10-25-2009, 07:59 AM
I will repeat what I have said many times. Senators Akaka and Inouye are at the core of an extremely dysfuntional political status quo in Hawaii. Akaka routinely ranks near the bottom of every survey of effectiveness in the U.S. Senate. I have spoken with him personally and observed him at a meeting, and came away with the impression that he was not able to keep track of what was going on around him. His handlers were ever present to try to deal with questions for him, and it is likely they who respond to communiques.
Sen. Inouye does indeed bring the pork home, most of it military. While the military is important to the nation and critically important to Hawaii's economy, it is part of the failing economic "triad" model of the state, the other two legs being tourism and real estate development. (Also, we should note that a lot of the military pork that Inouye gets credit for would probably have been approved anyway due to the strategic needs of the military.) I would respect Sen. Inouye more if he would shift more than just token amounts of his funding expertise toward sustainability, agricultural redevelopment, technology based businesses, and educational reform. He appears to be mentally sharp man, but I believe his policies are out of sync with the modern needs of the state. His vaunted war service, while worthy of my deep respect, has nothing to do with qualifications to lead us today.
Neither of our Senators is willing to break out of the orbit of labor unions which hold a disproportionate level of influence at all levels of government. In this case, they put the interests of the few over the interests of the many. The Jones Act forces everyone in Hawaii to pay artificially high shipping rates to preserve inflated wages for a few hundred workers in the shipping industry and artificially high profits for their employers. Repealing the Jones Act would allow real competition in our shipping lifeline, but our Senators have made no gesture in that direction for fear of losing union support.
The Democratic Party establishment wants us to continue to support the status quo. In the topsy-turvy world on Hawaii politics, the Democrats are the real conservatives, meaning they are highly resistant to change. Sometimes the progressive thing to do is to vote against establishment Democratic candidates. And for what it's worth, I consider myself a Reform Democrat and am not a Republican. I will vote Republican or Green when necessary, though, to make a point.
Sen. Inouye does indeed bring the pork home, most of it military. While the military is important to the nation and critically important to Hawaii's economy, it is part of the failing economic "triad" model of the state, the other two legs being tourism and real estate development. (Also, we should note that a lot of the military pork that Inouye gets credit for would probably have been approved anyway due to the strategic needs of the military.) I would respect Sen. Inouye more if he would shift more than just token amounts of his funding expertise toward sustainability, agricultural redevelopment, technology based businesses, and educational reform. He appears to be mentally sharp man, but I believe his policies are out of sync with the modern needs of the state. His vaunted war service, while worthy of my deep respect, has nothing to do with qualifications to lead us today.
Neither of our Senators is willing to break out of the orbit of labor unions which hold a disproportionate level of influence at all levels of government. In this case, they put the interests of the few over the interests of the many. The Jones Act forces everyone in Hawaii to pay artificially high shipping rates to preserve inflated wages for a few hundred workers in the shipping industry and artificially high profits for their employers. Repealing the Jones Act would allow real competition in our shipping lifeline, but our Senators have made no gesture in that direction for fear of losing union support.
The Democratic Party establishment wants us to continue to support the status quo. In the topsy-turvy world on Hawaii politics, the Democrats are the real conservatives, meaning they are highly resistant to change. Sometimes the progressive thing to do is to vote against establishment Democratic candidates. And for what it's worth, I consider myself a Reform Democrat and am not a Republican. I will vote Republican or Green when necessary, though, to make a point.