My experience with the Devil (which is more extensive than I am willing to admit), is that his SOP is first to tempt you to do some stupid thing, and then when you start to experience the bitter consequences, taunt you about the outcome. Why I am bringing this up is because the Republicans seem to have lifted this page from his playbook. I will explain.

Last week was disastrous for the Democrats in general and the President in particular. The May jobs report showing that unemployment rose for the first time in nearly a year, got a lot of attention in the headlines, as did the failed recall attempt in Wisconsin of Republican governor Scott Walker—he won handily over the Democratic challenger. In the realm of campaign finance, Mitt Romney’s haul for the month was greater than Obama’s, for the first time. There were other things, but you get the drift.

On Friday, President Obama responded to the news in a press briefing calling for reconsideration of the jobs bill Congress largely rejected last fall. Mindful of how the economic crisis in the Eurozone is playing out and how it is affecting our own economy, Obama stated, “It is critical that we take the actions we can to strengthen the American economy right now.”

Those “actions,” of course, have to do with stimulating the economy with job creation—lately a major point of contention between Democrats and Republicans. This issue played out in a delightfully raucous interchange Sunday morning on ABC’s “This Week,” hosted by George Stephanopoulos.

Stephanopoulos’ first guest was former Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum. He immediately made clear his position on the federal government addressing unemployment by helping the states hire teachers.

Stephanopoulos: “It would lower unemployment, wouldn’t it?

Santorum: No, actually it wouldn’t. There are several studies out there that show that for every 100,000 increase in public sector employment, there is a 150,000 decrease in private sector employment. This money that you’re paying public sector employees comes from somewhere, and it comes out of the private sector, and it tends to hurt job creation, and actually the net effect is less jobs.”

Perhaps Santorum helped write the Senate Republican Jobs Plan—he has certainly imbibed its philosophy. I have no idea what were the “several studies” he referred to, but I don’t doubt they exist. “Studies” can be calibrated to prove any point one wants to make. In fact, there’s good money in it, for those so motivated.

Following the interview with Santorum was the exchange I mentioned—four articulate, opinionated representatives from across the political spectrum. Ed Rendell was a progressive governor of Pennsylvania, 2003-2011, responsible for turning around a massive deficit, balancing the budget, and overseeing five years of surpluses in the state budget. He characterized Obama’s jobs plan as “a good plan.”

Regarding infrastructure projects, he states, “Even Republicans (are) telling me, ‘After this election is over, we’ll do something.’ “Infrastructure produces 25,000 jobs for every $1 billion in spending. They’re American jobs. They’re well paid. We ought to have an infrastructure program. We ought to have had it in October when the President proposed it. He’s proposed tax cuts for small businesses that hired. These are Republican ideas, and they won’t do it because they are interested in winning the election. They are not interested in making this country…” (his final word(s) drowned out by Ann Coulter’s braying).

Ann Coulter, syndicated columnist, took exception to Rendell, asserting that there is a glut of public sector employees. They are overpaid, and we would be better off with fewer of them.

In response, Van Jones, green economy pioneer and author of Rebuild the Dream, gave what can best be described as an epiphany (and Van Jones is good at these). “Maybe I was raised wrong. I never heard of this threat to America called ‘public sector employees.’ In my neighborhood we called them teachers. We called them firefighters. We called them cops. We called them nurses. And we were taught to look up to them and to respect them.

“And to have that person now be a punching bag—people like my father and mother, who were public school teachers who didn’t make $100,000 a year… or anything near it—for them to become a punching bag is wrong.

“Furthermore, I think we need to take a big step back here. When you have the pain that’s happening in the country, the Republican Party has not only been missing in action—they won’t pass their own bills to help Americans right now. They won’t pass their own ideas to help small business right now. Why? Because their gain will come when America has more pain. It’s like a lifeguard trying to help–

Stephanopoulos: “They’re rooting for failure?”

Jones: “It’s like Obama is the lifeguard, trying to help people drowning. These guys are sitting back on a rock, hoping more people drown.”

Thus went the debate.

As we have reported during this election season, it’s about the economy, but it’s even more about reelection, and to succeed in that, politicians have to make the other guys look bad. And as those other guys fail, you can point to them and say they’re the cause of everything that is going wrong in the country.

To summarize: our economy is in serious trouble. Our politicians line up with economists of different views—opposite views, actually. One idea would be to look across the Atlantic and see what is working there—or not. But that would be to disregard the realities of politics.

And how does the Devil and his playbook enters into this?

“Tempt you to do some stupid thing…” That would be to ignore a balanced approach in dealing with the deficit. Revenue must be a part of the mix, especially when the very wealthiest Americans are earning and controlling a disproportionate part of America’s assets. As the budget is pared and redirected, emphasis must be put on building for the future—infrastructure, education, scientific and technological research—which will generate good, middle-class American jobs.

