Why neither side deserves to win this November

[Joe Republic]

Link


Neither Side Deserves To Be Reelected

Dick Morris
Cagle Cartoons
September 12, 2006


Sorry, but you don't.

At the start of Congress, right after Bush's reelection, two topics dominated your agenda: Social Security and Immigration Reform. Neither passed.

Congress punted on Social Security after it got scared to death by the reaction of senior citizens to Bush's proposed reforms. Ironically, the group least affected by the changes - the elderly who were exempt from their provisions - was the most opposed. And the people directly impacted - current wage earners - were largely supportive, albeit apathetic. Democrats never got to stop the reforms by waging the gallant filibuster for which they were hoping. The Republicans quietly killed Bush's proposals by an agreement never to talk about them again.

And the record on immigration hasn't been any better. Again, the Democrats didn't have to obstruct action. The Republicans did it for them. The compromises between the Senate bill's emphasis on an earned path to citizenship and the House's tough border protection is to adopt one from column A and one from column B. The public supports both border protections and an earned path to citizenship. But the House and Senate leaders don't have the guts to pass the obvious compromise, and Bush won't force their hand.

Then, as the session unfolded, two other issues became prominent. The Abramoff scandals put ethics and lobbying reform on the agenda and the rise of gasoline prices made energy a center-stage issue once more. And again, Congress did next to nothing.

It hasn't even considered anything approaching tough ethics reform, conspicuously rejecting bans on congressional travel paid for by private organizations and earmarking limitations, apart from the tepid disclosure requirements that are now up for consideration. Congress won't even consider such items as banning employment of spouses on campaign payrolls or limitations on lobbying by sons, daughters and wives. Those should be major priorities. Otherwise, a campaign contribution that pays for a wife's salary becomes a direct cash payment to the member's checking account and a job as a lobbyist becomes an avenue to exploit special access.

On energy, Congress passed a weak bill without Alaskan drilling or any aggressive alternative fuels legislation except for some marginally helpful items on ethanol production.

This year, according to the whip's schedule, the House will be in session for fewer than 90 days, even projecting until the end of the year.

A Congress dominated by allegedly fiscally conservative Republicans has set all-time records on earmarking, and members, not challenged by the whip's lackadaisical schedule, spent most of their time funding their pet projects in return for campaign donations from the businesses and lobbyists involved.

The raise in student-loan interest rates and the so-called bankruptcy reform bills were especially cruel to the families the GOP professes to care about. They make a higher education harder to afford and the resulting possible bankruptcy impossible to escape.

And, in a broader perspective, what good has the Republican Congress done since Bush took office? The tax cut was excellent and the good record of the economy bears it out. The No Child Left Behind bill is a landmark piece of legislation that is proving its worth. And the Patriot Act has done a lot to keep us safe.

But lately? In the past four years, what has this Congress done to deserve reelection? Precious little.

All the pundits are focusing on whether the Republicans keep power in the 2008 election or whether the Democrats take over. But both parties have a dismal record this Congress - a record of non-achievement.

This has been, truly, the do-nothing Congress of all time!

[dazzleman]

You're right, neither side deserves to win.

But somebody has to.

[Josh/Devilman88]

How about the Mexicans come and win in November so they can turn America into the next Mexico, oh wait they are already doing that.

[John Dibble]

You're right, neither side deserves to win.

But somebody has to.

Vote Libertarian - we don't deserve to win either, but less so than the other guys.

[adam]

True neither side deserves to win really, however I would say that the GOP more so deserves to lose than the Democrat.

[MODU]

You're right, neither side deserves to win.

But somebody has to.

Vote Libertarian - we don't deserve to win either, but less so than the other guys.

How about a 5-party split this election?    Dems, Reps, Libertarians, Constitutionalists, and Independents! 

[Nym90]

Well, I agree that Congress has been particularly bad, but the bottom line is that the GOP is in the majority there. In the House especially they are in total control of the chamber and its agenda, so anyone lamenting Congress's poor performance has to fault the Republicans moreso than the Democrats if they are going to remain intellectually honest.

I wish the Democrats had a stronger and more visible message, but overall I think it's time for a change. If the Democrats win the majority and things are just as bad if not worse two years from now then the voters can weigh in on that in 2008.

[MODU]

I wish the Democrats had a stronger and more visible message, but overall I think it's time for a change. If the Democrats win the majority and things are just as bad if not worse two years from now then the voters can weigh in on that in 2008.

We have many decades of that being the case already.  It's time for some new parties and tougher controls over Congress, including term limits.

[Nym90]

I wish the Democrats had a stronger and more visible message, but overall I think it's time for a change. If the Democrats win the majority and things are just as bad if not worse two years from now then the voters can weigh in on that in 2008.

We have many decades of that being the case already.  It's time for some new parties and tougher controls over Congress, including term limits.

Well I don't necessarily disagree with you on new parties which could inject some fresh ideas into the system.

Taking away the right of the voters to elect whomever they choose, though, is in my view a huge insult to the intelligence of the American people first of all (essentially saying they aren't smart enough to kick incumbents out of office who deserve to be voted out), and secondly would greatly enhance the power and influence of money and lobbyists within the system. Only the wealthy or well connected would be able to afford to run for office (I realize that's already largely true, but at least there is the hope that you can make a career out of it once you get there rather than having to worry about guaranteed unemployment 8 or 12 or however many years down the road).

