Republican Governors Play Deal or No Deal

Some of the Republican governors are threatening not to take money from the national bailout plan, also known as the Stimulus Package. While there are certainly objectionable parts of this complicated financial effort to stimulate the economy, it hardly makes sense for governors to refuse monies the citizens of their states so badly need. War maybe hell, to paraphrase William Tecumseh Sherman, but politics is often a descent into madness. For a change, Democrats were able to see further than the end of their shoes when they inserted language into the legislation that enables state legislators to request the money even if the governor doesn't.

It's possible that some of the governors may be "posturing" but knowing that for sure would require mind reading, or the abilities of the lead actor on To Tell a Lie. Boy wouldn't that be useful. So far the Republicans have chosen to do nothing. Offering alternatives that they know have no chance of being enacted is not really offering an alternative. I guess that is political posturing.

One of the complaints about the legislation is that it "forces" states to continue to spend money after the federal money runs out. That has been problematical for many decades and is not a peculiar problem of the stimulus package. I'm sure there are other objectionable parts to the stimulus package. However, as the states undergo massive layoffs and roads and bridges continued to deteriorate along with the schools, we must do something were faced becoming a Third World country. If people object to outsourcing to India, think of how much worse it will be when China and India to outsource to us.