I just finished a book about General/President Dwight D. Eisenhower. One of his famous quotes was: “plans are nothing, planning is everything.” I was struck by that quote because it recognizes two facts of life in general and the military and politics in particular. The act of planning is more valuable than the plan itself. Planning makes you realize that you can’t just show up and wing it. Planning makes you think about what you are wanting to accomplish. You cannot have/put forth a plan without some planning.
As anyone in the military (including me) knows, the plan is good only until the enemy is met. You can plan and plan, but the enemy just will not cooperate. The plan you propose will not be worth anything because the enemy will not go along with your plan.
But planning gets you to think about what you are going to do. Planning provides flexibility, the ability to deviate from your plan, to respond as you want to what the enemy does. Planning lets you respond to what you have not foreseen in a way that you want. By planning and developing a plan, you are not reacting to what the enemy does. Any military tactician will tell you that when you start reacting to what the enemy does, the battle is lost.
Just like military plans and planning, budget plans and planning are essential to future decisions and to avoid/lessen reactions. So let’s take a brief look at budget plans from both Republicans and Democrats in Congress.
We will start with Democrats and their failure to develop a budget plan.
Democrats were in control of both houses of Congress as well as the White House, but still refused to pass a budget. Democrats subsequently lost control of the House of Representatives in November, 2010. Since that time, Democrats have said its Republicans’ or the Tea Party’s fault for no budget. From Al at The Liberty Journal we learn, “There was no FY2011 budget passed in 2010. Those damned Republicans. Oops! That’s right, the Democrats controlled both chambers of Congress in 2010. However, the Democrats refuse to own it, and somehow it’s now the Tea Party’s fault.”
Here is what Stephen Hayes of The American Spectator said in June, 2010. “The 1974 Budget and Impoundment Act requires Congress to pass a budget resolution by May 15 of each year. Congress hasn’t done so yet in 2010. But that isn’t so unusual. Delays are common. They are usually the result of interparty or intercameral disputes. But this year is different. Congressional Democrats aren’t simply delaying, they’re deliberately refusing to offer a budget until after the November elections. They’re simply choosing to ignore the law.”
And we are still waiting for a Democrat budget proposal for FY2011. Here is what Josiah Ryan of The Hill said in June, 2011. “Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y) called on House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Tuesday to scrap his 2012 budget plan and accused Republicans of trying to squeeze off critical functions of the government.”
In another The Hill article from June, 2010, this one by Jared Allen, we learn that, “House Democrats will not pass a budget blueprint in 2010, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) will confirm in a speech on Tuesday.”
We now switch to Republicans and their budget plans and planning.
We learn from the Republican Study Committee that Republicans did, indeed, offer a FY2010 budget proposal.
From Fox News in April, 2011, we learn, “House Republicans unveiled a budget proposal Tuesday that they claimed would avert a debt-driven “economic collapse” by cutting more than $6 trillion over the next decade. The proposal, unveiled by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., would overhaul two major entitlement programs and impose caps on government spending, with the goal of stabilizing and eventually paying down the debt.”
Here is a FY2011 plan from Republicans from the Republican Study Committee. The Democrats never proposed a FY2011 budget.
Here is a FY2012 plan from Republicans from the Republican Study Committee.
From a Politico article from April, 2011, we learn, “All 11 Republicans on the Senate Budget Committee are calling on President Barack Obama to submit a revised 2012 budget plan to reflect the ideas laid out in the president’s Wednesday speech in which he proposed slashing the deficit by $4 trillion over the next 12 years.”
Where Are We Now?
We have learned, from great planner General Eisenhower, the importance of both plans and planning. We have seen that Democrats refuse to plan by refusing to offer a FY2011 budget, and by doing so, refused to do any planning. And their FY2012 budget proposal is not much better since it offers no specific cuts. We also see that Republicans offered FY2010, 2011, and 2012 budget proposals. And we also saw that the Democrat controlled Senate will not consider the FY2012 budget proposed by Representative Paul Ryan.
From all of this, can we conclude that Democrats never develop plans or do any planning? Can we also conclude that Democrats only react? Can we also conclude that Republicans both plan and do planning?
But that’s just my opinion.
Good read….all but this ”hasty generalization” of a concluding opinion:
See, I disagree with those three rhetorical questions.
In the past Democrats have developed plans and done planning.
They just are not doing those things NOW.
Maybe they will begin to do them again.
Maybe even soon.
I have met a good number of fiscally conservative Democrats at TEA parties.
(To be fair, I have also met a good number of fiscally conservative, but socially liberal Republicans at those same TEA parties.)
Get enough of them into elective office and we will see a sea change in how Democrats govern.
Obama set the bar disappointingly low when he voted ”Present,” and was rewarded with the presidency.
His party, the Democrats, needs to distance itself from him and his work-avoidance/nasty rhetorical strawman strategy.
@Nan G: Nan G,
You comment, “In the past Democrats have developed plans and done planning.
