Noverber 2010 Elections

The elections on Tuesday are going to be interesting. The U.S. Congressional elections are the ones that I am most interested in. Congress is where I believe a large degree of the troubles the country is facing originates from. Congress passes the laws and regulations that govern the country … they also control the purse strings.

It is clear that Congress hasn’t been held accountable for the mess it’s created. I’m almost 50 years old and for most of my adult life I’ve been hearing about the dangers of deficit spending and the growing national debt. I’ve also heard year in and year out about how government entitlement programs have been consuming more and more of the nation’s tax revenues. It is the job of Congress to distribute our money and control expenditures. Americans have been promised by both Democrats and Republicans that this Congress or that Congress is going to come into Washington and straighten out and clean up the halls of Congress and restore our physical house ... no more business as usual! … but they haven’t.

This Congress has been the most active Congress that I can remember. They have passed bills that haven’t been read, that were not popular with the American people, and that have had little effect on the general welfare of the nation. Our physical house is out of order, deficits are larger, the debt is inconceivable and unsustainable, and (to add insult to injury) spending is out of control. Yet the Congressional leadership claims that they haven’t been given enough credit for all the good they’ve done. Members of the House of Representatives have even scoffed at the idea of reading the bills. Nancy Pelosi once said that the health care bill would have to be passed in order to find out what was in it! (That is because no one in Congress knew what was in it.) To make matters worse, they also increased the size and power of the Federal Government.

That is why Tuesday’s election will be so interesting. It has been this Democrat controlled Congress in combination with President Obama that has created the feared and vilified Tea Party movement that has awakened voters at this time in history. We are aware of the dangers of increasing the power of the central government (just as the Founding Fathers warned us against). Thomas Jefferson said, “a government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you have”.

However, I can’t blame this Congress alone. The 2004 Congress, the wars, the collapse of the economy, and some poor decisions made by President Bush had a lot to do with bringing in the current Congress. Americans became angry and lost trust in the Republicans … so they voted them out in 2006 and again in 2008. Now Americans are even madder. They don’t like being ignored by thier elected Representatives, Senators or the President. Nor will they accept divisive rhetoric from them either that pits race, ethic groups, social class and regional interest against each other. Americans will not, accept leaving a poorer, weaker, less free, and indebted country to our kids and grandkids.

We understand Congress is most responsible for the laws passed in 2009 & 2010 that have been detrimental to the country and it must be corrected. This mid-term election is the most important election in my lifetime … what happens on Tuesday will affect the United States for years to come. I’m supporting the Republicans … and if they win that is when the real work will begin for those of us that voted for them. A lot will be required of us … we will have to be vigilant and watchful of what they do, how they do it, and by whom. We will have to hold their feet to the fire, as well as provide them with support in order to help them keep up their resolve to do what is necessary to preserve our country for ourselves and posterity. Thomas Paine wrote in his pamphlet Common Sense “extending millions for the sake of getting a few vile acts repealed .... is unworthy the charge, and is using posterity with the utmost cruelty; because it is leaving them the great work to do, and a debt upon their backs, from which they derive no advantage.” We cannot leave future Americans with a crushing debt to pay because this generation would do nothing.

There you have it.
Pass it on if you like or let me know if I don’t have a clue.

Eddie