What's up GOP

I’m not a Republican in a strict sense of the word, nor am I a Tea Party member, and I’m most certainly not a Democrat. What I am is a proud Independent voter with moderate/conservative leanings, which means that I generally (but not always) vote Republican. I also tend to smile benignly upon Independent candidates for office. In my self appointed role as a political commentator, I try to keep abreast of what the politicians are up to as best I can, which probably makes me only slightly better informed than most folks.

In case you’ve been totally isolated for the last few months, we have a “mid-term” election coming up November 2ed, and it’s been described as one of the most crucial mid-terms in our nations’ history. At stake is nothing less that control of Congress, with all 435 House seats and 33 Senatorial seats up for grabs, along with a number of state governorships and innumerable local positions. Mr. Obama’s plans for change are up for grabs as well, and a whole lot of political careers are on the line. Vying for these elected positions is an entire herd of people representing just about every political philosophy ever devised by the human race. Of these political parties, the Democrats are presently ahead, having control of the White House and Congress, the later by 57 House and 18 Senate seats. With that control, the Democrats are happily forcing a virtual tsunami of far left social programs on the American people, and merrily spending what’s left of our national wealth. Meanwhile, the Republicans are busy weeping and wailing over Democratic policies, fuming at the current majority leadership, and of course plotting revenge. Caught in the middle is the “electorate”, the great unwashed mob of American citizens who are expected follow along blindly, and pay the bills without complaint. Filling the role of “advisors” to the electorate is the mainstream media… a mess of political pundits… and a midsized flock of Hollywierd “celebrities” who can’t keep their own lives straightened out, but claim to be eminently qualified to tell the rest of us how to live. This political Three Ring Circus is known to Americans as “Democracy”. To me it’s the biggest mess I’ve seen in the proverbial ‘coons age. The Democrats are for the moment trying their best to survive the upcoming election despite the imminent demise being predicted for them by the Republicans, while the Republicans are riding high on a wave of public distrust of the current regime.

According to most reports, the American people are quite upset with the massive spending programs espoused by the Democrats, and Republican hopefuls are doing their best to denounce it, while distancing themselves from the congressional shenanigans of the last few years. Conveniently they forget to mention that for years before the Democrats seized power, the Republicans themselves were spending our money as fast as the IRS could steal it from us. That in turn spawned the TEA Party movement, which has both mainstream parties upset, and most of the media totally hysterical. The TEA party is not a political party as such, but is a rather loose knit bunch of conservatives from most lines of political thinking, that are quite upset with our continually expanding government, our steady loss of freedom, and the monstrous national debt. For the most part they want government downsized, political power returned to the states, and an end to our huge “entitlement” spending programs. All of this is in direct opposition to Mr. Obama’s program for “changing” us, which, despite all the rhetoric to the contrary, the mainstream Republicans have been happily agreeing with for years! In their day, that would have had Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan manning the barricades!

It seems that nearly all the incumbent Republican’s and Blue Dog Democrats are telling us that they’re solidly against one government program or another, when in fact they’ve happily compromised on almost everything! They get an earmark or two and a few pork barrel projects, while Mr. Obama spends another few hundred billion dollars on assorted entitlements and social engineering theories. Tomorrow they go out and do it all over again! Now we have the TEA Party supported candidates entering the arena. For the most part these guys are hard core conservatives in outlook, which means they are (or at least were) Republicans or Moderates at one time or another. However, they oppose the Republican establishment’s “sellout” of our rights, our freedoms, our economy, and our distinctly American culture. In the recent primary elections they have done surprisingly well, which should tell the Republican leadership that something’s wrong, or at least that the rank and file membership strongly objects to the sellout! Get this quote from Ed Rogers, former aide to George H.W. Bush: “Experience has taught me that, in the end, politicians tend to make the best politicians.” In translation, that means the job can only be handled by the professional politicos who have done so well for us over the last 20 years… The establishment should be thankful that the Tea Party people have been as civil as they are… if they were liberals they’d already be rioting in the streets! When patient, law-abiding citizens who have never been involved in politics decide they have had enough of the status quo, when they watch their money and liberty disappear, they will not go quietly into the night!

Playing to the dissent within Republican ranks, the DNC leadership is now using the old “we know we're bad, but we are the lesser of two evils" argument... with the theme being “You may hate us, but GOP is worse”. (You just know your country is going down the tubes when politicians start admitting how pathetic they are, and then say "at least we aren't THAT bad".) Democratic strategist David DiMartino claims that "In every state and every district, it has to be a choice between them and us. Our policies are more popular than theirs." Humm… Dunno where he got that idea from! Strangely enough, any time the GOP has control of the house, we seem to have more jobs, but when the Democrats have control of the house, they cut jobs and increase social services. And look at the fiasco with heath care and financial reform. Who are the Congressmen that favor vastly expanded social benefits? Who is it that wants to emasculate our armed forces? Who favors illegal immigration… who favors instant abortion? We know what the Democrats plan, and by press time we’ll have the mainstream Republican “New Contract with America” announcement. What I’d hope to see next is a conservative plan of what they hope to accomplish once they’re in office. Then, we’d all be much better informed, and able to make an intelligent selection when we vote.

My fear is that the far left Democrats will score a big time win in the upcoming election, as the mainstream republicans are so busy fighting their conservative base that they’re driving people away, directly into the welcoming arms of really radical splinter groups. Essentially they’re splitting the vote as we’ve seen happen several times in recent years. If that happens, and the Democrats retain control of the US Congress for yet another two years, I shudder to think what will happen to this once proud and prosperous nation.