They just are not doing those things NOW.”:
While you are correct about Democrats past and present, I submit that planning (in politics) is ongoing. Just look at what Democrats are doing right now with budget deficits and cuts. They are only REACTING, not offering any specifics or new ideas that would require some planning. All they can do is offer old plans and react to what Republicans offer. Meanwhile they are ruining our economy.
Thank you for making my point.
I think the EXTREME LIBERAL democrat’s plans are going as planneed and their plans are working. There are too many politicians in office that want to bring the USA down. That plan is working. A caller on a conservative radio talk show once asked, “Where have all the GOOD democrats?” Have any of them been found yet?
As we say in SCUBA: Plan the dive and dive the plan.
@Smorgasbord
Lieberman is the last.
Although the leftist-leaning media and a few Dems in ”safe” districts/states carry the water for liberalism in both fiscal and social areas, that small group has to realize it is far from a majority in the USA.
A very recent headline based on a Rasmussen poll splashed these words:
29% Are Conservative on Fiscal and Social Issues, 10% Liberal on Both
In other words, real conservatives outnumber real liberals almost three-to-one!
See the Q’s here.
I think facts like these are not lost on elected officials.
Sure, they may play the game of swaggering around, acting all sure of how ‘‘80% agree taxes should be raised,” (even more than the $1/2 trillion Obama has set them to go up over the next 5 years).
But we have seen many Dems vote with Republicans while we have seen few Republicans vote with Dems.
As a result, Dems “Own” ObamaCare.
If Dems want to include tax hikes to get a debt ceiling raise they are finding no Republicans willing to vote with them on that either.
Being on the ropes tends to mess with one’s plans.
I think the Dems, Obama included, are surprised to find themselves on the ropes.*
*One Obama White House insider quotes Obama as learning last month that he is slipping in the polls and might be a one-term’er and asking, repeatedly, ”Why isn’t it working?”
@Ditto: #5
Didn’t Lieberman vote for ObamaCare and the stimulus? Earlier I had written Lieberman and asked if he would run for president. I should have written him back and asked him to throw my letter away.
@Smorgasbord
I didn’t say I agree with all his votes or positions, just that he is the closest one Democrats have to a conservative.
@Nan G: #6
“Why isn’t it working?”
Even people who don’t know much about economics or math have figured out that if they are deep in debt and have house, car, credit card, and other payments to make, don’t figure that getting another credit card will get them out of debt. Either Obama has never had to pay the bills and just doesn’t understand paying back debts, or he is purposly bankrupting the USA. I say the latter.
@Ditto: #8
I agree with you 100%.
@Ditto: #5 And the Democrats disowned him.
Most everyone is familiar with the military axiom that “no plan survives first contact with the enemy.” I’m very fond of the corollary which fits with this post: “You have to have a plan to deviate from.” You have done a good job of capturing here the reasoning behind those two axioms.
Warren Beatty, thank you for the great subject on your POST, specialy
at this time of the DEBT CEILING DEBATE TO BE RAISE BUT NOT WITHOUT SCREWS ON
THE DEMOCRAT’S WHEEL’S COMING FROM THE OTHER PARTY WHO ARE DETERMINE TO STOP THE DESTRUCTION OF AMERICA.
THE DEMOCRATS ARE NOW IN DISARRAY, AND STILL WILLING TO FORGET THE AMERICANS
THEY HAVE BEEN ELECTED FROM , FOR THE INTEREST OF SAVING THEIR PARTY, IN PERIL,
WHAT THE OTHER DANGER IS AND HIDING UNDERNEATH IS THE VISIBLE WISH FROM THE OBAMA ‘S CENTER TO LET THE UN WORLD POWER ORGANISATION INSIDE THE UNITED STATES TO AS OBAMA SAID ONCE AT THE BEGINNING OF HIS INVESTITURE, THAT IS; TO CHANGE AMERICA FOREVER, AND WHAT IS COMING IS THE UN TO INCREASE HIS POWER IN THE AMERICA AS THEY ARE BEING LET IN IN OPEN DOOR JUST LIKE THE OPEN BORDERS,
, THAT IS WHAT HE SAID AND WORKING AT IT EVEN BY HELPING ON THE ARAB’S DISTURBANCE WITH THE GOAL TO INCREASE THE POWER OF THE BEAST.
@Nan G #6:
The dems may “own” those things, but it’s the rest of us serfs who have to suffer them. If the conservatives are in a 3:1 majority, why don’t the Republicans actually try to win something for a change rather than just trying to pin the “ownership” on the dems?
In McConnell’s case, he just wants to be Majority Leader in 2012 and to hell with the Country.
@John Cooper:
Unfortunately for us non-politician taxpayers, most of the politicians in DC are after power, no matter what the effect on the country.
A raising of the debt ceiling, without any meaningful cuts immediately, will result in simply pushing the problems just a bit further down the road. It won’t get rid of the problem.
Let’s assume the debt ceiling is raised. All that does is essentially give the federal government permission to issue more debt, for purchase by other entities. China has been purchasing a large portion of our debt for awhile now, however, recent talk and action by them hints at a halting, or severe reduction in the pace of their debt purchasing. So, we still will, more than likely, have debt for purchase, but no buyers. Then what? Well, then the Federal Reserve, and Bernanke, print more money, temporarily buying the debt, allowing the government to continue functioning, monetarily, at the high levels it has become accustomed to, assuming no major spending reductions, which does not look likely to happen.
