Sirotablog
David Sirota is a political journalist and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist at Creators Syndicate. David writes about political corruption, globalization and working-class economic issues often ignored by both of America's political parties.
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July 16, 2007 7:04 AM
More Proof the West Is A Heckuva Lot More Colorful Than Red vs. Blue
From the Rocky Mountain West's Department of Shifting Politics comes dispatches out of Boise and Ft. Collins that show, once again, how fractured the old Republican coalition has become, and how many opportunities there are for Democrats - if they can shake off their Wall Street wing and embrace their populist roots.
Following news that extreme right-wing conservative Gov. Butch Otter (R-ID) is pushing a $200 million tax increase to improve his state's public infrastructure, the Idaho Statesman reports that the even more right-wing Idaho Values Alliance is attacking Otter in its latest statewide bulletin for "meekly surrender[ing]" on the issue. This is happening at the same time Idahoans for Tax Reform - part of Grover Norquist's corporate-funded anti-tax empire - is trumpeting a story on the front of its website about a group of Republicans filing a lawsuit to "force Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa to restrict Idaho's GOP primary elections to Republicans only." The Statesman's Kevin Richert says the group filing the lawsuit is ""not just trying to protect what they consider their constitutionally protected right to free assembly...They're trying to chase out the dreaded 'RINO' — the Republican In Name Only, the conservatives' snide term for office-holders they just don't consider Republican enough."
Meanwhile, the Ft. Collins Coloradoan reports that Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO), one of the most conservative lawmakers in Congress, is joining with progressives to oppose the Army's plans to expand the 236,000-acre Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site in southeastern Colorado. The most interesting part of the story is not Musgrave's sudden embrace of Democrats - a transparently political calculation clearly motivated by her fear of being tossed out of office in 2008 after narrowly surviving in 2006. What's important here is the prevalence of what I call Land Politics. Musgrave's stance puts her in a high-profile conflict with the Army - a split with the military that may make some base GOP voters uncomfortable, to say the least. Yet, to justify her position, Musgrave isn't citing moderation - she's citing her conservatism and an appeal to some of those same base GOP voters. The Coloradoan notes that her position stems from what she perceives as a "threat of eminent domain to seize ranchers' private property rights."
So, to sum up, you've got an ultraconservative governor merely considering tax increases to finance basic public investment, thus resulting in his own state's even more ultraconservative Republican Party elite potentially targeting him and his sympathizers for political elimination. At the same time, you've got one of Congress's most conservative lawmakers citing her own ultraconservative ideology as a rationale for joining with Democrats to oppose a move by the military and to attempt to halt a federal government land grab. Couple all of these Republican spasms with what the New York Times today correctly notes is the rise of the economic populist wing of the Democratic Party right when the Mountain West is most ready for that kind of message, and you've got all the makings of a totally revamped political map out here - as long as Democrats reject the hackneyed advice of their D.C. consultants that says posturing as lite Republicans is the way to victory.
So take note all you political "experts" back in Washington: While you may be paid to explain away the heartland with simplistic tales of "red" vs. "blue," this region is much more colorful.
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About David Sirota
David Sirota is a political journalist and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist at Creators Syndicate. He is the New York Times bestselling author of Hostile Takeover. He lives in Denver, Colorado. His daily blog can be found at CREDO Action. He contributes regularly to the Denver Post's Web site, is a senior editor at In These Times magazine and is working on his second book. He has been profiled in Newsweek and the Rocky Mountain News and is widely known for his reporting on political corruption, globalization and working-class economic issues often ignored by both of America's political parties. Sirota serves as co-chair of the Progressive States Network, a 501(c)3 organization that supports state legislators and that is a partner of CREDO.
You can subscribe to Sirota's e-mail newsletter by going to davidsirota.com and signing up in the lefthand corner. To find out more about Sirota, download his official biography or see his recent media appearances. You can e-mail him at sirota@credoaction.com.
The views expressed on this blog are his own, and do not necessarily represent the views of Working Assets (publisher of CREDO Action) or the institutions Sirota works for.
