Is The Grass Really Greener On The Other Side?
Now that the Democrats have achieved control of the Congress, one has to be concerned that the Democrats will not live up to the voters’ expectations. Some of the comments made by prominent Democrats since the elction do leave one cause for pause, especially on the hot-button topics of Iraq and a Bush impeachment. But the one that caused the most heartburn was the promise of bipartisanship:
Democrats start off on a divisive foot
Star Tribune Letter of the day
by GORDY SCHMIDT, LORETTO, MN
Published: January 09, 2007
The Democrats — who, along with the media, were responsible for the uncivil conditions in Washington the last five years — promised during the last campaign that they would create a new civility in Congress. Yet Republicans are practically shut out of the first 100 hours.
If it had been President Bush,
we would have heard outrage from every corner
of the Democratic media machine.
As it turns out, Mr. Schmidt, according to Gallup, Americans want Democrats, not Bush, at helm. But be forewarned. This public favoratism could be the heady power liqueur that turns the Democratic head away from a principled stance toward one of personal opportunism as practiced by the Republicans.
But to return to Mr. Schmidt’s accusation that the Democrats bear responsibility for the recent partisanship of the Congress, he’s remembering things most incorrectly. As proof, there was some outcry during that time to which he refers over the partisan power plays of the Republicans:
[L]ongtime Congress-watchers say they have never seen the legislative process so closed to input from minority-party members, the public, and lobbyists whose agenda is unsympathetic to GOP leadership goals. With one party controlling the White House and both chambers of Congress, and having little fear of retaliation by the opposing party, the House leadership is changing the way laws are made in America, favoring secrecy and speed over open debate and negotiation. Longstanding rules and practices are ignored. Committees more often meet in secret. Members are less able to make changes to legislation on the House floor. Bills come up for votes so quickly that elected officials frequently don’t know what’s in them. And there is less time to discuss proposed laws before they come up for a vote.
It didn’t stop with the Boston Globe:
Rogue Republican Dons in Congress Tear Up the Constitution, Exclude Democrats
By Katherine Yurica
December 29, 2003
While Democrats were careful to include the Republican minority party in conference committee meetings when they were in control of Congress, the Republican faction has now resorted to excluding virtually all Democrats, including the Minority leader of the Senate, Tom Daschle, from even attending conference committee meetings. This is a violation of the Constitution…
[T]he Republican faction has unwisely ignored the democratic procedures that must be followed in a democratic assembly. The question is what can be done about the situation? One half of the American people are presently without representation in Congress, unless the Republican leaders reverse themselves. This is unlikely without millions of Americans voicing their disapproval and demonstrating it by voting the factious Republicans out of office.
As we know, this finally did come about in 2006. So to return to current-day political events, even arch-religious conservative Cal Thomas remembers the GOP tactics excluding the Democrats from deliberations in the House when they controlled it:
House Democrats … will use House rules to keep Republicans from offering alternative measures because they want to show voters how quickly they can pass their “first 100 hours” agenda and allowing Republicans to offer amendments or alternative legislation, they figure, would slow them down.
Republicans are complaining about this, as one might expect, but after 12 years of treating Democrats as if they were subjects in a GOP dictatorship, they are unlikely to attract much sympathy.
A Star-Tribune Editorial, published January 09, 2007, puts this abuse of power into perspective:
The irony of the last six years, a period when “conservatives” ran Congress and the White House, is that Washington has run six consecutive budget deficits and added $3 trillion to the federal debt. That’s bad for the economy, in the long run, and unfair to future taxpayers. Maybe the “liberals” can do better.
Unfortunately, I don’t think that the Democrats’ approach is the appropriate one, and I’m not alone:
House Democrats lose credibility by shunning Republicans during Congress’ first 100 hours
Houston Chronicle Editorial
Jan. 7, 2007
During the first 100 hours of the new Congress, Democrats are declining to consult Republicans on a half-dozen bills they consider a priority. What would have been the harm of letting Republicans appear to embrace honesty and reject graft?
If Republicans declined to go along,
they would have been seen to defend
last year’s culture of corruption.Republicans, on the other hand, showed no reluctance to criticize Democrats for behaving as the Republicans did when they controlled Congress. President Bush compounded the absurdity when he called on Congress to end the thousands of earmark appropriations passed each year.
