The Downside of Elections as Term Limits (part four)
Florida’s 24th district featured a decisive win for Democrat Suzanne Kosmas over three term Republican incumbent Tom Feeney. Kosmas is cited as having a real estate business and serving eight years in the Florida legislature. She will represent four Florida counties and while some refer to her as a moderate and having a history of working with Republicans and opposing tax cuts in Florida there are also hints of typical liberal agendas. At the top is her redeployment stance on Iraq, supporting massive infrastructure spending as well as propping up the Kennedy Space Center in her state, universal health care and alternative energy. If she believes in balanced budgets, pay as you go, ‘accountability’ and tax cuts how does that live with the spending she supports?
No need to scream about the lack of performance by Congress or the White House or either major political party on matters related to money. Managing budgets, appropriations and trying to empty the Treasury includes all of the above as co-conspirators. Only time will tell if Kosmas is just another liberal and the jury will probably be out for some time as she is another freshman member of the US House.
While this blog is something of a fan of NASA and its long history the agency is not without serious flaws. The relatively small portion of the federal budget used by NASA (16 billion a few years back) may be made leaner if the space agency ever decides to pursue some of the technologies advanced by the private sector in recent years. Kosmas states in her brief announcement and introduction on The Hill’s Congress blog that she views NASA, or more precisely, the Kennedy Space Center as ‘one of the most significant issues’ in her district. That is followed by this statement. ‘We will keep people working there and flying into space.’ It would seem reasonable to conclude NASA’s future and the employment prospects of those at the Kennedy Space Center will be determined by more than a statement by a freshman member of the House.
In the last paragraph of her blog post Kosmas indicates her constituents want bipartisan cooperation in Washington and adds her party leadership says they intend to do just that. Oh, the optimism and hopeful chants expressed by newly elected politicians. Armed with nothing more than a new job in Washington with the small probability that she will be able to accomplish anything significant during her first term or two Kosmas mirrors most of what the other newbies are saying. Would it be premature to conclude that the freshman described in these few posts as well as all the ones before them contribute to Washington politics as usual as their entry to national politics is taken from the same tired old script and political playbook used by those in Congress and elsewhere for years?
Veteran lawmakers typically gloat after their efforts defeat a competing effort from the opposition party. Likewise they blame the opposition party when things do not go well which is often. Veteran politicians and newbies use approved rhetoric when speaking publicly in an attempt to snow the voter. When things get really bad they all talk about the word ‘bipartisan’. It is used to equally distribute blame when they are all guilty and agree to collective job saving, their own. It is also used in an attempt to make the opposition party look bad when nothing is being done typically in regard to legislation. So the newbies mentioned here as well as the veteran lawmakers are all relying heavily on their political playbooks which supports the notion that, yes, newbies are complicit in Washington politics as usual.
Regarding Suzanne Kosmas specifically, there is a chance with what has been said about her and some of her previous state legislative performance something positive may occur. But those hopes may be dashed by her status as freshman and how her party will manipulate that fact to their advantage. Most likely will be the pressure to ‘do as we say’ or no money for you at re-election time.
We may never hear about her again.
Stanford Matthews
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