Grabbing The Greasy Pole

The predictions of the Inside-the-Beltway pundits came true yesterday when Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives. The U.S. has now grabbed the greasy pole that slides straight to hell for this country. Democrats are fumbling over themselves in glee, attempting to put together a logical chain of events and proposed policy that gave them the edge. Many of the media is helping the Democrats grab for straws to explain their win. I believe John Murtha to be closest to the reason for his loss, although not entirely. For me, two bellweather votes explains the whole reason for the Democrat win.

Or rather, the Republican loss. John Murtha says that the election was a reaction to President Bush's policy in Iraq. He is only half right or less. Definitely a reaction to President Bush's policy this swing was. It certainly was not because the U.S. citizenry was excited about a Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

This election amounted to a reaction by conservatives to neo-con republicans. The reaction was that many stayed at home. Other conservatives, such as myself, who have felt the knife-blade turning in our backs by Republicans, voted for more conservative independents. The Libertarian candidates in Georgia garnered 4% of the vote in most races that included a Libertarian candidate. Ordinarily, they only total maybe 2% or less in Georgia.

And yet other conservatives stayed home due to apathy. In South Dakota, who only 2 years earlier defeated Senate Majority Leader and flaming liberal Senator Tom Daschle, rejected a measure that would amount to the toughest ban on abortion in the U.S. Arizona rejected a measure that would ban gay marriage from that state. Both of these states only two years earlier elected Bush and helped to boost Republicans into the Senate Majority. So have the people of these states changed their political stripes so quickly as to be intolerant of conservative measures that they appeared to support only two years earlier?

The fact of the matter is that the Democrat win is a reaction to Federal issues. The effects spilled over into these states, due to the fact that the Federal portions of elections often overshadow the state portion. The bottom line is that conservatives are fed up with Republicans who govern like Democrats.

When I heard that Lincoln Chaffee lost his senate seat, my first thought was, "At least now Rhode Island has someone in the Senate who is actually honest about where he stands."

So let this be the wake-up call to those who have rode the conservative train to Washington, but slid into neo-conservative (watered-down liberal) pinstripes when they arrived. Those conservatives who tried to be true to their convictions, such as Representative Mike Pence, were silenced by the leadership.

To Republicans who wish to have the support of conservatives: take the example of Mike Pence and govern by it if you have the opportunity again. I fear that it will be difficult to win back the trust of conservatives to loyal Republicans again.

What I Wish The Republicans Would Do

The words "Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi" evokes a cringe, almost gut-wrenching, reaction from me. Although I know for a fact that very little would be different with a Democrat congress or presidential administration (except for the speed at which our country is going down, 35 mph for Republicans versus 70 mph with Democrats), I still have that reaction of hearing the words "Democrat control".

Confession time.

The year was 1992. I was a college sophomore who had never voted in an election, since I did not turn 18 until after the 1990 midterms. But I knew I wanted to vote. And I knew I was a democrat. After all, my grandfather was a democrat. Everyone else in Canton, GA, was a democrat if they wanted to win an election. Although I was a Reagan supporter, I knew George H.W. Bush was the wrong man after his first four years. Looking back, I can't really remember why I thought that, but I just knew it was time for change, and by George, or Bill, I was going to help exact that change. And Bill Clinton was just the guy who would set things straight in D.C. He was a southerner, a Washington outsider, and a democrat. And he was getting a lot of favorable press attention.

So when I went to the polls, I voted for Bill Clinton. And thanks to Bill Clinton, I realized that I was not a democrat.

Not only did I realize this by his less-than-stellar character that was now surfacing since the election, but by his policy positions. One of the only things he accomplished while he had a democrat-controlled congress was the Family Medical Leave Act, which forced companies by law to give employees up to 12 weeks out of work for family-related issues and still hold their job. The leave would be unpaid, which was probably a compromise in the bill. More than Bill, though, Hillary and her scandals and attempted transformation of the U.S. healthcare system into a giant government program helped me to realize that I was not a democrat. I found out that conservative democrats such as Sam Nunn were the minority, and under the Clinton administration, the inmates were running the asylum.

