# Democrats: what are the best ideas Republicans have come up with, and the worst ones by Dems? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 18, 2012, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-what-are-the-best-ideas-republicans-have-come-up-with-and-the-worst-ones-by-dems/638132 "2012-10-18T15:10:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-what-are-the-best-ideas-republicans-have-come-up-with-and-the-worst-ones-by-dems/638132/41 "2012-10-21T22:29:18Z")
The first draft of the G.I. Bill of 1944 was written by [Harry W. Colmery](http://www.gibill.va.gov/benefits/history_timeline/index.html), the former chairman of the Republican Party. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-what-are-the-best-ideas-republicans-have-come-up-with-and-the-worst-ones-by-dems/638132/42 "2012-10-22T03:14:16Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > What can they really do? Democrats have pretty much reached and maybe even exceeded the limit on what they can fund with the taxes the public is willing to pay. What further economic changes are possible in that environment? Set Evil Captor’s schtick aside for now. Bailouts require massive taxpayer infustions; prudent regulation does not. [This is the go-to website on the financial crisis](http://baselinescenario.com/): one of the economists there has experience with third world financial crises over at the IMF. 2007-2008 was sadly familiar: we haven’t really broken the cronyism here, though it’s true that Wall Street mavens whine a lot about Obama. Personally, I think we need better overlords. I’ll take Warren Buffet over Donald Trump and [Vikram Pandit](http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/10/16/citi-and-the-absurdity-of-banking-compensation/) any day. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-what-are-the-best-ideas-republicans-have-come-up-with-and-the-worst-ones-by-dems/638132/43 "2012-10-22T03:33:29Z")
How good can the regulators be? Wouldn’t that imply that we need a President who is skilled and experienced at management? You know, there were a lot of complaints about Bill Clinton and deregulation, but the fact is that under Clinton’s leadership there were never serious regulatory problems. The worst Clinton can be accused of is a regulatory policy that didn’t assume incompetence on the part of administrations and their regulators. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-what-are-the-best-ideas-republicans-have-come-up-with-and-the-worst-ones-by-dems/638132/44 "2012-10-22T12:38:29Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > You know, there were a lot of complaints about Bill Clinton and deregulation, but the fact is that under Clinton’s leadership there were never serious regulatory problems. Really? Just because the ramifications of the repeal of Glass-Steagall didn’t manifest themselves for ten years doesn’t make it any less of a bad idea. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-what-are-the-best-ideas-republicans-have-come-up-with-and-the-worst-ones-by-dems/638132/45 "2012-10-22T14:38:55Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Really? Just because the ramifications of the repeal of Glass-Steagall didn’t manifest themselves for ten years doesn’t make it any less of a bad idea. It was in fact the Worst.Idea.Evah! But it wasn’t Bill Clinton’s, it’s was the banking industry’s idea. Phil Gramm was their water boy and Rudman was their Democratic patsy to make it look bipartisan. Clinton just triangulated it, figuring that’s what the political calculus called for … not stopping to thing that actions have consequences … and as consequences go, 2008 was a doozy. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-what-are-the-best-ideas-republicans-have-come-up-with-and-the-worst-ones-by-dems/638132/46 "2012-10-22T14:55:11Z")
I’ll step in as a Republican who’s willing to nominate good Democratic/bad Republican ideas. In my case, it’s the auto bailouts. They started under George W. Bush, but it was painfully obvious that he was just trying to make the problem go away until after he left office. Now, I sympathize with Republican ideals that you don’t want the government running auto companies, and nobody can argue that the domestic auto manufacturers had only themselves to blame for their finanical problems, but you simply cannot let a huge chunk of America’s manufacturing capacity, and the jobs that go with it, be at risk of collapsing. It’s short-sighted of Republicans to oppose the bailouts simply because they want to flip a middle finger at the unions. (That’s also a Republican ideal that I sympathize with, BTW 😛 ) ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-what-are-the-best-ideas-republicans-have-come-up-with-and-the-worst-ones-by-dems/638132/47 "2012-10-22T22:38:00Z")
The auto companies must never go under? The taxpayers will backstop them until the end of time? And if that’s true, what are we gaining by leaving them private? A government promise of endless bailouts is functionally the same as public ownership. Might as well just take over the auto companies. Except for Ford. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-what-are-the-best-ideas-republicans-have-come-up-with-and-the-worst-ones-by-dems/638132/48 "2012-10-23T00:47:00Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > The auto companies must never go under? The taxpayers will backstop them until the end of time? The Olympics must never go under? The taxpayers will backstop them until the end of time? Same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-what-are-the-best-ideas-republicans-have-come-up-with-and-the-worst-ones-by-dems/638132/49 "2012-10-23T18:17:02Z")
The DREAM Act was Orrin Hatch’s baby in 1993. The NDAA sucks donkey balls. ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-what-are-the-best-ideas-republicans-have-come-up-with-and-the-worst-ones-by-dems/638132/50 "2012-11-03T17:26:42Z")
I think Measure for Measure covered some of the ones I was going to. I also agreed with Reagan’s approach to immigration and disagree with the Family Entertainment Protection Act. Edit: Not that I’m a Democrat. I don’t think they’d want to be associated with me. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2012, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-what-are-the-best-ideas-republicans-have-come-up-with-and-the-worst-ones-by-dems/638132/51 "2012-11-04T04:05:52Z")
As a student of the history of the interstate highway system, I have to object to it being called a Republican idea. Its origins lie with FDR (the _Toll Roads and Free Roads_ report of 1939), and Hale Boggs (D-La.), George Fallon (D-Md.), and Al Gore Sr. (D-Tenn.) did most of the heavy lifting to finally get it through Congress. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-what-are-the-best-ideas-republicans-have-come-up-with-and-the-worst-ones-by-dems/638132.md?page=2)