The 2008 Elections have brought good news and bad news to the national Democrats. The good news is that they won everything. That means that they will be able to put their agenda into effect with only minimal resistance. The bad news is that they won everything. When their policies fail and the national economy collapses even more than it is now, they will have no one but themselves that they can blame.
I hope I am wrong. I pray that I am wrong. But I fear the worst. The solutions to our economic problems taken so far by the Republicans are far too close to the actions by Herbert Hoover that kicked us into the Great Depression. He let the Northeastern Robber Barons run roughshod over the nations wealth producers, driving their companies into bankruptcy while pocketing vast sums of money.
Now the national Democrats are set to enact Hoover’s second big mistake, a massive tax increase during a recession, which will, just as in 1929, kick our economy into total depression. Then they appear ready to follow Roosevelt’s policy of massive and expensive government programs that kept the economy from its natural recovery until it was finally revived by the mobilization of WWII.
There remains one glimmer of hope. Many of the newly elected Democrats are from conservative districts and had to express more conservative ideas in order to be elected. This small cadre of conservative Democrats are known as “blue dog” democrats, who from time to time will vote with the Republicans to block especially grievous plans by the left. If Pelosi, Reed and the left wingers in Congress try to push through some of their more radical plans, they will likely find rebellion within their ranks.
Obama himself seems to be having second thoughts on some of his more radical ideas. His first statements suggested that he will govern from the “center” and will reevaluate some of his proposals as he gains more information. Even Pelosi has said that some of her ideas will have to be delayed until the economy is stabilized.
Then, of course, the voters will have an opportunity to take back some of the power they handed the democrats in two years with the mid term congressional elections. We the people have become a very impatient group. If the economic crisis is still around, or even worse in two years, you can expect massive losses for the democrats and a real chance that Obama will join the ranks of one-term presidents.
I wish President Elect Obama well. I hope he can solve some of the massive problems we face. But he will have to show some real results before I will become a believer.
Frank Gillispie is founder of The Madison County Journal. His e-mail address is frankgillispie671@msn.com. His website can be accessed at http://frankgillispie.tripod.com/
I believe that all happened during Clinton's term in office, excepting, maybe, the recession. Have we really had a qualifyable recession in decades?
Well, maybe poverty has been around longer than the "last Republican was President" (sic)... or even before Clinton was the president. That one may even stretch back before Geo. Washington... and he was a Whig!
Terrorist attacks never happened until 2001, did they? Oh, wait, what about the USS Cole or those incidents at the US Embassy or the Marine Barracks? Sadly, they were during the Clinton years. Let's dont even go into that whoe Iranian Embassy thing during Carter's watch. Perhaps your dissatisfaction with the Republican President is that he answered the attacks... something the last two Democrat Presidents never did.
I never read that part about cheaper groceries and gas in the Democratic Party Platform. Perhaps your head was still spinning from the campaign promises of "tax cuts" by a Democrat. Where have you been the past few years? They don't do that.