need help and the federal government needs the flexibility to help them. The same can be said for the economy and I don’t think its bluster to say the effects can be just as ruinous, though perhaps more subtle.
I think people realize this, I think that most Republicans, even Conservatives accept this as true because I believe in the unifying majesty of a fact and I believe that the need for fiscal flexibility in response to a disaster is one of those unmistakable facts.
Jon Huntsman, former Governor of Utah and Ambassador to China now aligns himself with those who run from that fact, run on their objection to it and he does this either because he doesn’t get it, or he doesn’t have the scruples to say that he does.
This is a nation of individuals, with separate dreams, goals, obligations, and beliefs all assembled under one flag. We are not a business, not a for profit entity and we cannot afford to operate as if that is untrue.
Without the flexibility to borrow in times of need, the ability to raise revenue by raising taxes on certain segments we will continue our march away from our place as a land of equal opportunity, a land of compassion, and a land of prosperity. America newly remade into a shadow of its former self.
The gutters of this country have never been a particularly rewarding place to live and it is about to become so much worse as those gutters deepen, as they widen, ready to entrap more victims. Souls that have lost their way in the endless swirl kicked up by greed’s tireless reach.
Now some will say that this nation is favored above all others and that our people just need to reverse the plague laziness and pull themselves up by their bootstraps. They say those titans that get bushels of rewards while millions pick rot off the vine must be free to create wealth and opportunity once more as if they weren’t already hoarding profits.
We can't listen to the chortles that emanate from on high, or those who are misguided and misdirected by the sound and the fury that money buys any longer.
Those that value black ink over the sanctity of the red blood that flows through the real, live humans that comprise this country are shooting this nation toward the third world in a cannon. When they or their designated acolytes cast themselves as saviors, cast themselves as fit to lead they demonstrate a lack of capability to do so and we must call them on it and rally with unified voices toward keeping them out of the halls of power.
Scruples and capability are all that I ask for in a Presidential candidate, something every pursuer and even the present office holder lacks. Now Jon Hunstman is just like everybody else, someone blind to what the American dream has become and what it needs to be.
Event: MoveOn.org is planning a launch event that speaks to this broken today and the bent tomorrow that we are set to leave our children with.
The Rebuild the Dream campaign with Van Jones, The Roots, and other special guests officially kicks off June 23rd at 8:15pm eastern time. You can live stream the event and find out more about this campaign here. I’ll have more on this campaign and how it affects 99ers in the coming days.