Americans must wonder why Bush never objected to the earmarks when his party was handing out the deficit-increasing cash and he could have vetoed any appropriations bill that contained them.
The conclusion is one I share:
The disingenuous behavior on both sides of the aisle during the first 100 hours does not support the hope that things will be radically different this Congress.
Arch-GOP supporter Sun Myung Moon’s Washington Times reports that House Republicans just might not deserve this sort of treatment from the Democrats:
GOP willing to back Democrats’ key bills
By Eric Pfeiffer, THE WASHINGTON TIMES
January 8, 2007
Leaders of both parties say Democrats in Congress are likely to win bipartisan support for many of their signature issues…
“I have every reason to believe that the Republicans want to cooperate,” Charles B. Rangel, New York Democrat and chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, told ABC’s This Week. “It’s in their best interest to cooperate. It’s good for the Democrats and Republicans, the Congress and the American people.”
Republican lawmakers offered cooperation for a raise in the federal minimum wage and changes to Social Security that do not include privatization.
Now, words are cheap and actions dear, but until the House gets down to business after all the inaugural hoopla, one should take veryone at their word until they have a chance to either walk their talk or show that they are lying hypocrites.
But this is a high-stakes game, as the Ventura County Star reminds us in a recent editorial:
[W]hile the Democrats have narrowly regained control of the legislative branch, the health of ailing Sen. Tom Johnson of South Dakota could put the Senate back in Republican hands at any time. The Democratic leaders are gambling that they can have their “first 100 hours” of partisan legislating and make up for it afterward by extending bipartisanship then. The chances are that if they are true to their word, the strategy will work in the long run. But it risks lasting Republican embitterment to counter Democratic satisfaction at achieving the goals of the opening hours of the session.
Such partisanship is raising hackles on both sides of the aisle. It isn’t often that I agree with the non-economic sentiments of conservatives, and often not for the same reasons, but this conservative actually said a couple of things I agree with totally:
Control Does Not Fill the Leadership Void
By Herman Cain
January 8, 2007
Under the last six years of Republican control, even with a Republican president, we have seen a leadership void in both the House and Senate. This lack of leadership is one reason voters were persuaded to put the Democrats back in control. History has taught us that real leadership must ultimately come from the president and an engaged public. We will receive the leadership we demand, or accept the void we have.
There is someone who completely understands the point that Mr. Cain is raising - and is acting in concert with her beliefs:
And So This Is Christmas
By Cindy Sheehan
25 December 2006
As Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” An out-of-control Executive Branch, threatening to send more troops to Iraq and another battleship group to the Persian Gulf - to intimidate Iran and perhaps incite an attack from that country that would justify another war - is not the only thing the world has to fear.
We have to do more than “hope” for a good 2007. We have to stay vigilant and motivated, and constantly remind our employees in DC who they work for and what we expect from them. May I remind everyone that the Democrats have started more wars in the last century than the Republicans - and all war is wrong, no matter what political party or which politician starts it. We have to be the ones who give our leaders the courage to do the right thing.
We [want] the Democrats to know
they’re back in power because of the grass roots.
To paraphrase what I heard her say on a recent television news sound byte concerning her protest at the Congress, “The grassroots put the Democrats into power. If they don’t do as we expect of them, the grassroots can take them right out again.”
This raises a vital point.
I heartily endorse the removal of the GOP from control of the Congress. I do not, however, take heart in the fact of Democratic dominance. If Sheehan’s threat were to become necessary, are we to return power to those who have demonstrated a readiness to abuse it?
My regular readers know that I am a strong advocate of additional political parties. The two-party system is a racket, a closed competition between two corporately-controlled and morally-questionable entities who rarely take care of the real needs of the nation. The Republicans have most recently demonstrated an unworthiness for holding power, and the Democrats sadly appear to be headed down the same path.
Without a better alternative to these two corrupt organizations, Sheehan’s threat rings a tad hollow. The grass loot would be equally green on either side of the current American political fence. The only difference would be which group of crooks gets the bigger share.
America deserves better - and it’s time we grew up and joined the majority of the rest of the world. We need to abandon two-party in favor of a more balanced political structure, open to parties currently exluded to protect the political graft duopoly.