By museandpan
My blog’s domain name deserves an explanation. Muse is the Greek goddess of art, while Pan is the Greek god of nature: pastures, flocks, and forests, specifically. This blog is the meeting of art, writing, and our baser collective nature known as politics. “If people were angels,” Madison observed, “no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern folk, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary” (Federalist Number 51, 1788). We are not, to our knowledge, angels. Then, again, we are not entirely Pan-like.
My aim is to raise questions and provoke thought, although both are often taken care of by the actions of my subject. For example, is the Republicans’ lone desire to “Just say no”? The phrase, catchy as it is, is too naive for the purposes of governing. Refusing to compromise on consumer protections in purposed legislation to regulate the banking industry is a fine example of this. What does it gain to shut the door on consumer protection? Is there some greater need served or is this another case of entangling our government in further tactics of delay? I fear it is the latter. This type of choice (this overarching strategy) serves little purpose, except to confirm our ever-deepening sense of cynicism.
What do you believe? Are the Republicans being too obstinate?
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