Friday, December 31, 2010

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

No Labels - More Centrist Failures

I found this article by Adam Bitely at getliberty.org to be compelling.

By Adam Bitely

“No Labels” launched on Monday morning with a conference in New York City featuring a “who’s who” of failed closet-liberal politicians attempting to create a fabricated movement in an attempt to make their agenda relevant. The “No Labels” agenda — which appears to be to campaign that voters are irrational for not electing Big Government politicians — has already failed to gain traction amongst the electorate around the nation. The election results on November 2nd, 2010 indicate just that.

The “No Labels” roll out featured politician has-beens such as Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE), Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN), Rep. Bob Inglis (D-SC), former Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), and exiting Governor Charlie Crist (I-FL). All of these politicians have been tossed out by the electorate or read polling data that indicated they were rather unpopular in their districts or state and decided to save themselves from the embarrassment of losing at the voting booth. Mike Castle specifically, who lost his bid for the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate in Delaware this past September, indicated that the voters in his state were irrational to go against his support of Big Government projects like Obama’s “stimulus” and the bailouts.

The politicians at the “No Labels” launch spoke much too frequently about “hyper partisanship” that is spiraling out of control while failing to acknowledge that it is they that have led to the problem that they plan to tackle. The nation is too divided they argue, and “No Labels” will allow the “radical center” to have a voice at the table of government.

The folks behind “No Labels” must have missed the fact that a solid majority of independent voters sided with tea party movement influenced candidates in November that promised to put an end to the political establishment that runs the government. Independent voters rejected the politicians that are the very symbol of the Washington political establishment that “No Labels” is comprised of.

While the use of the words “hyper partisanship” (it felt like every speaker mentioned this at least three times a minute) and “starting the conversation” ran wild throughout the “No Labels” launch conference, fiction and myth ran even wilder.

For instance, one of the speakers in the evening program at the “No Labels” launch referenced a “hyper partisan gridlock” that is allegedly out of control in D.C. This person was obviously asleep for the past two years while Democrats ran Congress with solid majorities while simultaneously controlling the White House. No such gridlock existed. But don’t expect the folks at “No Labels” to correct the record.

Further, the politicians that were showcased throughout the event have been running the government in DC that they were critical of throughout the event. These politicians are the problem, and definitely are not the solution.

At one point, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg criticized the Founding Fathers for being wealthy landowners while attempting to make a point that there is a severe problem that only the wealthy have access to government power. Mayor Bloomberg must have forgotten the size of his own bank account, being a billionaire and the wealthiest politician in America. He must have also forgotten that he had the law changed that would have prevented him from running for a third term, which would have allowed a new, fresh voice to run the city.

While it is nice to think that politicians will come together in Washington to fix America’s problems while setting aside political differences, it is naïve to believe that “No Labels” will achieve any meaningful successes. If the establishment politicians that pranced around the “No Labels” conference were truly serious, they could show us by first removing any party labels they use and then actually focus on getting the nation back in fiscal order.

Such organizations like “No Labels” are just another tool in the D.C. political establishment’s shed of political tactics used to deceive voters in to believing the myth that they are doing the work of the people. The politicians behind “No Labels” are the same politicians that have run the nation into the ground.

If Americans fall for this front group, the nation will be in serious trouble.

Adam Bitely is the Editor-in-Chief of NetRightDaily.com.