Could this be a reason why things seem to be getting worse instead of better?

I’m a real fan of the cartoon strip, Doonesbury. It’s a political strip and I agree with most of the opinions there. The strip usually has a weekly ‘theme’ for six days between the large versions in the Sunday comics. This week, Doonesbury has resurrected a fictional GOP Congressperson, Lacey Davenport. Lacey is what Doonesbury author Gary Trudeau seems to wish politicians were like. I agree. Ah, if only . . . .

This week, Doonesbury is flashing back to Lacey’s role in Congress in deregulating the banks in the 80’s, before the Savings and Loan crisis. You know … the one McCain helped to create as one of the Keating Five. When it all came apart in a stunning preview of today’s financial crisis, Lacey acknowledges her error in helping to create the rules that let it happen and resigns.

There’s a word for that. It’s called “accountability.”

Flash forward again . . . About a month ago, Alan Greenspan, the Federal Reserve Chairman in charge during the entire buildup to the historic cratering of our financial system testified before Congress. He said he was “partially” wrong to resist regulation of some securities.

Oh yeah? Ya think?

That’s as close as I’ve seen to anyone actually being accountable.

A few days ago, McCain economic advisor and deregulator-in-chief (when he was in Congress) Phil Gramm was quoted as saying that, “The markets have worked better than you might have thought.” Bush has been defending deregulation in speeches this week too. His message is, blame everyone except the free market (and Bush).

And Rush Limbaugh says Liberalism is a religion!!

This lack of accountability is a constant in Bush’s many disasters.

Who has actually been held accountable for the mess in Iraq or the failure to actually stop Osama?

They went down to a third level nobody to find a sacrificial lamb for the failure in New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina. And he said he wasn’t guilty either.

Bush has never expressed any regret for the massive budget overruns, the horrible balance of payments deficits, or the fact that America’s name is dirt around the world now.

I get ill whenever I see that stupid, “What? Me Worry?” face on TV.

It’s not limited to just Bush! The Republicans in Congress just elected new leadership. The big change is that they’re even more right-wing than the old ones. After eight years of failure of this kind of thinking (and two huge election losses) they have concluded that what we need is more of it.

Social scientists agree that the first step in recovering from a behaviorial problem like alchoholism or gambling addiction is to admit that you have a problem. It seems to me that we have yet to take that first step.