The outcome of yesterday's elections can be summed up in the phrase "throw the rascals in." That's, of course, an ironic variation on the usual expression of voter dissatisfaction with incumbents, which is to "throw the rascals out."
A marginal minority of voters having "thrown the rascals in," all Americans now face at least two years of Democrat control of the House (and probably the Senate), from which will emanate efforts to
- raise taxes
- "solve" the nature-made problem of global warming
- "solve" the non-existent "crisis" in health care by passing measures that will drive health-care providers out of business and deter drug companies from investing in research and development
- duck the very real crisis in entitlement spending
- otherwise try to legislate and regulate the conditions of our existence in ways that penalize hard work, law-abidingness, entrepreneurship, and the accidents of having been born white and/or male and/or straight and/or of American-born parents --
- all while trying to surrender to our enemies by giving up the fight abroad and by granting them the same constitutional rights as the very Americans whom they are trying to kill.
The only silver lining in this very dark cloud is that President Bush can -- if he is willing -- wield the veto pen. Two years of gridlock would indeed be a blessing, for the federal government might actually do less to screw up our lives and the lives of our progeny. But I do fear for the war effort, especially because our enemies undoubtedly have been emboldened by the prospect of a Congress that is controlled by an anti-war faction. And I also fear that President Bush, facing a hostile Senate, will be unable to appoint constitutionalists to succeed Justices John Paul Stevens and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, both of whom are likely to postpone retirement in the hope that Bush is succeeded by a Democrat.
I am as worried about the future of the country as I was -- justifiably -- when Jimmy Carter won the election of 1976. My only hope is that the Leftist agenda of congressional Democrats will frighten Americans and induce an electoral backlash that brings pro-defense, small-government Republicanism to power in 2008. All we need are some small-government Republicans.
