Election Aftermath
Republicans took control of the House of Representatives yesterday and it seems certain that the next Speaker will be John Boehner. Did everything go as I would have liked? No, but it seldom does. Two or three weeks ago, it seemed certain Republicans would also take the Senate. Perhaps the biggest blessing from this entire election was the shift of 19 state legislatures from Democrat to Republican control. Republicans also gained 10 gubernatorial positions from the Democrats. I hope I don't sound disappointed. After all, do the Giants feel dejected this week because they lost one game to the Rangers?
I listened to President Obama today and I took special interest in a question that was asked him by an AP reporter. The President was asked whether he intended to modify his agenda given the thrashing he had just experienced. His response was true to form. The man is a narcissist. He spoke of accepting a new group in the Congress and of his willingness to compromise on new issues and leave last year's decisions behind. He does not want to play politics with prior decisions.
We are not sending 60 new Republicans to Congress to compromise or to leave last year's decisions alone. Last year Speaker Pelosi, Harry Reid and Barack Obama acted against the will of the American people. We have spoken and this new Congress must address this issue first. Sure, we can compromise, but compromise must begin with the complete repeal of Obamacare, by addressing the overstep of the Environmental Protection Agency, by an extension of the Bush tax cuts and by reducing all regulatory bills passed by the Pelosi Congress. Then we can talk compromise but not before.
Joe Manchin won West Virginia because he ran against Cap and Trade and Obama. His seat is up for election again in 2012 because this was an off year election to fill the vacancy left by Robert Byrd. He will be watched to make sure he is not a rubber stamp for the Obama machine. In addition to Manchin, there are more than 20 Democrat Senators also up for election in 2012. We will keep the heat on them as well.
In my statement yesterday I used metaphors and analogies that were apparently lost on many based upon the criticisms I have received. The Obama agendas in 2009 and 2010 were against the will of the American people, so far against our will that we Americans had multiple reasons to want the Congress to turn over and the Obama administration to be stopped. The closest analogy I could think of to demonstrate that a third most important issue can still be of prime significance was to use three horrid crimes to illustrate that a third most important matter can still have consequence. Further, my statement that we are taking a swing at this Congress and this President was a metaphor. I thought this would be understood given that I said that the blow would be dealt Democrats at the ballot box. To those who did not understand, this is what I intended. For those who still do not understand, I cannot influence everybody.
Categories: Election
Tags: Republicans Election Democrats Speaker
I agree. I watched the Frontline Video, Obama's Deal. I hope Republicans break away from corporate pressures.
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I am an Immigrant from Canada. We are called Socialists and the only difference I find between typical America & Canada is that Canadians do have an entitlement to universal health care. Because I like to drive on paved streets, I have paid into SS, I like that my kids can attend school and that someone will even come to my house if there is a fire.... I should be considered a Socialist to some degree, and you are too. What does your movement really want? To me, you seem to want two things. Less government spending and a repeal of health care reform. Since this site represents the "platform", I would expect to find out what you stand for. I don't. If you hate government social programs and spending, please explain to me what you consider "American healthcare" and specify what you would like to live without...Streets? Police? An army to protect you so you can "Free Market" your way to the American dream???
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Where in anything that you see written on these pages do you see anyone saying we should not have a government? We don't have paved streets because of a healthcare bill. We have paved streets because of the consitutionally authorized function of federal, state and local government. There is no similar authorization to the federal government in our Constitution to provide healthcare. I have heard many stories about Canadian healthcare. One out of about every ten that I have spoken with seem to actually like it. The others speak of long waits for treatment for things that Americans have historically been able to access with immediacy. What we want with regard to healthcare is what we had before Barack Obama became president. We want this Congress and this President to keep their hands off an admittedly imperfect but still well functioning industry.
To see other platform ideas you are welcome to navigate the sidebar to the category, Platform. There you will find 32 platform ideas that fairly well depict what we would like this government to project. The remainder of the blog is largely editorializing on current events.
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You tea party radicals are a very close minded group of people.
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Please tell us in what way? Accusations without examples or evidence are worthless.
