Adam's Apple
Senior Member
- Apr 25, 2004
- 4,092
- 449
- 48
Some excellent insight into the current political scene in America.
July 7, 2005
Who Are the Reactionaries Now?
By Victor Davis Hanson
John Bolton's confirmation hearing for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations drags on. The upcoming Supreme Court nomination, the future of Social Security and Iraq prompt knee-jerk hysteria from the Democrats in lieu of a concrete counter-agenda about running the country.
Then, of course, there's the Democratic Party chairman, Howard Dean, who can't stop ranting. Recently he averred that a lot of Republicans "have never made an honest living in their lives," and that the GOP is "pretty much a white Christian party."
We've seen such infantile negativism before, and it leads nowhere. The Republicans of 1964 were a red-hot bunch out of power, hard-right and on the wrong side of civil rights. During the 12 years of the Reagan and Bush Senior administrations, Democrats were no better, resorting to demonizing Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas. More recently, many Republicans descended into a mindless, obsessive hatred of Bill Clinton.
But the current Democratic furor and obstructionism are unprecedented and obviously self-defeating. How can we make sense of the Democrats' behavior?
First, the last two presidential elections have been extremely close. Bush lost the popular vote in 2000 and only narrowly won the election in 2004. Polls continue to reveal a 50/50 divide over most of his policies.
Yet under our two-party system of majority rule, that close split is not reflected in the sharing of real political power. So the majority of state governorships and legislatures remain Republican-controlled. The Senate, the House and the presidency are all in the hands of conservatives, and the Supreme Court will soon be as well.
In response, an understandably frustrated opposition seeks some sort of counter-move. But instead of the hard, necessary work of winning the public over to a systematic alternative vision, the Democratic leadership seems to be hoping that a quickie scandal, a noisy filibuster or a slip overseas will tip a few million voters and thus return the Democrats to power. (Isn't that last sentence the truth!)
for full article:
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0705/hanson.php3
July 7, 2005
Who Are the Reactionaries Now?
By Victor Davis Hanson
John Bolton's confirmation hearing for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations drags on. The upcoming Supreme Court nomination, the future of Social Security and Iraq prompt knee-jerk hysteria from the Democrats in lieu of a concrete counter-agenda about running the country.
Then, of course, there's the Democratic Party chairman, Howard Dean, who can't stop ranting. Recently he averred that a lot of Republicans "have never made an honest living in their lives," and that the GOP is "pretty much a white Christian party."
We've seen such infantile negativism before, and it leads nowhere. The Republicans of 1964 were a red-hot bunch out of power, hard-right and on the wrong side of civil rights. During the 12 years of the Reagan and Bush Senior administrations, Democrats were no better, resorting to demonizing Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas. More recently, many Republicans descended into a mindless, obsessive hatred of Bill Clinton.
But the current Democratic furor and obstructionism are unprecedented and obviously self-defeating. How can we make sense of the Democrats' behavior?
First, the last two presidential elections have been extremely close. Bush lost the popular vote in 2000 and only narrowly won the election in 2004. Polls continue to reveal a 50/50 divide over most of his policies.
Yet under our two-party system of majority rule, that close split is not reflected in the sharing of real political power. So the majority of state governorships and legislatures remain Republican-controlled. The Senate, the House and the presidency are all in the hands of conservatives, and the Supreme Court will soon be as well.
In response, an understandably frustrated opposition seeks some sort of counter-move. But instead of the hard, necessary work of winning the public over to a systematic alternative vision, the Democratic leadership seems to be hoping that a quickie scandal, a noisy filibuster or a slip overseas will tip a few million voters and thus return the Democrats to power. (Isn't that last sentence the truth!)
for full article:
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0705/hanson.php3
