Living Down To The Expectations Of The Opposition
It took me longer than I liked to get back to posting here due to several reasons. But the time was useful for me in providing a delay period for all of the hoopla over the Democratic rout of the GOP to settle down, and allow more rational thought and observation to emerge in the world’s media. The initial impression of Democratic control of the legislative branch I’m getting from their reports is far from encouraging.
Nancy Pelosi’s support of John Murtha (despite his open ethics sores) over Steny Hoyer (who likely has some of his own) is just the beginning. The nice-nice lunches held at the White House for Democratic leaders after the results were in aren’t helping either, as they demonstrate to me that the Rovian Intelligence Agency is busy scoping out the weaknesses of their new “partners” in governance - and finding things.
The Good Orange County (CA) Republicans I work with are already celebrating the return to power of the GOP in 2008, saying things like “Now the Democrats are going to discover how hard it is to rule, and they will screw it up!”
I wish I could say they were wrong.
The longer this goes on, the less confidence I have that the Democrats aren’t going to fall into their old patterns. The voters clearly spoke for No More Business As Usual, and what they are getting is More Of The Same - With A Friendlier Face. This is why I can see the reason my GOC(CA)Rs are already celebrating.
All the signs are pointing to a return to 1992, which was the period when the Democratic excesses caused the voters to seek other options, a condition which provided a fertile field for the Republicans to plow. They reaped a fine harvest then, but their own foibles since have led them to reap the same sort of electoral disaster harvest they themselves once planted for the Democrats.
One is thus forced to wonder when the American voter is going to notice that the country is adrift between two warring political factions whose only interest is in besting the other guys. The welfare of the nation is being completely ignored.
I know that the Founding Fathers intended for the process of governance to be slow deliberately, but I don’t think they intended the governors to be just as slow if not more so. The Democrats are demonstrating that they are slow to pick up on the GOP sabotage efforts already underway as they provide ample opportunity for their opponents to exploit. On the other hand, while the GOP is very good at recognizing opportunities to advance their power, they aren’t noticing that they are not satisfying the voters who have to live in the messy world the GOP helped to create.
The world is putting up major challenges to our nation in every category of human activity, and it’s past time we stopped resting on the faded and crumbling laurels we earned in 1945. The rest of the world has gone forward in so many ways while our Republican “leaders” have attempted to turn back the clock, to the good old days of the good old white boy network, while the Democrats sit in the corner and vibrate with helpless rage.
This is not what the voters were led to believe they were getting when they voted to close the lobbyist’s playground and turn over power to representatives who appeared to be more adult. What they got for their vote was not what they voted for. The Republicans are sure that they will be the beneficiaries of voter discontent in 2008, but I would advise them not to hatchet my counts before they chicken.
If ever there was a more opportune time for a third party effort to break out, this is it. Every other major nation on Earth that is even remotely democratic has several political parties: Britain, Canada, Japan, Israel, etc. Only those nations whose government leans authoritarian have two parties - or less. It is no secret that Karl Rove was seeking to establish the Republican Party as America’s ONLY party, so I will include the Bush Administration as authoritarian for the purposes of this post. The only role the Democrats were to play was as a “beard” to hide the real visage of Political America. Such a political structure is not good for the continued progress of the nation.
If I’m reading accurate information concerning the mood of the electorate, the voters are already on that page. It would be nice if they had electoral options which reflected that realism. Only they can create them. I hope they don’t wait too long to do so.
November 15th, 2006 at 5:57 am
Now that’s sounding like a Perotista. Maybe Lieberman’s win may be a strike for more indi candidates. The Vermont one surely isn’t. My Congressman’s a fiscal conservative working for budgetary constraint. He wants to prudently spend the people’s money. What Karl Rove was attempting and what we got in a GOP majority were two different things. The people elected did not live up to what Rove was selling. This year they were fired. The new recruits for 2008, that’s a different story.
The loyal opposition was not that loyal. My opinion, they haven’t helped our war effort at all and given aid and comfort to the enemy. I feel that a more loyal opposition, we would be more successful in Iraq than we are now. Just my feeling. They fed the insurgency with hope, just hang on a little longer and America will tire and withdraw.