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This was not the will of the people. It was the result of very nasty, but very well funded campaigning to a populace used to sound bites rather than the truth and detail. That's all party politics is about - winning elections. And the Tea Party did a good job of exploiting public fears to win big in this election. The telling aspect of all of this is that not a single Tea Party candidate (nor many of the other party candidates) ever offered concrete plans to deal with ANY of the issues touted in this election. So, now that the power has shifted...will you do anything besides just stopping the current administration from taking any action? How does that help the average American? Oh, wait. You don't represent the average American. Gee, thanks for being such a great example of why Jefferson and Madison feared factions. Perhaps people will take this lesson and actually learn how the Constitution works rather than let someone misinterpret it on their behalf.
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Apparently the Tea Party does represent the average American or we would not have had such a shift in power in this election Keith. Nearly 700 seats in federal and state elections moved from Democrat to Republican. I believe something like 18 or 19 state legislatures turned from Democrat to Republican. We only gained 6 seats in the Senate but in the House there are now fewer Democrats than at any time since 1932 or 1938. I've heard both numbers. The reason for such shifts is that the Congress this year chose to rule instead of govern. Do you believe that what the Congress did this past year represented the American people? They plunged us more than $2 trillion further into debt against our wishes and have put our economy on the brink of disaster with 10% unemployment and $600 billion of monetization that will have a tragic effect on the dollar. Since Nancy Pelosi took control as Speaker the Congress has amounted approximately $4 trillion of new debt. I remember multiple town hall meetings where Senators and Congress people were told we did not want them to pass healthcare but we were ignored by many of the Congress people and Senators who in November lost their seats.
We played upon our own fears and motivated ourselves to awaken and do something about business as usual in Washington. I would not call it exploitation. I would call it honesty. Obama's initial act upon taking office was to push a $787 billion stimulus plan through the Congress without a single republican vote. This bill has since been re-estimated and it looks now like it will add something like $862 billion to the deficit and of course the debt. http://dailycapitalist.com/2010/01/26/stimulus-bill-cost-now-862-billion/ It was supposed to halt the slide and keep unemployment below 8%. How'd it do? How is that hope and change working out for you? The stimulus money was in large part a payback to those who got him elected.
Obama nationalized two auto giants and extorted corporate bond holders to give up their standing and subordinate their debt to unsecured labor unions and the government. He pushed a healthcare bill through the Congress with no Republican votes and no Republican participation. The bill was written behind closed doors Keith. How transparent was that? Then we were told that the Congress had to pass it so we could see what was in it. Those fools who represent you didn't even bother to read the bill or provide sufficient time for others to read it or debate it before passage. It then turned out to be nothing like Obama was promising during the period he advocated its passage. The great Obama, Reid and Pelosi axis that promised transparency and ethical behavior offered nothing of the kind. Republicans were not permitted to participate until the grand meeting in which Obama chastised Paul Ryan for bringing the healthcare proposal to the meeting. He called the bill a prop and he refused to discuss details. When forced he made statements that were factually incorrect. Ryan was there to discuss the bill as were others but Democrats were there to talk about the woman wearing her dead sister's dentures because she couldn't afford any of her own. What poppycock. We have had malevolent fools running this country now for the past two years and if you believe they represent you or the people then you are as big a fool as they.
Rather than telling me that I misrepresent the Constitution I would insist that you tell me where I have misrepresent the Constitution. Your charges are shallow with no examples to support your charge.
As for the future if all our new Republican majority is able to do is obstruct it may not be progress but it will prevent further harm to this country and this economy. We may have to wait until 2012 to finally rid ourselves of the vermin that has infested this administration from the Chicago thugs to the multiple czars who act as parasites and feed off the American taxpayer. Progress sometimes takes time. What I expect from this Congress is immediate legislation to repeal Obamacare before people become dependent upon the government and insurers go out of business. I expect the repeal of the recent legislation to further regulate financial institutions. I expect the Congress to pass a bill to open up ANWR and to permit offshore drilling for oil. I expect the Congress to extend the Bush tax cuts. I expect the Congress to tell the EPA to stuff it and send the water back to the San Juaquin Valley so farmers can go back to work and once again grow the food that feeds our nation. I expect them to stop Obama in his tracks and not permit one further Marxist idea of his to proceed forward or damage this country any further. There are some ideas you can chew on and all would be good for our nation and our economy.
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