So then what? Another large influx of dollars into the economy do nothing but weaken the dollar further against other strong world currencies. This makes the debt even larger, in effect, and harder to get to the point of breaking even, let alone paying it down.
And the Dem’s plan of tax increases on high income earners? A pittance compared to the amount of the deficit. No politician has really discussed the major spending cuts that are truly needed to bring the budget close to being balanced, even to the point where such a tax increase would balance the budget.
I fear that any debt ceiling increase will only make the problem much worse in the future. I feel that it’s better to take the pain now, rather than the future. Unfortunately, politicians are too concerned with gaining power, and fear any pain will be blamed upon them, and reduce the chances of reelection, let alone gaining power, for most of them. Hence, the pain needed now, to address and work towards eliminating the problem, will not be experienced. And stupid voters will see the lack of pain now as a good thing.
Maybe it isn’t that the Dems are not ”planning” so much as they are not sharing their plans with the public.
Sun Tsu (among many others) once pointed out that Uncertainty is a good strategy. (IOW Keep ’em guessing!)
(I don’t have his exact quote, btw.)
This certainly dovetails perfectly with what went down between Candy Crowley at CNN and White House Budget Director, Jacob Lew this morning:
LIKE TRYING to PIN DOWN JELLO.
Video and FULL transcript at link above.
Sheesh!
Candy C. is a liberal, too.
I wonder what she thought of this squishy Jello performance?
I THINK WE should keep supporting our side of the opposition party,
and try to understand their situation, like putting ourself in their shoes a little more,
than we have been doing, instead of jumping on them which is not the time when the preparation to get new HOPEFUL in the leadership’s positions,
they are of course worry about the bad publicity done by the DEMOCRAT AND THEIR AFFILIATE MEDIAS, THEY ARE ON THE NEXT ELECTION ‘S PROPAGANDA’S MODE,
WE HAVE TO DO OUR SHARE AS MUCH AND BETTER THAN THEM WHICH HAVE THE POWER AND THE MEDIA ‘S POWER.
OUR JOB NOW IS NOT TO CRITIC OUR OWN BUT CRITIC THE BLATANT LIES BEHIND DIRECTED TO UNINFORMED CITIZENS
and we must let our elected party that we acknowledge fully, they are doing their best to stand up against lies and aggressions from the other in power to lead but unable to find the intelligence needed to stop their spending spree on their own agenda, which is not the agenda of AMERICA,
@NanG
The Office of the President determines what agencies shut down. Lacking a Congressional agreement, he tells the Treasury the priorities on what to pay and what not to pay. If the SS checks do not go out, it will be under Obama’s orders to the Treasury ‘not to issue the checks’. Which means President Obama himself would have decided that Social Security checks were a lower priority. He wanted the power, he got it, which means he also inherits the final decision in emergency situations. That’s all part of “the buck stops here.”
@Ditto:
Unfortunately, what Obama seems to want is the Authority to make decisions, with none of the Responsibilities for the decisions he makes. He passes off the responsibility of the decisions on to other entities, unless the decision seems to be the right one(not very many of those that I can think of, though).
@JohnAlt
Nor will the MSM hold Obama’s feet to the fire. They ignore that Obama has no ideas, and that the Democrats refuse to address the real debt problem (spending) but instead focus their efforts on throwing wrenches in the works. All three of these dark horses want Republicans to make all the hard plans, so that they can label them as draconian, while taking credit for anything positive that will eventually ensue from an agreement. They will loudly pat each other on the back for ‘saving the economy, social security and entitlement programs from the evil Republican fat-cat’s budgetary butcher knife.’
IMO, conservatives have to stand together in message and solidarity (shunning progressive Republicans who want to play RINO games). Republicans must show that they intend to return the federal government to it’s constitutional limits. They should also adopt a position to reduce the intrusiveness of government. To return the powers and rights stolen from the people and the states. To get the Federal government’s boots off the necks of business and the citizens. Conservatives must take control of the party over establishment Republicans, and go ahead with trying to pass through the House government entire series of downsizing bills, with targeted & sensible spending reduction measures and regulation reform, so that they can campaign on these issues and show the Democrats and President as being the party of “no fiscal responsibility”. Republicans must put aside their “non-aggressive” capitulation practices and hold to their guns. They must use their heads to defuse the standard attack arguments of the Democrat/press. If Republicans try to institute a flat tax, they need to ensure in fairness that capital gains are included and will be taxed in the same manner wages are. The system must be fair across the board, and tax loopholes must be closed. Establishment Republican “Free trade” must be replaced with Conservative “fair trade” and Congress must work hard to to return manufacturing to America, and put a halt to the incestuous progressive global capitalism relationship, (which has destroyed the American Dream in its world-elitist consensus driven goal to create a new world order with mutual economic interdependence.)