On November 7, "Sunday Morning," CBS’s news magazine program, contributor Ben Stein offered his reaction to the mid-term elections. The so-nerdy-he’s-popular commentator threw his analysis into the ring by saying, “Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss.” Stein is also an economist, former presidential speechwriter and writer of the film, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.
CBS News.com posted the entirety of Stein’s comments with the header, “Stein Says Change on Election Night Doesn’t Mean Politicians Have Changed Their Tune — and They’d Better.” His comments centered on his four reasons for having no reason to believe that 2010 marked a significant change. Those were that he’s heard all this before, his caution about believing that Republicans can both cut spending AND create jobs, his concern for the future of African-American youth, and that not one candidate mentioned the real heroes — the Americans fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq:
Well, we now know we’ve had a major GOP landslide. While I enjoyed the elections because I am a Republican, I went away from the TV Tuesday night with a sense of unease, for four main reasons.
First, I have heard all of promises from politicians that they will put the good of the people above their own good now for about 55 years.
They almost never do, and I have no reason to believe that the year 2010 has seen a dramatic change in human nature.
"Meet the new boss," says the great song, "same as the old boss." That boss isn’t Wall Street or the unions. The boss is personal self-interest — and that doesn’t change.
Second, I know the GOP players are all good people. But they promise to both cut spending AND create jobs. It sounds good, and I believe it can work … in the long run. But in the short run, there will be intense pain. Is the party ready for the public anger over that pain?
Third, we have a huge, super problem in this country in addition to the recession. That problem is the predicament of African-American youth. Their teenage unemployment rate is 45 percent. They too often face failing schools and extremely difficult home situations.
I did not hear one word on Election Night about helping these people to rescue themselves. Yet, this must be done if this nation is to survive, and it has to be done, because these desperate youth are American citizens the same as people in Beverly Hills or on Park Avenue.
But the thing that made me most angry on Election Night is that I did not hear one candidate — not ONE — mention Afghanistan or Iraq. Our fighting men and women are in harm’s way there. Some come home without legs and arms, and some come home in caskets.
These heroes and their families are the real stars, making the real sacrifices for us. Attention must be paid, and Tuesday night would have been a good time to start.
So, let’s start today. God bless those guys, the real stars.
About the old boss and the new, Stein’s comments go directly to the heart of many Americans’ concerns that even though a partisan shift has occurred, there won’t be any real change in policy direction.
While Stein’s observation that the “boss” is personal self-interest, it calls to mind comments of the late Carroll Quigley, Georgetown University professor and author of Tragedy and Hope. In his 1966 tome, about bosses of another kind he wrote:
The argument that two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one, perhaps, of the Right and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to doctrinaire and academic thinkers. Instead the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can "throw the rascals out" at any election without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy.
He was referring to the largely unknown establishment agenda of working toward a one-world government that doesn’t have the best interests of a sovereign America in mind.
Perhaps Stein is of a mind that Quigley was right, and that the throwing out of old rascals would result only in the same old new ones having been elected.
Stein pointed out another idea few are talking about. The almost inevitable consequence of regaining our liberties is the economic withdrawal that must be endured. Stein’s is one of few voices calling for a willingness to do the hard work, whatever that is, and knowing that it isn’t going to be easy.
Many Americans are hopeful about the new Republican leadership, others cautious. Either way, it’s prudent to remember that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
