Squandered
posted in General |SQUANDERED
I can clearly recall that heady evening in November 1994 when the Republicand swept the board and gained control of the White House, Senate and House of Representatives for the first time in decades. Mainly, I recall the disbelief on the faces of the shocked Democrats as they watched the results being reported. Now I know how they felt — at least in part. As the old saying goes,”it was a Day at Black Rock” on November 8,2006.
The sweep by the Rs back in 1994 led to very high expectations, especially on court decisions that were negating many “traditional values” for the majority of Americans. The Ds and other Liberals were clevely by-passing the electorate to achieve change (their way) via ideologically sympathetic Judges, and stretching the Constitution to effectuate significant change that could never be attained through the ballot box. To a given degree, the liberal march was stopped or at least slowed dow, and the Supreme Court has been re-staffed to (hopefully) counter the silly rulings of left wing Judges catering to the liberal side. But for sure, the great expectations of 1994 are gone.
So what happened and what can we expect? First of all, Lord Acton was right, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Bill Clintom remains the champion when it comes to corruption and disreputable behavior at the highest level, but in the past few years, the R leadership has taken a real beating in the House and Senate, and they paid the price for public disclosure. In the current vernacular, the Rs simpy shot themselves in the foot.
When a major change such as 2006 occurs,there are numerous reasons that contribute to the demise of a political party in the eyes of voters — and no matter what the transgressions might be, the largely hostile press and media effectively exaggerate them by two or three fold. Any game plan for the Rs means learning how to swim upstream.
How do we describe the 1994-2006 period of Republican control of the Federal Government? Failure? Wasted? Under achievement? True, the big margins in the House and Senate were not veto-proof, but the real power base of the Rs was not pushed to the maximum degree. In retrospect, the opportunity was there, the voting strength was there, and the popular issues were there. Yet the opportunity was — my word — squandered. It could be a long time before such an opportunity comes again.
As issues go, the Iraq war stands alone. It occupied center stage, but there were a lot of other matters that seem to get lost in the clutter. Too bad.