Brummett takes on “American exceptionalism”

John Brummett has an interesting take on “American exceptionalism” is in his Arkansas News Bureau column today. He rightly points out that Republicans are using it as a wedge issue to question Democrats’ and Obama’s patriotism and also makes the point that in some ways, the country is no longer that exceptional. However, he does include this high note near the end:

“Yet we must not despair. There remains something exceptionally rare, indeed great, about America.

“It is that we could blow up the world, but we don’t. It is that we possess the muscle to conquer and make territories of these places that we, frequently in futility, invade with our young people and military resources. But we don’t. We seek to help the people of these distant lands. We let them have their oil. We may be arrogant, but we are not cruel.”

Amen to that. Here’s what I would add: I think this attitude is a major contributor to some of our most vexing issues. “You mean, we can’t cut taxes and increase spending and still balance the budget? Why not? We’re Americans!” Also, “Of course we can transform Iraq and Afghanistan into democracies at little cost.”

Time to be more realistic about our country’s situation and make some hard choices.

Brock talks to Insurance Commissioner

Roby Brock with Talk Business talked with Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Jay Bradford this morning and posted the results on his website here.

Bradford said the state is moving forward with planning for health care reform as it was passed by Congress even though it obviously will be changed in many ways before it is implemented. He said today’s district court ruling that the law is unconstitutional hasn’t changed that.

Beebe gives spirited speech

Gov. Mike Beebe spoke to members of the Arkansas School Boards Association this morning. It’s always a speech that lauds school board members for their service and touts Beebe’s twin priorities of economic development and education, but this was a little more spirited. He sounded like a man who had just won his last (I think) campaign.

Beebe said he had been interviewed by Bloomberg News that morning about the fact that Arkansas is one of a handful of states not going dead broke, and he compared the state’s situation to its neighbors and to the federal government. “We’ve got problems, but good Lord, compared to the rest of the world, we’ve got a lot for which to be thankful,” he said.

He made a couple of cracks about the campaign and the fact that he had the money to pay for high-priced consultants and campaign staff. And he said that one of the findings of his focus groups was that Arkansans had a problem believing that Education Week had ranked Arkansas 10th in education.

Maybe that’s because Arkansans instinctively know the state still has a long way to go in certain areas, even compared to other states. But it’s true that the state is making progress. And, compared to other states, and especially the federal government, we’re not going broke, at least not now.

Natural gas industry and rural highways

My column for Stephens Media this week discusses yet another government deficit: the difference between the damage the natural gas industry is causing rural highways and the amount it is paying to fix those highways.

The Highway Department estimates the industry already has caused $455 million in damage but is paying only $30 million a year as part of the severance tax agreement that was supposed to repair those roads. You can read the column here.

Good news: The Oil and Gas Commission voted yesterday to require drillers to disclose the contents of their fracking fluid, which is the stuff they pump into the ground to make the natural gas come up. It’s mostly water, but it does include (until now unknown) chemicals. Arkansans have a right to know.

I’m not anti-drilling, but it needs to be done responsibly.

What exactly does the tax cut bill compromise?

President Obama and the Republicans have agreed to a tax cut bill because they had to, and now we’ll see if congressional Democrats agree to the deal. Media reports indicate that, in all likelihood, opponents of the plan simply don’t have the votes.

But this was no mere extension of the Bush tax credits. The deal includes a 2 percent reduction in the payroll tax that workers pay to finance Social Security. General revenues – which were $1.4 trillion in the hole this year – will supposedly make up the balance.

So we’ve exchanged using Social Security surpluses to plug part of the holes in the budget for using the budget to plug holes in Social Security. Once again, we’re compromising our future.

It never ends, does it? Until, as Greece and Ireland have found it, it has to.