BOB BARR: TEA PARTY SIMPLETON FROM GEORGIA

I listened to Republican Candidate for Congress Bob Barr from Georgia this morning on Chuck Todd’s program (MSNBC). His campaign rhetoric was clear and precise. He wants to turn back the clock 240 years. Among other things, he wants to balance the budget, cut taxes, and his biggest thing was states rights or as he says, return to living as a “Federation of States” according to the Constitution. To start with, he would impeach #Obama and Attorneys General #Eric Holder. Unbelievable! The man is a simpleton; apparently, what he really wants is a government he can understand. The world is not like that; it is complex. How could #Chuck Todd even consider such a stupid man as a guest on his national TV show? I personally think it reflects on Todd’s credibility.

Let me back off from my tirade and explain to people like Barr that we have been working as a nation to shape massive numbers of laws to accommodate a growing mass of people living in an ever-increasing complex world. New York City has something like 8.4 million people “surviving” is a small area. As I keep saying to libertarians like #Rand Paul, no one can live like a hermit in #New York City—you just can’t do it. Also, we can not live like individual isolated states among 330,000,000 people divided among unequally into 50 states with and 7 billion people in 193 countries in the world. We need laws and regulations for cities, states, and for countries. We need “moral order” but that order cannot be written down in a few sentences on a small piece of paper.

It has long been appreciated that our funding fathers knew that they could not write a constitution the rigidly covered every detail of life for centuries to come. Instead, they wrote guidelines, and wrote them in general terms. We can attribute the plasticity of that document to the genius of those men. However, with plasticity comes the need for reasoned maturity in judgment, which is not easy to achieve.  

For example, go to the library of congress and compile laws that relate to interstate commerce with the idea of understanding why for 240 years courts have adjudicated states right, under the constitution. Do states have rights? Of course they do. To understand a bit of the need thus evolution of these laws by its self is a daunting task. I read a book, The First Tycoon written by #T.J. Stiles. It is a story about the life of #Cornelius Vanderbilt and his transportation empire. The underlying theme is the conflict between states, between corporations, and finally between states and corporations. Each unit was trying to maximize their economic advantage. As complex as it was, the amalgamation gave us our modern business world.

We have a constitution, and even the best minds would be overwhelmed to try to understand all of its far-reaching effects. It is my opinion that #Tea Party people like #Rand Paul and #Bob Barr have given up; they are too lazy to cope with the complexity of society; they want to live as hermits, or as they say individuals. They seem to want the political world condensed into a simple “balance the budget and cut taxes”, which is about the reach of their understanding. In contrast to having no understanding, most people in politics understand its complexity to different depths and strive to achieve what is best for everyone according to their own innate beliefs. Democrats want total equality among people and Republicans want equal opportunity for all; The Constitution of the United States, as modified by common law for over 240 years provides the guide line.

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