It’s not ideology, it’s the money  To hear the punditry tell it,
the priority Washington has given to deficit reduction over job
creation reflects an ideological revolt from the grass roots
against big government.  Yet, listening to such Tea Party
ravings as “Keep the Government’s hands off Medicare” hardly
suggests the presence of deep thinking about political
philosophy. Moreover, the polls don’t show much division on the
deficit/jobs question at all. Majorities think that the
government should put the unemployed to work by investing in
infrastructure and education and should get the money by taxing
the rich.  So why the gap between what the people prefer and
what their elected representatives are doing? The answer is
money, which ironically is rarely mentioned by the talking heads
and columnists who instruct the public about economic policy.
I’m not talking about the money supply, here. I’m talking about
the money that the typical politician spends 75 percent of his
or her time raising for the next electio