“Taunt you about the outcome.” This might work for the Devil, but there will be little to be gained if we’re all standing on the ruins of our economy and everything else we hold dear. In the long run we’re all aboard the same boat, and if our ship of state goes down, and with it, the global economy, there will be scant satisfaction in finger pointing.

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What can you do—you are only one person? True, but you are only “six degrees of separation,” on average, from any other person on Earth. You become powerful when you share information with your friends and ask them to share it with their friends—it becomes a global revolution. As Stephen King suggests in The Long Walk, when these “society-supported sociopaths” come, step aside, and find the strength to run…

Rick Santorum—champion of the English language? The storm of protest he stirred up in Puerto Rico last week when he stated that the natives would need to become fluent in order to qualify for statehood, could give one that idea. But I’m confused. I’ve been listening to Santorum on the Sunday talk shows where, one would suppose, he would be at his best. And I fail to see where he is doing the English language any favors.

It’s no fault of Santorum’s that he didn’t have my Freshman Comp teacher—the scourge of the English Department, from many students’ points of view. But he must have had some English teacher—he has three degrees! But for some reason, he never learned to form a proper English sentence, and that’s a real handicap in his line of work.

I’m taking into consideration that he’s trying to win an election. Furthermore, we can assume that he’s spent some time with a debate coach who would, above all, hone his abilities to avoid giving a straight answer to any substantive question. But what does he have against a simple declarative sentence?

On Sunday morning I listened to Jonathan Karl interview Santorum on ABC’s “This Week.” The subject was the U. S. ongoing participation in the Afghanistan war.

Struggling to lay out a position different from the Obama administration, Santorum said Obama’s big mistake was to declare a time line for withdrawal, thus giving hope to the Taliban. That was “problem number one.” Problem number two is, “You have all those actors in the region from Pakistan to the Afghans who are opposing the Taliban who realize the United States isn’t going to be there to finish the job, so they’re going to to deal with the Taliban afterwards so…” That wasn’t the end of the sentence, but it was the end of the sense. It left me trying to sort out the difference between Problem One and Problem Two. It was just too subtle for me, and I gave up. Granted, it is a very confusing issue.

Another thing I learned from my Freshman Comp class was that the discipline of writing helps clarify one’s thinking. Perhaps if Santorum had written his answer out beforehand, we all could have understood it better. Perhaps if he’d read it off a teleprompter, it would have helped. But no, using a teleprompter has come under condemnation on this presidential election circuit. So we have the result that a later guest on the show, Bill Burton, characterized as “abject incoherence from the Republican side.”

There’s got to be a solution to this lack of good communication skills. It’s too late for Santorum to take a class from my old Freshman Comp teacher, but, considering how much he was enjoying himself in Puerto Rico, maybe he could do some studying alongside his Puerto Rican friends who will be cramming for their own English as a Second Language classes.

Click here to Petition the United States Congress to Overturn Citizens United

College students in California don’t mind being thought of as “snobs.” They gathered by the thousands at a park in Sacramento on Monday, March 5, and marched on the Capitol to protest tuition hikes and the reduction of class offerings and other student benefits. In addition to students and some of their professors, their ranks were swelled by union members, teacher groups, and others wanting to show solidarity with the students.

The “O word” came into play as some referred to the rally as “Occupy the Capitol.” The next day an article appeared on the front page of “The Sacramento Bee” implying that the object of the gathering was “getting arrested.” But the great majority of those participating would argue with that. One organization, “ReFund California,” has a very specific agenda: to end further discussion of using tuition hikes to fund the state budget shortfall, and support an initiative, the “Millionaire’s Tax,” intended to generate $1.5 billion in revenue to fund colleges and universities instead.

The strength of attendance at this gathering underscores the importance that a college education represents to young people. In spite of the fact that costs for higher education have risen faster than other segments of the economy, and in spite of the fact that debt from school loans has outstripped credit card debt, a college degree is considered mandatory for those who aspire to a solid future.

One can slap a label such as “elitist” on the idea that every potential wage earner needs some type of post-secondary education or training. But it is difficult to think of

a more short-sighted attitude to take in a world where the U.S. is sliding down the list of nations in which the highest proportion of citizens hold college degrees. (Russia is in first place for people between the ages of 25 to 64; the U.S. is in 12th place!)

When John F. Kennedy was president, we, as a nation, were ashamed to be shown up in the space race when Russia successfully launched Sputnik. Khrushchev threatened, “We will bury you.” But the USSR didn’t have the power. To the extent that we allow our system of education to fail, we are doing it to ourselves.

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What can you do—you are only one person? True, but you are only “six degrees of separation,” on average, from any other person on Earth. You become powerful when you share information with your friends and ask them to share it with their friends—it becomes a global revolution. As Stephen King suggests in The Long Walk, when these “society-supported sociopaths” come, step aside, and find the strength to run…

Click here to vote for President Obama’s American Jobs Act