Reforming the way the districts are drawn and eliminating gerrymandering would be a much more effective solution to the problem of entrenched incumbents; many of them are entrenched and end up going off the deep end ideologically due to the highly partisan nature of their districts.

[dazzleman]

I think we have to compare the dismal performance of the current congress against what we'd likely get from the opposition.  So far, they haven't really told us what they'd do differently in any type of positive sense.

Also, people don't vote on "congress," they vote for a single representative.  During many of the long and dreadful year of Democratic domination of congress , polls consistenly indicated that people hated congress, but loved their own representative.  So congress didn't really change for a long time despite being highly unpopular as an institution.

Gerrymandering is a big problem.  The whole racial gerrymandering issue has really put it over the top.  Politically correct Democrats and Republicans looking ot pick up seats in the south signed on to this idea.  It is a perfect example of bipartisan cooperation not being in the public's best interests.  Most of the people elected from these gerrymandered districts are terrible, and other districts are then pushed further in the opposite direction.  It has the effect of killing any type of consensus-building, and affects our politics in a negative way far beyond just the party breakdown in congress.

That being said, I support a strong two-party system.  A multi-party system tends to produce splintering and political instability.  I think a lot of our political stability has come from the two party system, including the way this system is bolstered by the electoral college.  There will always be problems, and they work themselves out eventually; it just takes what seems to be a very long time.

[MasterJedi]

Well Republicans (and moderate Dems and moderate/conservative Independents) winning is a much better solution to every other minor party. (Does not include independents.

[David S]

Link


Neither Side Deserves To Be Reelected

[

Those of us with the yellow avatars offer a simple solution.

[NewFederalist]

Those of us with the yellow avatars offer a simple solution.

Amd what, pray tell, might that solution be?

[Speed of Sound]

You're right, neither side deserves to win.

But somebody has to.

Vote Libertarian - we don't deserve to win either, but less so than the other guys.

How about a 5-party split this election?    Dems, Reps, Libertarians, Constitutionalists, and Independents! 

make it 6, and its a deal. 

[TheresNoMoney]

The Democrats obviously deserve the chance to control Congress.

The minority cannot be blamed when they have no real power to do anything.

[dazzleman]

The Democrats obviously deserve the chance to control Congress.

The minority cannot be blamed when they have no real power to do anything.

I bet you wouldn't have said that in 1994 about the Republicans.

[Keystone Phil]

How about the Mexicans come and win in November so they can turn America into the next Mexico, oh wait they are already doing that.

Very Christian, Josh.

[nlm]

American politics have descended into a crass system based on dislike for the "other" side.

The Republicans hate the Democrats for being corrupt, The Democrats hate the Republicans for being corrupt.

The Democrats hate the Republicans for being poor stewards of the tax payer dollars, the Republicans hate the Democrats for being poor stewards of the tax payer dollars.

The Republicans hate the Democrats for being overtly political, the Democrats hate the Republicans for being overtly political.

etc.

and they're both right, but it would seem each side would rather take joy in seeing their side "win" and spend their time disliking the other side rather than actually doing something to fix these problems.

Partisanship and lack of respect one American has for another these days does more damage to this country than any terrorist could ever hope to do.

[nlm]

The Democrats obviously deserve the chance to control Congress.

The minority cannot be blamed when they have no real power to do anything.

I bet you wouldn't have said that in 1994 about the Republicans.

I'm fairly sure Scoonie wasn't old enough to have an opinion on the topic in 1994. I, however, could not wait to see the Democrats go down in 1994, and similarly, I can not wait for the Republicans to go down now. It's not that the Democrats "deserve" anything (except a kick in the ass), it is that the Republicans have clearly demonstrated that one party can not be trusted with the House, Senate, and Executive Branch.

[TheresNoMoney]

I'm fairly sure Scoonie wasn't old enough to have an opinion on the topic in 1994.

Yep, I was 15 and couldn't have cared less.

[TheresNoMoney]

The Republicans hate the Democrats for being corrupt

No, they hate us for being "godless" and "Nazi appeasers".

[nlm]

The Republicans hate the Democrats for being corrupt

No, they hate us for being "godless" and "Nazi appeasers".

Oh, there are plenty of Republicans that hate the Dems for being corrupt - as well as godless and Nazi appeasers. Just as there are plenty of Democrats that have been trained to hate the Republicans for religous reasons.

[Joel the Attention Whore]

For once, I agree with Dick Morris.

[opebo]

It is true that there are no appealing options due to the fact that america only the two right-wing parties - the extreme right wing GOP and the moderate center-right Democrats.   But I doubt that is the critique being offered by the author of this article.

[memphis]

How about the Mexicans come and win in November so they can turn America into the next Mexico, oh wait they are already doing that.

Or we could stop the Mexicans from coming and deal with huge inflation. How much would it cost to buy fruit or a new roof if American labor is involved? I wouldn't do farm labor in the hot sun for less than $15/hour. With gas prices as they are, we really can't afford (pun intended) to pay more for the same goods.