Hoeflich's Hokum

It was the part of America which had always been most “radical”— that indefinite word, which probably means “most critical of piracy.” - Sinclair Lewis, It Can't Happen Here


Lawrence Journal-World columnist Mike Hoeflich has an opinion piece today entitled "Something's wrong in Kansas." Hoeflich is not happy with the direction Governor Sam Brownback and his fellow "radical" Republicans are taking Kansas, and he wants readers to know that he is darn angry about it. Unfortunately, angry people often make ridiculous comments because their emotions overpower their thinking.

After noting that he is angry, Hoeflich writes, "The lives and welfare of Kansans depend upon the actions of the Legislature." Think about that. Hoeflich believes that your life and your welfare depend on the actions of 125 part-time legislators in Topeka. Apparently, Hoeflich believes the legislature controls our lives. "Control," after all, is defined as "the power to influence or direct people's behavior or the course of events." Of course, the more money governments have, the more power they have to exercise this control. This could very well explain why Hoeflich is so angry that "Revenues in April fell substantially from those that had been projected."

Hoeflich also offered the obligatory, left-winger's nod to former Senator Bob Dole. "Senator Dole was known for his willingness and ability to make compromises 'across the aisle' in order to ensure that government did its job of serving the people," Hoeflich writes. Of course, Dole did most of that compromising while he was a member of the minority in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Also, note that Dole compromised our way to a multi-trillion-dollar national debt. Dole's compromises were much like a compromise between water and arsenic.

Hoeflich then went on to criticize ideology. "Ideology has replaced politics," he writes. "Ideology has replaced sound economic and fiscal policy. Ideology has replaced common sense."

Left-wingers have this odd belief that those with differing points of view are ideological, while they are pragmatists with common sense. David Axelrod made this claim regarding Barack Obama in 2009. "I think President Obama is a committed, practicing nonideologue," Axelrod said. "He's consumed neither tactics nor ideology. He is more concerned about outcomes than he is about process and categorizations." Of course, this is the same Obama who during the 2008 primaries said he would not lower the capital-gains rate even though that would raise more revenues because it wouldn't be "fair." That is what an ideologue would say.

Of course, we all have an ideology, which, after all, is merely "a system of ideas and ideals, especially one that forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy." Some of us are conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians, while others are liberals, progressives, socialists, and even liberal fascists. Without the ideas and ideals that make up an ideology, you would have politics replacing ideology. We saw an example of this when Dole ran for president in 1996. While speaking at a campaign event, Dole said, "I'll be anything you want me to be; I'll be Ronald Reagan if that's what you want."

Of course, Dole could never be Ronald Reagan. Reagan was a strong leader with a conservative ideology; Dole was merely a politician with no ideas or ideals.