And so I did the most logical thing, and that was switch my party affiliated to Republican. And I have voted republican in every election since and including 1994. And unfortunately, I find myself in the same position, discovering that the neo-con, "compassionate conservative" (read liberals who believe that cutting taxes will give the government enough increased revenue to fund big government) inmates again are running the asylum.

So here are some hot button issues, and how I think Republicans should stand on those issues.

1) War in Iraq: One sign of character is admitting when one is wrong about something. The goal of a democratic Middle East is a pipe dream. The belief was that Iraq and Afganistan would become Middle Eastern democratic pardigms, and that the rest of the Middle East would see just how good democracy is and join the party. Unfortunately, the flaw in this logic involves the peaceful religion of Islam and its ambivalence toward free will. Let's help establish the interior security of Iraq and Afganistan, while simulataneously sizing our presence down. We got in, found the weapons of mass destruction, and toppled Sadam. Now let's leave and call the hope of a democratic Middle East what it really is: fantasy.

2) Minimum Wage: Call for the repeal of all minimum wage laws while calling it what it really is: artificial inflation through wage price control. No one gains anything by increasing the minimum wage, since costs increase, thus forcing business to increase pricing. A vicious cycle it is. Let the market dictate pricing through competition.

3) Taxes: Call for the immediate dismantling of the Federal tax structure and the passing of the Fair Tax. Compliance costs would decrease, as well as maintain the current revenue stream on the federal level. And, since taxes would be determined by a percentage of consumption, one would only conclude that higher income citizens would shoulder the brunt of the tax burden. A win for small government conservatives and also for class-envying liberals.

4) Stem-cell research: The Federal government has no business in this business. Leave this regulation to the states. No federal funding.

5) Abortion, euthanasia, gay marriage, education, energy and other issues of the like: None of these issues have any relation to the power enumerated to the Federal government. Although I personally find abortion, euthanasia, and gay marriage repugnant and immoral, other people do not and some choose the above to be their lifestyle ( or lack of lifestyle). If people in Massachusetts want to have legally binding homosexual marriage, let their people vote it into law. If Georgia does not want to recognize any homosexual marriage, regardless of state of origin, the let the voters have the say. The tenth amendment should be applied to these issues.

6) Border Security: This is probably the most important issue of our time. The issue is not whether or not we are viewed as anti-immigrant or not, but rather this is the most important issue of national security, and perhaps the only issue that the Federal government has enumerated powers to affect. We should first secure the borders, minimizing the number of migrants crossing our borders illegally. Let those coming across legally come, welcoming them with open arms. Next we should focus on deporting those whom we find here illegally. Pourous borders are not good for anyone. Bombs smuggled by Al qada masquarading as migrant Mexican fruit pickers kill both democrats and republicans.

7) Social Security and Medicare: Begin a phase-out for all citizens under the age of 35, stepping down benefits from 35, ending the complete phase out for workers age 18. Cease withholding payroll taxes from workers 18 and younger immediately, and step withholding down for those workers under 35 years of age. But, of course, the Fair Tax would make that a moot point anyway, since it would do away with all taxes on individuals anyway.

8) Become the Champion of Individualism: We hear much about the "common good" these days, a throwback to a Marxist concept that democrats are hoping that the electorate will not associate with our old foe, the Soviet Union, since that would be a bad signal of the concept. Individualism has almost become a taboo word in Washington. The republicans should become the champions of this concept of the individual is the owner of his own destiny in relation to other humans, and that the law exists to protect the individual from other individuals who would infringe upon his rights.

9) The Activist Judiciary: I would like to see republicans make examples of activist judges on either side of the aisle by beginning impeachment procedings. The measure of activism would be determined by how many new "tests" these judges come up with to determine constitutional muster, or rather, if they can make the Constitution evolve to the new standard they wish to set. The text of the Constitution is test enough.

These are just a few issues that I wish would be addressed. But, like a democratic Middle East, a republican party who would take these issues and stand on them as conservatives is a pipe dream.