Republican Revolt
The idea of voting for Democrats to teach Republicans a lesson is absurd.
As Congressmen and Senators slink out of Washington and back to the communities that sent them there, the rest of us brace for the onslaught of ads, editorials, and desperate acts that accompany every election. Despite new election law that makes it more difficult to unseat an incumbent, further gerrymandering of Congressional Districts, and a historical 90% reelection rate, the Democrats have a realistic chance of taking control of the House of Representatives and an outside shot at the Senate. Evidently, this is a serious enough possibility for the Republicans to actually pass legislation supported by their constituency and a majority of the voting public. This is a brilliant strategy because it points out the problem facing the electorate in November. To vote out Republicans, you must vote in Democrats. For this, they close the bars.
I’m sure that there is a sizable throw the bums out vote. These are the folks that don’t pay much attention to politics until they perceive they will be affected in some way and then lash out in anger. Fair enough, if the war is going badly and wages are stagnant, the folks in charge should be held accountable. But what if the cure is worse than the illness? The Democrats have not articulated a strategy on the war and most of their economic ideas will probably make things worse. With real problems facing the country and the world, is it enough to not be the party in charge? Do the Democrats simply get their turn after the Republicans fail? Taking turns may work on the play ground but it is an incoherent way to run a country.
Our current political system has given us two parties that have only marginal differences. Despite all the noise about a shift to the right, the United States has marched to the left since Lincoln. Most of the reforms proposed by the “Contract with America” were minor changes that did not address the true nature of the US government. Despite Bill Clinton’s dramatic performance, the era of big government is not over. Now that the right has shown how eager it is to play along, the left is energized and eager for more control.
The idea of voting for Democrats to teach Republicans a lesson is absurd. It is highly doubtful that Democrats will magically summon fiscal restraint to the Capitol. No matter what the government spends on social programs, the Democrats race to microphones to cry like spoiled brats about how much damage will be caused by the lack of funding for their pet governmental boondoggle.
Democrats are also likely to erase progress made on tax cuts. I’m no fan of Republican tax policy but I’m even less of a fan of Democratic meddling. The biggest tax problem we have is the Social Security Withholding tax and we all know where Democrats stand on that. No if Democrats control congress, expect higher marginal taxes and then inflammatory rhetoric as the nations wealth gets concentrated in fewer hands.
The “War on Terror”™ will probably not see any drastic improvements if Democrats rule congress. The Democrats have been party to the imperialistic nature of US foreign policy since FDR and that is not about to change. When President Bush abandoned “humble” foreign policy after 911, he became more like John Kennedy than his father. Despite constant complaining about the Presidents lack of a plan to deal with the war, there are few alternatives being provided by Democrats. While they have managed to take a national issue and make it the central focus of their local campaigns, an alternative has yet to emerge. The Murtha plan is repeatedly mentioned but specifics are restricted to getting out of Iraq as fast as our planes and ships can carry us.
If you think that you can vote Democratic and count on President Bush to save you, please realign your perception of reality. This administration seems to have not been informed about the veto as a presidential power. Also, remember that this is the president that gave us No Child Left Behind and No Incumbent Left Behind. With the Democrats in control of congress, the President will need to compromise on domestic legislation to prosecute the war.
One would expect the current dearth of legislative competence to foster alternatives but the existing parties have made that next to impossible. Both major parties are a coalition of interests held together by exaggerated animosity toward the other. They have consolidated their power by limiting access of alternative parties and framing every argument through an exaggeration of the subtle differences in their positions thus avoiding substantive debate. Voting Democrat or Republican only controls what part of the government will get larger and how much it will hurt getting there.