Little-Acorn
Gold Member
Yeah, I know, TV stations are saying there are two Senate seats still up for grabs. But have they looked at their own totals? 100% of the precincts reporting, all votes counted, and Dems have more votes than Repubs for both seats. What part of GAME OVER don't the TV stations understand?
Dems didn't win by having better ideas than the Republicans. They didn't have any ideas worth talking about, in fact - nothing but the same tired ploys: raising taxes, expanding government restrictions and regulations, more socialism, and abandoning our allies in Iraq. Most of those "ideas" have been tried in this country many times, and have usually been soundly defeated... until now. And they were no more viable for this election, than they were in any other for the past 12 years.
And it's silly to complain that a biased media caused the losses. Hell, the media has been this biased in EVERY election in living memory, but Republicans usually won. In fact, for this election, the recent emergence of comparatively neutral outlets such as the Intenet and Fox News, made the overall total of media liberal bias slightly LESS than it has been in the past... though not much. The media didn't make the difference here. Republicans losing their base, mostly by drifting away from conservatism and small government, made the difference.
Sure, Republicans had their problems and scandals, which didn't help. But the main causes of their electoral loss, were things like a new (unconstitutional) perscription drug entitlement, wishy-washiness in reining in the doomed (unconstitutional) Social Security program, passage of (unconstitutional) political campaign censorship, and other attempts to do modern-liberal things. If the Congress had voted on the conservative side (that is, obeying the Constitution) of these issues, enough additional people would have voted for them that they'd still have majorities in both houses of Congress, despite the ongoing war and resulting unpopularity generated by the media. Again, neither the media nor the Democrats caused Repubs to lose both houses. The Republicans caused it themselves, and have no one to blame but themselves.
The last three electoral landslides in recent history, were all caused directly by Republicans backing conservative ideas and not being afraid to say so: In 1994, 1984, and 1980. Hillarycare was voted down in a huff, and Republicans led by Newt Gingrich promised to bring conservative issues up for a vote in the House after yeaars of being bottled up in committee by Democrat majorities. As a result, Democrats were thrown out of office in numbers never seen before (or since), and a LARGE Republican majority was placed in both houses by the voters. Ronald Reagan promised the same four things he had been pushing for thirty years previous: Cut taxe rates, balance the budget, build up our military, and defeat the Soviet Union. He was elected in landslides, not once but twice, and even delivered on three of his four promises, defeated oonly the fourth only by a Democrat majority in the House.
America is a fundamentally conservative country. Very few Americans would steal from their neighbors to help a homeless guy or sick person or retiree. They would help out of their own pocket and ASK others to help. Very few would hand out free condoms to the girls in their neighborhoods. And very few would force their neighbors to pay their workers more than the workers were willing to accept - fundamental actions of modern liberals. They might try to talk their neighbors into doing some things, but respect their decisions in most actions short of outright fraud or murder - a conservative approach. Yet, oddly, they sometimes vote for politicians who promise to force those very things upon those same neighbors, plus others.
Republicans have done some good things in the last several years - cutting tax rates, confirming law-abiding judges, and successfully defending the nation after a sucker punch. That may have been enough to keep part of their voter base loyal. But they have also been doing more and more liberal things. And yesterday, some of the Americans who normally vote conservative, dumped some of the Republicans who have been drifting away from conservatism. Republicans have no one to blame but themselves for this.
Hopefully Republicans will take the hint. When they get together and push lower tax rates, lower Federal spending, fewer restrictions, and smaller government, they win by landslides. When they start promising (and delivering) unconstitutional programs and entitlements, spend money like drunken sailors on such programs, and imposing unconstitutional restrictions, they barely win by the skin of their teeth... and, as we just saw, they also lose.
Republicans have some thinking to do, about just what their party should be supporting... and why people have voted for them, when they did. And they'd better do it soon. Bush's tax cuts start expiring in 2010. They've got four years to get back on track, or they can kiss them goodbye... along with any claim they may have to being a party worthy of a conservative electorate's support.
Dems didn't win by having better ideas than the Republicans. They didn't have any ideas worth talking about, in fact - nothing but the same tired ploys: raising taxes, expanding government restrictions and regulations, more socialism, and abandoning our allies in Iraq. Most of those "ideas" have been tried in this country many times, and have usually been soundly defeated... until now. And they were no more viable for this election, than they were in any other for the past 12 years.
And it's silly to complain that a biased media caused the losses. Hell, the media has been this biased in EVERY election in living memory, but Republicans usually won. In fact, for this election, the recent emergence of comparatively neutral outlets such as the Intenet and Fox News, made the overall total of media liberal bias slightly LESS than it has been in the past... though not much. The media didn't make the difference here. Republicans losing their base, mostly by drifting away from conservatism and small government, made the difference.
Sure, Republicans had their problems and scandals, which didn't help. But the main causes of their electoral loss, were things like a new (unconstitutional) perscription drug entitlement, wishy-washiness in reining in the doomed (unconstitutional) Social Security program, passage of (unconstitutional) political campaign censorship, and other attempts to do modern-liberal things. If the Congress had voted on the conservative side (that is, obeying the Constitution) of these issues, enough additional people would have voted for them that they'd still have majorities in both houses of Congress, despite the ongoing war and resulting unpopularity generated by the media. Again, neither the media nor the Democrats caused Repubs to lose both houses. The Republicans caused it themselves, and have no one to blame but themselves.
The last three electoral landslides in recent history, were all caused directly by Republicans backing conservative ideas and not being afraid to say so: In 1994, 1984, and 1980. Hillarycare was voted down in a huff, and Republicans led by Newt Gingrich promised to bring conservative issues up for a vote in the House after yeaars of being bottled up in committee by Democrat majorities. As a result, Democrats were thrown out of office in numbers never seen before (or since), and a LARGE Republican majority was placed in both houses by the voters. Ronald Reagan promised the same four things he had been pushing for thirty years previous: Cut taxe rates, balance the budget, build up our military, and defeat the Soviet Union. He was elected in landslides, not once but twice, and even delivered on three of his four promises, defeated oonly the fourth only by a Democrat majority in the House.
America is a fundamentally conservative country. Very few Americans would steal from their neighbors to help a homeless guy or sick person or retiree. They would help out of their own pocket and ASK others to help. Very few would hand out free condoms to the girls in their neighborhoods. And very few would force their neighbors to pay their workers more than the workers were willing to accept - fundamental actions of modern liberals. They might try to talk their neighbors into doing some things, but respect their decisions in most actions short of outright fraud or murder - a conservative approach. Yet, oddly, they sometimes vote for politicians who promise to force those very things upon those same neighbors, plus others.
Republicans have done some good things in the last several years - cutting tax rates, confirming law-abiding judges, and successfully defending the nation after a sucker punch. That may have been enough to keep part of their voter base loyal. But they have also been doing more and more liberal things. And yesterday, some of the Americans who normally vote conservative, dumped some of the Republicans who have been drifting away from conservatism. Republicans have no one to blame but themselves for this.
Hopefully Republicans will take the hint. When they get together and push lower tax rates, lower Federal spending, fewer restrictions, and smaller government, they win by landslides. When they start promising (and delivering) unconstitutional programs and entitlements, spend money like drunken sailors on such programs, and imposing unconstitutional restrictions, they barely win by the skin of their teeth... and, as we just saw, they also lose.
Republicans have some thinking to do, about just what their party should be supporting... and why people have voted for them, when they did. And they'd better do it soon. Bush's tax cuts start expiring in 2010. They've got four years to get back on track, or they can kiss them goodbye... along with any claim they may have to being a party worthy of a conservative electorate's support.
ing my oz?
