Missing the point
Already the hate mail is coming in accusing me of cheering for a Democratic win in the House. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I want to reiterate something I have said before. The Democrats did not win the House; the Republicans lost it. On the surface they look the same, but they truly are not. Republicans have betrayed the principles which they used to propel themselves to a majority back in 1994. Those principles, I believe, were the very heart of conservativism: small government, fiscal responsibility, individual rights over collectivism, strong national security, and so on.
The Republicans have acted in the exact opposite of the Contract with America that won them the majority. Today we see the Republicans enacting measures which have expanded the scope of government beyond Bill Clinton’s wildest imagination. In addition to this, Republicans have forced their way into situations in which the government should have absolutely no control. The incidents of Terry Schiavo, gay marriage amendments, the abyssmal failure to secure the borders, and so-called “faith-based” initiatives are just the top of the iceberg that has sunk the S.S. Republitanic.
This is not to say, of course, that Democrats are getting a free pass. In the last six years, the behavior of prominent Democrats has been appalling. One would dare say they have almost literally come unhinged, as Michelle Malkin would say. Incessant screeching and whining about anything and everything has become the hallmark of the Democratic party. In fact, for the Democrats, the entirety of this campaign season has not been about what they are or what they stand for, but rather what (and who) they are not and what they are against. It was, for lack of a better term, a campaign of contrariness.
Despite the Democrats’ lack of a significant platform, the Republicans managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory all by themselves. Almost all of the woes the Republican party is enduring are self-inflicted, and they have nobody to blame but themselves. Perhaps a few more years in the minority will remind the Republicans of what principles got them elected in the first place, and how the abandonment of those principles has cost them the House of Representatives.
It has been said in the past that “the Democrats never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity”. I suppose a corollary to that could say “the Republicans never miss an opportunity to miss the point”.
Comments
Comments posted on this blog to not necessarily reflect the opinions of the blog's owner. Please refer to the Blog Policy for details.
Leave a Reply