God help us, Nancy Pelosi. I fear for my future. She will invite all of Mexico to come here and work. She will raise my taxes to pay for benefits for illegals. Christians might as well go underground, as she will take away any rights we might have had and she will make the perfered lifestyle gay and lesbian if you aren't illegal. We are in big trouble.
Not so, Terry...she won't get to do all that stuff...not yet anyway. By having control of the House the Dems get to control the agenda. That doesn't mean they get to control votes or outcome. Even should the Dems get control of the Senate, the majority will be so narrow that nothing much will get done without bipartisan consent. For the time being there is still a Republican administration with veto power. The American people, I believe, are asking for a change...and the party in power got the clubbing, as is usual. But what they want isn't necessarily a change in party...they want a change in the way Congress works...they want the partisan politics to be toned down...they want our real issues tackled...health insurance truly is a problem for folks...we do indeed have an immigration problem and it needs to be rationally discussed, not politicized. Mistakes have been made in the war, and maybe we shouldn't have gotten into it in the first place, but could we please have a rational discussion about where we go to from here rather than all the name calling? Could we educate ourselves about trade issues and jobs rather than just using scare tactics? And I don't think it's going to happen. Partisan politics will continue to be the name of the game...the Dems will use the next two years to throw bricks at the administration in hopes of gaining the White House. Little will get done in Congress other than a lot of partisan rhetoric. The mainstream media will be complicit in continuing to allow the libs to paint the economy as bleak, even if it is good...and we'll see if the American people buy in and drink the Kool-Aid in two years. God help us if the Republican Party doesn't come back to it's senses and it's principles.
Great post Stu. I think the American people themselves are not nearly as polarized as are the politicians we elect except when we fall prey to all of the hype that is constantly thrown at us by our preferred party-line media mongers. I think there is a much larger middle ground that largely goes untouched because so many politicians are more concerned about who wins and who loses vs. implementing good solid legislation that could benefit both sides if given a chance. Granted...never will everyone be satisfied 100% of the time but the hope for me is that there is a common ground and a common goal for all of us that America can be a better place and that improvements or changes in policy that satisfy many on both sides of the fence are achievable.
Now now, Terry. It won't be quite that bad. As my Republican friend said, we've lived through these changes before. We will live through this one too. In Indiana it's a good thing that the Dems took back control of the House. It sends a message to our wimp governor that his arrogance has worn thin. Right, whobedis?
Very good posts, Stu and MCG. I was talking about the election at lunch with my associate. IMO if McCain and Bayh end up with the presidential nominations, you would see a less polarizing, less ideological campaign that we've had in the past two elections. Some people would not be happy with that, but I would reply that they had their chance and blew it. We'll see. A long way to go.
These are exellent posts. I am definitely not in dispair for reasons Stu mentioned and further the Dems will need to get by a Bush veto, if it came to that. Also, can you say "Samuel Alito and John Roberts" ? Two great additions to the US Supreme Court who will be there for a few administrations.
I look at it this way, after a 12 year hiatus, the Dems will finally get to prove again to the American voters that they have no solutions to any problems except raising taxes. We all know that Social Security is in trouble. They managed to thwart Rep. attempts to try to fix it. Want to guess what their solution will be? They don't like the prescription drug plan the Reps. put in. Want to guess what thier solution will be? American manufacturing jobs are disappearing because of outsourcing. Anyone want to guess what their solutions will be? (I can't wait to see. This was a big campaign promise in Mich.) Gas should be heeading down to $1.50 a gal. Can't wait.
Wait! Wait! Where the hell were Karl Rove's evil minions? Why didn't we steal this election the way we stole all of the others? Where were our people who were supposed to intimidate all of the black voters? Were they all asleep at the switch? I wanna recount in all precincts that have no Democratic poll watchers! I wanna know where all the hanging chads went! I'll bet every one of those people meant to vote Republican! We also just discovered a box of ballots that had been inadvertantly misplaced by some careless volunteer. Let's count those now! Waaahh!
Oh and let's not forget Osama who was supposed to be captured just before the elections. I can't recall all the complaints and predictions of the paranoid delusional on the left.
8) Now we'll finally get to see what the Democrat's plan is to get us out of Iraq.... ...and increase employment by raising the minimum wage... ...and making the tax system fairer by not extending the tax cuts... ...and having Teddy Kennedy investigate the "Culture of Corruption." ...and......
speaking of the minimum wage <r>I think these are all important considerations to take in when considering a minimum wage increase:<br/> <br/> 1. Since 1938, virtually all workers, especially those who think of their compensation in "per hour" incremental terms, consider the minimum wage as a basis, or floor, from which they reference their own compensation progress. So when minimum wage increases, it's natural for all workers to feel that they have taken a step backwards until their relationship to the national standard is restored. Consequently, an increase in minimum wage creates significant upward pressure on all payrolls, not just those earning minimum wage.<br/> <br/> 2. Any company that doesn't respond to a minimum wage increase for all employees risks a negative impact on morale. Consider this scenario:<br/> <br/> Carol, an unskilled, entry-level worker, begins her career at minimum wage. On her first anniversary date, as a result of hard work, taking initiative, and assuming responsibility, Carol's employer gave her a $1 per hour raise. Carol is rightly proud of herself.<br/> <br/> The next day, a new unskilled, entry-level employee, John, is hired and assigned to Carol for training. But on that same day, the Federal government increased the national minimum wage by $1 per hour. With John starting out making the same hourly rate as Carol, how does she feel about her progress now? Left with immediate higher payroll expenses and a potential morale problem, this employer's only crime was to reward the efforts of one employee and give another one a job.<br/> <br/> 3. Some labor contracts use the national minimum wage as a platform upon which an hourly factor is added. So when the government increases the minimum wage, each worker participating in those contracts gets a raise automatically without delivering one notch of increased productivity for the firm that makes their payroll.<br/> <B><s></s><br/> 4. Every dollar of increased payroll carries with it an increase in the payroll tax, which employers match for their employees. Since a government mandated increase in payroll expense is a de facto tax, we then would have a tax on a tax.<e></e></B><br/> <br/> To me, the real sinister one is point #4. That's a backdoor tax increase of no real dollar value. Inflation for the sake of inflation, while allegedly increasing 'tax dollars' for the Congress to spend. Oh yes, let the fun begin.</r>
Failing to extend the tax cuts won't be called a tax increase either. The Federal Government has lots of backdoors for the Democrats and its the Republican's fault for not closing them permanently when we had the chance... We need to find someone to run for president in 2008 who's a real conservative and John McCain, Mitt Romney and Rudy Guiliani won't cut it. I'm tired of voting for semi-conservatives and nons... :cry: