George Will On The Democratization Of Credit

"...John McCain and Barack Obama's joint declaration that Congress should "rise above politics" was mere gas. The legislation touched elemental questions - the meaning of justice, the parameters of freedom and the proper functions of government.

Democrats charge that the crisis is market failure arising from an insufficiency of government, in the form of regulation. Well.

Suppose that in 1979 the government had not engineered the first bailout of Chrysler (it, Ford and GM are about to get $25 billion in subsidized loans). Might there have been a more sober approach to risk throughout corporate America?

Suppose Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had never existed - there was homeownership before them, just not at a level that the government thought proper. Absent Fannie and Freddie - absent government manipulation of the housing market - would there have developed the excessive diversion of capital into the housing stock?

The rising generation of thoughtful Republicans was represented on both sides of Monday's vote. Virginia's Eric Cantor, 45, and Wisconsin's Paul Ryan, 38, supported the bill because they'd helped achieve substantial improvements in it (such as requiring financial institutions to help finance their bailout and eliminating a slush fund for Democratic activists). Texas' Jeb Hensarling, 51, and Indiana's Mike Pence, 49, voted against what they considered a rescue model fundamentally flawed because (in Hensarling's words) it "could permanently and fundamentally change the role of government."

It is potentially catastrophic that this crisis comes in the context of a closely contested election and a collapse of presidential authority. Congress should disconnect from a public that cannot be blamed for being more furious about than comprehending of this opaque debacle.

The public wanted catharsis, and respect for its center-right principles, and got both with Monday's House vote. It still needs protection against obliteration of the financial system."

Yes, the socialists among us tried making credit a certainty, an 11th amendment to the original Bill of Rights if you will. To them, there were 28 amendments to the Constitution, and we're not even counting the Right to kill your baby, or the Right to be gay, even. Giving away money to secure votes is far from an original scam, but this time around the democrats nearly broke the bank in doing so. But that's what they do. Having little or no core values, nary a hint of honor, nor respect for America itself, an entire gaggle of people rose to power by pandering to the most irresponsible folks they could find.

And Nancy Pelosi, that mental midget the left so dearly adores, lays the blame at the feet of the President for his lack of leadership. Thats the best she can do. New Orleans lets the levies decay and it's George Bush showing a lack of leadership. Barney Frank lies about the condition of Fannie and Freddy and its George Bush's fault for showing a lack of leadership. In a way they're correct. Bush should have taken his case to the public long ago, but the actual villains MUST be held accountable.