Republicans Win The Battle But They Have Already Lost The War
REPUBLICANS WIN! DEMOCRATS LOSE! Those are the headlines, but what does it really mean in the long run. The Republicans have won the battle. However, thanks to Barack Obama and the rest of the Democrats pushing through bill after bill over the last two years they have already lost the war. Do you think I’m wrong? Just like with all of the other progressive legislation over the last 80 years, the Republicans will not be able to repeal any of it. And will their policies really be able to turn the economy around and create jobs?
The Republicans have made a name for themselves as the party of fiscal responsibility. However, no matter how you look at the numbers, they have consistently failed to deliver what they have advertised. They have never really controlled deficits and they did not create jobs. The simplicity of the tax cut argument helps to get them elected, but it is never really going to be the magic medicine that cures all economic ills. And since when have the Republicans ever fulfilled their promise to “get government off our backs”? The Republicans are like a good looking race horse that never manages to cross the finish line.
The Democrats really don’t do much better at controlling the economy. However, they have other legislative agendas that they run on and work hard to accomplish. Since FDR, the Democrats have embraced government as a positive force that can accomplish the things that the free market can’t or won’t. They have made all of our lives better not worse. Small things like the five day work week, minimum wage, safe food and drugs are part of our daily lives yet we don’t even think about them. Bigger things like Social Security and Medicare have become indispensable. Also the Civil Rights act and Voting Rights act helped to give every citizen equal standing and opportunity. Each one of these programs were labeled unconstitutional and socialist. Every one of these programs brought conservatives into office on the promise that they would be repealed. Yet they all still stand in seeming defiance of what the conservatives have repeatedly called “the will of the people”. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. There are countless other programs that have moved this country forward. You may be able to debate the accomplishments of individual programs. You would be right to point out that they do not all work perfectly or have no unintended consequences. However, you can’t get rid of them. Despite all of the Republican bluff and bluster, they are here to stay. If that’s not winning, I don’t know what is.
Barack Obama’s legislative achievements over the last two years are also here to stay. Even if you don’t like them or think that they did not go far enough, they still constitute a pretty impressive list of accomplishments.
My question to the conservatives is what do you expect to happen in the next two years with a Republican house? They can’t repeal health care or any other Obama program. They won’t balance the budget. They won’t seriously reduce the size of government. Most Republicans won’t list a single program that they would cut and those who think that they will get rid of the Department of Agriculture, the FDA or the Department of Education are dreaming. Even if they did, how is any of that really going to create jobs? Maybe I am wrong but I can’t see the new congress accomplishing anything that they promised. The American public seems to agree with me. A new Rasmussen poll says that 58% of likely voters expect to be disappointed with the Republicans by 2012. They are already behind and the new session hasn’t even started yet. Let’s say that the economy turns around to some degree by then. It could happen even by accident if not by design. Who do you think gets credit in the public’s eye, John Beohner or Barack Obama?
I am probably a bit happier today than I should be considering the circumstances, but I chalk that up to the fact that I won’t have Sharon Angle as my Senator for the next 6 years. There is no doubt that it was a bad day for the “little guy” in this country. That includes the Tea Partiers but they just don’t know it and probably never will. The single greatest failure of the Democrat Party has always been their inability to convince the electorate that voting Republican will always be against their own self interest. In the President’s own words, we took a shellacking the other night. However, if I was a Republican, I wouldn’t really see much to cheer about.
