Well, I'm finally getting around to talking about the midterm elections, two weeks late. Sorry! Anyway, the elections went as I expected them to. The Dems won a slim majority in both houses of Congress. Of course, I'm disappointed. I'd hoped that the American voters' thirst for change would be tempered by common sense, but it wasn't. The voters decided to believe that change would automatically be for the better and chose to ignore the Dems' San Francisco values, epitomized by their lust for surrender in Iraq and on our southern border. Bad move.
A part of me can't blame them, though. The Republicans really messed some things up. Most notably they spent like crazy, spending that can't all be attributed to the war. If memory serves, George W. Bush hasn't vetoed a single spending bill since he's been in office, and conservatives are supposed to be for smaller government. And let's not forget Bush's open borders attitude on immigration and his near-total abandonment of the fight against gay marriage, support of which helped to win him re-election in 2004. No wonder the Republicans' base was dissatisfied, to put it mildly.
I, too, was dissatisfied and willing to vote non-Republican, and I did. I did NOT vote Democrat because I don't trust the Dems with neither the safety nor the future of America. No, I voted for independent candidate Kinky Friedman for govenor of Texas. I voted for Kinky because of his strong stance against illegal immigration--he wanted to put 10,000 National Guard on the Texas-Mexico border--and also because he spit in the face of political correctness. It was thrilling and refreshing to see a candidate brave enough to call a spade a spade and offer real solutions to problems without worrying about whom he was offending. Kinky wasn't trying to win the Hispanic vote, or the black vote, or the white vote. He wanted the Texan vote. And he got mine. Unfortunately, Kinky lost his bid for the governorship of the greatest state in the greatest nation, but if he decides to run in 2010 he'll have my vote again.
On the national level I voted Republican because there were no Kinky Friedmans running for those offices. Most of my fellow Americans chose to vote Democrat and now we'll have to spend the next two years dealing with the consequences. Already the Dems' left-wing core is showing. We can expect all kinds of hearings and investigations as the Dems wage war on Bush instead of the terrorists. Blame America first will be the guiding principle of our foreign policy. Any chance of building a fence along our southern border, or doing anything else to curb illegal immigration, is kaput. The economy will slow down as the Dems raise taxes in the name of fairness and part of those tax dollars, no doubt, will be used to pay for public defenders for Gitmo detainees. This is only the beginning of the change you voted for America. I hope you're happy with it.
1 comment:
Fear Not Brave Christian Soldier!
Bush will veto, tear up, burn and scatter any tax increases the liberals manage to pass to the four winds. And I am not sure they will want to with the presidential election coming up. And they have a very slim majority. They may not have the votes in their own caucus.
They know they can't win so maybe they won't try. But I hope they do try. That would be good for us.
I am not too worried about losing Congress. I far am more upset about losing my individual member of Congress. Rob Simmons was the best congressman this state has ever had. We replaced him with a lawyer. That’s like throwing away a million dollar diamond ring for something fished out of the toilet bowl.
I feel we are in an excellent position to win it back Congress (won’t take much) plus the presidency in 2008. The Republican Revolution will continue. It will even continue while we are still in the minority.
Like Winston Churchill once said (I love this quote!). "The Americans will always do the right thing …
--after exhausting every other possible alternative."
Losing elections is not the end of the world. Losing elections is in fact a consequence of leadership. The voters need not be grateful.
Gratitude is not the reason the Republicans did what they did. They did what they did on a whole host of things like Partial Birth Abortion and tax cuts and the War on Terror because those things were right for America.
And still are. Losing the elections should not be seen as a rejection of all that.
I would not trade positions with the liberals for all the money in the world. They still don't have ideas. We were very effective all those years in the minority and we will be just as effective this time around. They have already started eating their own – Murtha.
We have to consciously try not to be sore losers. Let them and their buddies in the press have their victory party. But I can’t help pointing out the spin the liberal press put on the Democrat take-over. It was heralded as a great victory.
While the Republican take-over was characterized by the late Peter Jennings like this:
* * *
"Some thoughts on those angry voters. Ask parents of any two-year-old and they can tell you about those temper tantrums: the stomping feet, the rolling eyes, the screaming. It's clear that the anger controls the child and not the other way around. It's the job of the parent to teach the child to control the anger and channel it in a positive way. Imagine a nation full of uncontrolled two-year-old rage. The voters had a temper tantrum last week....Parenting and governing don't have to be dirty words: the nation can't be run by an angry two-year-old."
* * *
I distinctly recall the press saying over and over that the small margin was going to make it extraordinarily difficult for Newt Gingrich to govern. There was all this talk about what a polarizing figure he is. How crazy their ideas were. This Contract “ON” America was spun to be some kind of evil doctrine and was hardly ever termed “reform”.
There were predictions that this majority would be swept out the next time or the time after that. Clearly the voters made a mistake and are now horrified the next day.
“What have we done!” the press imagined the voters thinking. They were honestly perplexed that the voters did not turn the GOP out until now 12 years latter.
You hear none of that now. You would think the Democrats won all the seats by the coverage.
Pelosi is the first woman Speaker of the House! Whoopee!
The press just laps it up.
You hear nothing of how difficult it will be for her. She is not a polarizing figure --- at least to them.
But remember the press has never been on our side. They have always been our rival. That’s just the way it is.
We with the New Media will challenge them and overtake them with the force of our ideas over theirs. We can do this even with the liberal bias because they are not good enough at spinning the news to stop us.
They won one battle but there are many more battles ahead in the never ending War of Ideas.
My larger point is that our system of government works. And we have to trust it.
When we vote every Election Day I always think of it as a leap of faith. You have to trust the voters. I would not steal this election if the devil himself popped up and offered to me.
We believe in the process while many of the Democrats simply do not. They tried to steal the Presidency in Florida in 2000. They stole a senate seat in New Jersey by using the courts to rig the election and swapped very illegally one Democratic candidate certain to lose with a former incumbent.
No. Losing elections is a part of the process and we have to accept that. It’s good for us to lose once in a while. It sharpens our focus.
There will always be a new one every two years. And in between we all get to have our say and try to convince our fellow countrymen on the merits of our ideas.
One idea at a time. One thing you can do is, if you don't already, is to write letters to the editor. Write on issues. Small focused issues. Make one point each time. Write one every month.
(I am following my own advice.)
It will make a difference; much more so than in cyberspace. The letters section is the most read part of the papr.
You write well. Just make them non-personal, succinct and deadly accurate.
That how I think we took over congress the first time after 50 years.
From the grassroots up.
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