Rahm Emanuel is dishonest:

"And when you’re the party of no; when you’re the party of never; when you’re the party of no new ideas, that’s not constructive."

When he told George Stephanopolis on This Week that Republicans were the party of "no" he knew better.  On taxation, the budget, energy, regulation, cardcheck, even the bailout, Republicans can't honestly be accused of having no ideas.  After all, House Minority Leader, John Boehner was on the same show repeatedly touted alternative ideas.

And don't resort to the "it's politics" argument.

I establish Emanuel's dishonesty because it is important that we hold this administration to the same new "ethic of responsibility" that they want to hold everyone else too.  Maybe honesty is not part of the ethic.  If not then we could at least agree that an honest exchange of ideas is more "constructive" than a dishonest one.  C'mon Mr. Emanuel, let's debate the merits of both approaches for the public.

But the secondary purpose for noting Emanuel's comments is to defend "no" as a concept.  No action, no new regulation, no interference, no new taxes, no more spending.  After all, the last conservative movement was founded in the 1950's by a group of activists "standing athwart history yelling 'stop.'"  Arguably it died when George HW Bush broke the "read my lips, no new taxes" pledge that got him elected.

Perhaps Republicans shouldn't be so quick to run from the "no" banner.  What with the tea parties and all, perhaps there is a growing sentiment against government action - "No to government, yes to freedom" has a nice feel.

Let me suggest the "no" agenda:

• No more regulation.  We will work to reduce the number of pages in the Federal Register.
• No more taxation.  Let's streamline the tax code to encourage growth.
• No more bailouts.  Free minds and free markets to borrow a phrase. 
• No increased spending.  Save our children from massive debt. 
• No more government.  Do what you are supposed to before trying to do anything else.

Stand athwart history and proudly shout "no."

"Maintenance. . .is a demanding activity and the state that maintains a traditional order or decay is not doing nothing.  It is doing all we can or should ask." - Joe Sobran.