Watching the news this morning, there were two reports on votes taken in Washington yesterday. The first one was on the Covid relief package. The second one was on police reform. Both votes were pretty much along party lines—the Democrats for and Republicans against. Both sides seem to agree that the Covid problem has hurt the economy. The argument is what to do and how much to do. I know the Republicans are conservative, and they never want to spend. It’s a good thing to watch the purse strings, but you can take it too far.
We have some good past examples of problems with the economy and how the two parties broke down how to fix that problem. The Great Depression, which ran from 1929 until the late 1930s, is something we can look at guidance. Once again, it was the Republicans who did not want to spend to help the country get out of the Depression. The Democrats wanted to spend more money. The economists I have read who wrote about the Great Depression say that the Depression could have been ended sooner with more government spending.
That’s not to say Republicans are wrong today. As conservatives, they will try to limit spending in every way possible. That’s a good thing to keep the Democrats in check. However, they should look at the other economic crises we have had and see how they were solved. Perhaps then they wouldn’t be uniformly against the spending the Democrats want to do if they knew their history. By obstructing, history tells us that our economic hurt will be prolonged. I’m sure that’s not what they want.
The Covid Bill’s vote appears to me to reflect the broad divide we have in this country. It seems no matter what the other side says or does, it’s wrong. That applies to both parties! It reminds me a bit of two children arguing, “It is.” “It’s not.” The children are so sure of their point of view they won’t even attempt to understand the other person. We need people in both parties to act as parents and help the two sides reach some agreement.
