The first thing we want to say is this: We are all for reforming our nation's financial system.
Our nation's troubled financial system, we should say. Our nation's troubled financial system is in serious need of reform, and we -- every last one of us on this side of the aisle -- are completely in favor of reforming it.
That's precisely why we voted against bringing the Democrat's financial-reform bill to the floor of the Senate. The last thing the American people need right now is a financial-reform bill that doesn't do the job, brought to you by a party that's trying to save its own jobs in November!
We can't let them get away with that. And if the only way to stop it -- to stop the Democrat spin machine from claiming that they're tougher on Wall Street than we are -- is to vote against bringing their bill to the floor, then that's what our solemn duty requires us to do.
But make no mistake: We are totally in favor of reforming the financial system. We simply want to make sure that we enact these reforms in a responsible way. A thoughtful way. A measured way. A deliberate way. Even a very deliberate way.
What's the rush? That's what we want to know: What's the rush? It took us years to get into the mess we're in. Why shouldn't it take us just as long to get out?
Our highest priority should be getting it right. Not just for today, but looking far down the road, too, to see what effects the actions we're considering today will have tomorrow, and all the days that come after tomorrow We have to look far, and we have to get it right. Far, and right.
That's our bottom line: Far. Right.
The last thing we need, when there's the kind of turmoil we see all around us on Main Street, is to jump in and start attacking Wall Street -- not that we're siding with Wall Street. Not at all! Don't let yourself be fooled by the Democrat spin machine -- we dislike Wall Street every bit as much as they do.
Bad Wall Street! Bad!!
See?
We just don't happen to think that the way to fix what's wrong with Wall Street is with another one-size-fits-all, big-government program run by unelected bureaucrats who would mess with the engine of our economic growth and put the brakes on our prosperity.
Not that we're calling the current situation "prosperity." Of course not! We know that many people all across this country are suffering, but think how much more they'd suffer if we started forcing Wall Street to do its work in strange and unproductive ways, or even out in the open! That's the last thing our economy needs as it continues to wrestle with the Obama Recession and waits for the Bush Recovery to take hold.
But all the other side wants is to score political points. They're trying to portray us as standing in the way of financial reform -- which we strongly favor, by the way -- every time we vote to keep their so-called reform bill from moving forward.
They want us to give up our principles and pander instead to the fears of the American people -- that's why they keep forcing these votes on us. It's a shameful practice, and one totally without precedent. Certainly we'd never resort to such tactics ourselves.
And we won't surrender to those tactics either, as much as we condemn the behavior of a few rotten apples in the financial sector.
Bad Wall Street!! Bad!!!
Rick Horowitz is a syndicated columnist. You can write to him at rickhoro@execpc.com