Despite claims by Pelosi and Company during the campaign that they had no intention of “pulling out” from Iraq, this Sunday we were treated to multiple Democrats – including those who are in line to be committee chairs – saying that we needed to execute a “phased redeployment” from Iraq within the next few months.
That, of course, would be another word for “withdrawal”, or, if you prefer, “surrender.”
The Democrats would be wise to remember what happened the last time they got full of themselves, or, for that matter, what happened to the Republicans the last time THEY did (said lesson was just delivered.)
The Democrats were not handed a blank check on Iraq, nor any other matter of policy. In fact, they did not win on their ideas, because they have put forward almost NO policy initiatives of any kind. Instead, they campaigned on “Bush Sucks”, as noted before, and won.
But WHY did they win?
Well, let’s look at what Republicans promised when they were elected in 1994 – look at it
RIGHT HERENow, what was actually accomplished? That’s a much shorter list:
Did we get all laws applying to the rest of the nation applying to Congress? YES – the Shays Act passed and was signed.
What else? Of the eight original principles, ONLY THE FIRST ever made it into law in its entirety. Most of the rest either were cast aside or forgotten about. Certainly, fiscal restraint never made the first page, although tax cuts did. Score ½ point there.
Does anyone remember the vow to eliminate The Department of Education from the federal government? What happened? It instead DOUBLED IN SIZE AND COST.
So – why did Republicans lose?
Its simple – they made a lot of promises and of them, delivered on only TWO – to cut taxes and apply the same laws to themselves as to the rest of the nation.
On each and every remaining promise, from term limits to fiscal restraint to legal reform (e.g. “loser pays”) the Republicans failed to deliver. Indeed, by any score card you wish to use they got a big fat “F” on the performance of their contract.
So – now that Pelosi has her speaker’s gavel, to be handed to her in January, exactly what did THEY campaign on?
“Bush Sucks.” Ok, ok, Bush Sucks. We heard you. We elected you kind of by default, because the American People couldn’t find anyone on the ballot that would IMPLEMENT what we were sold in 1994, and many of us just plain old stayed home, figuring that a vote for one crook or another was simply not worth casting.
But – now that you have power, you need an agenda, and it has to be one that the majority of Americans ACTUALLY AGREE WITH.
It can’t be “cut and run in Iraq”, because most Americans don’t want to pull our troops and watch Iraq spiral into civil war – which it WILL if we just up and leave.
It can’t be “tax the rich”, because, well, when was the last time a poor person gave you a job? And we’ve got a lot of jobs here right now – indeed, unemployment is at a near record low. Do you really want to “tax the rich” and perhaps have them hire FEWER people? That wouldn’t be so good, would it?
It can’t be “impeach the President”, because even if many people do think Bush sucks, they watched the last time a President was impeached and didn’t like it. And here, we do not have a Nixonian moment to pin on him. Tread there at your peril.
It can’t be “socialized health care” or “tax the evil oil companies”, and beware indirect attempts to do either. Ethanol, for example is actually a tax INCREASE, because it costs more to make the ethanol than it does to produce the gasoline! So if you want to see gas prices go UP, mandate more Ethanol (and refuse to eliminate the tariff on foreign supply.) And oh, by the way, an energy policy does not consist of doing nothing about or dependance of foreign supply while allowing our DOMESTIC resources, which amount to more than FIVE TIMES that held by Saudi Arabia, sit in the ground!
It will be interesting to watch the political landscape in the coming months and weeks, that is for certain. If the Democrats come to their senses and put forward an actual legislative agenda that conforms more-or-less with “get the government out of our back pocket and out of our face”, while defending the nation against the Islamo-nut-beards, they have a good shot at holding power through ’08 and even winning the Presidency.
But if not… if they “cut and run” and we have another 9/11-style attack – perhaps even a nuclear one this time – before the ‘08 elections – they’re finished as a party.
Does anyone remember the Whigs?
The nation is watching boys and girls….. now go get to work.