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Discussion
Adding more land to the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site doesn't make sense. The Army has its premire site, a massive manuever and training range out here in CA, namely Ft.Irwin. It has everything needed for training soldiers for places like the Middle-east and can't be replicated anywhere else without sacrificing realism.
BTW for some reason the Army won't send its troops anymore to Ft.Irwin to prepare them for Iraq anymore, instead they are going through 3rd rate sites without OpFors in Georgia and other Southern hell-holes.
Musgrave could easily make the argument that expanding Pinon Canyon makes no military sense given Ft.Irwin's existence and its state of the art training facilities.
That said, this topic is more interesting in what GOP folks are doing. It points to a facture between the loot and rape corporate owned GOPers and the old school GOPers not poisoned by their insane ideology. Folks like Musgrave and Otter, realize in order to survive they have to do their job and represent their constituency, that Norquistian ideology won't save their ass when the base stops voting for them.
IOW I think we're seeing the GOPers out west distancing themselves from Norquist style Republicanism. Schwarzenegger was the first who did this and prospered politically, I think in the future you'll see more Repubs break away from the Norquist model of ideology. Which is a good thing for everyone IMO.
Unfortunately these moves by Otter and Musgrave don't reflect a leftward swing. Otter is acting out of necessity and Musgrave out of political survival. Colorado is owned by conservative ranchers. What is more interesting is the comment by Waltc about Ft Irwin. I think one of the reasons Swarzenegger has swung left besides survival is that Bush turned down his request for money to repair the levees of the Sacramento delta probably for political reasons. Those repairs are desperately needed; a disaster could dwarf Katrina. Ca is a Democrat state. This may be the same reason they are not using Ft. Irwin.
I lived at Ft Irwin for two years in high school back in the early '90s and actually went out to the field once with the Air Force guys to watch the mock training battles.
Ft Irwin's set up for battlefield desert combat. That meant US trainee forces against US trainers driving Soviet-style vehicles. It was focused on tanks, humvees, infantry, air support, and ground tactics out in the open desert.
Ft Irwin didn't appear to focus at all on urban combat, which is what our forces now face in Iraq.
You certainly don't need to sit in the desert to learn how to fight in a city.
Chris
The fact is urban combat was never a focus for the Army up until a few years ago. Prior to that it was mostly for spec ops folks. Sadly the Army like the AirForce is still in love with bullshit hitech weapon systems that don't do anything except take away funds for training ground pounders. We could equip all our grounds with the best body armor availible for the price of one stinking F-22 jalopy.
Do you know what urban training at some Army bases consists of? tape on the ground - thats the urban enviroment. Its a lot of lip service. There's no funds for decent training left.
BTW Ft. Irwin is set up for urban operations(for the last few years), they have IMS several mock Iraqi villages replete with locals(Blackhorse troopies pretending to be bad guys). Its also a the only way to acclimate troops for operating the extemely hot and arid Iraqi environment, something you can't get at Ft.Bragg or Ft.Benning or Ft.Drum. Not to mention getting 1st hand experience at what the desert does to equipment.
One thing I do know that may explain why units aren't being sent to Irwin anymore is because of costs. Training soldiers is hideously expensive and money for that is in short supply. Most of the of DoD funds is either going for new and useless weapons or to keep our troops deployed in Iraq, there is little money left for training.
In the end, the Pinon Canyon expansion makes no sense. Why in the fuck expand it when we have plenty of training grounds throughout the states and even in other countries?
"So take note all you political "experts" back in Washington: While you may be paid to explain away the heartland with simplistic tales of "red" vs. "blue," this region is much more colorful."
Right! So isn't it the right time to tell our nation and the world that the VP committed high crimes and misdemeanors? And send the bum packing?
Yes, we need to keep pushing for impeachment. Bush or Cheny either one, since the two are joined at the hip and taking down one will bring down the other one, and a lot of their administration as well.
Rats deserting the sinking "ship of state."
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