The Not So Partisan Debate

by Fredrick Hicks, President of HEG
Political Consultant, Magnolia Media

“Partisanship is our great curse. We too readily assume that everything has two sides and that it is our duty to be on one or the other.”  -James Harvey Robinson, Historian

The final votes on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the Stimulus, are in and it is law. The debate on the details rages on. Discussions about the merits of the Stimulus are probably common around dinner tables and in restaurants across the country and will be for many years to come. Most agree that if this legislation fails to deliver on its promises, America will fail to deliver on its promise of a better life for its children and grandchildren. Our great nation cannot sustain several additional quarters similar to the last five to seven we experienced at the end of the Bush (43) Administration. What then is the conflict? The debate in Washington centered on economic theories. The truth is that America entered 2009 with a huge deficit (over $1 trillion), a heavy handed federal government involved in matters of individual states, and in a downward economic spiral. The question on the table was what to do when the economy slows down. Three options emerged:

1. No intervention at all,
2. Moderate intervention, with emphasis on corporations and the market, and
3. Heavy governmental intervention.

Republicans in Washington favored either option 1 or option 2. Democrats in Washington favored options 2 or 3. Governors across the union lobbied for option 3. Twenty-two Republican (22) governors supported the Stimulus. Florida Governor Charlie Crist said in the February 16, 2009 edition of The New York Times, “‘As a governor, the pragmatism that you have to exercise because of the constitutional obligation to balance your budget is a very compelling pull’ generally.” Again he was just one of 22 Republican governors to support the stimulus. All of these governors support the Republican Party and they each supported the Stimulus. Governors Jindal and Sanford, Presidential hopefuls from Louisiana and South Carolina respectively, along with powerbroker Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour are the main Republican Governors who opposed it.

The explanation for the differences between Washington Republicans and State Capitol Republicans is simple: Republicans in Washington are removed from the suffering. Governors see the face of a deepening recession at every corner. Governors receive unemployment reports and struggle to balance ever shifting budgets. Governors do not have to travel far to put a face to the numbers in the reports. It is more difficult to cling to a long term theory when reality demands answers in the short run. As in business, with politics the three most important factors to performance are location, location, location.

Fredrick Hicks is the founder of HEG, LLC a full service management optimization firm. HEG has represented over a dozen political candidates over the last two years. Fredrick is recognized for his successful work in the 2007 Milton elections and the 2008 DeKalb County Superior Court Judge race. Please feel free to reach Fredrick at: fredrickhicks@hegllc.org