Is Jim De Mint For Real?

 Conservative Type Long Of The Brainy Persuasion

I heard an interview with former Senator Jim De Mint on National Public Radio some time within the past week. He is now head of the Heritage Foundation.

It struck me as a bit bizarre.

I mean, he did strike a lot of chords that resonated with me, and I thought maybe we two - he and I - were not so far apart as I may have imagined.
However, as the talk wore on, I realized we were far, far apart. It was not a matter of political ideology. He was stating that most of us want good things, like jobs, education, health care, and help for those who need it.
But he impressed me as a man long on platitudes and short on specifics, and a bit illogical thrown in.

Regarding jobs, he pointed to North Dakota, and said it all the states were booming like North Dakota, we would not have a unemployment problem.
Now the governor of North Dakota is a Republican and the government of the State is in the control of conservative Republicans.
But the employment boom is due to the fracking industry in North Dakota. And while it may be said that Republican policies were favorable to the fossil fuel industry, the geological formations present in North Dakota ultimately are the underlying cause for the boom.

I do not think every state can suddenly become a boom-town merely by encouraging fracking. In fact, there has been a minor problem - two earthquakes - that have put a slight momentary crimp in the business in Ohio just the other day.
It was a lot like saying that every state could have a gold rush if they heeded the policies of the Heritage Foundation and set up a Sutter's Mill in each state, then sat back and waited for the inrush of prospectors and 49ers.

There was either a smell of mendacity about this, or it was poorly thought out and improperly delivered, and there was a point somewhere that was not stated.

Mr. De Mint also said early on that the US government was so monstrously huge that it could not function anymore, and no man - Republican or Democrat - could properly run it.

Later on he was bestowing laurel wreaths upon a Mr. Ben Carson, who I believe is an African-American medical man.
Mr. De Mint said
(1) Mr. Carson has more experience than does the present President, and
(2) Mr. Carson would make an excellent President.

No matter what you may think of Mr. Obama, I would consider it an undisputed fact that he has more experience at being President than does Mr. Carson. On the other hand, it is probably the case that Mr. Carson has more medical experience than Mr. Obama.
Mr. De Mint's point # 1 is hokum.

Point  # 2 is also hokum, since Mr. De Mint had earlier made an appeal to his Tea Party, Small Government base by saying that the US government could no longer be run properly. If that was true, Mr. Carson would only make an ineffective President... along with everyone else elected to the position.

And this from the head of a prestigious Conservative Think Tank.

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