Counting today, there are only six days left until the midterm elections. On Nov. 7, the American public will tell its elected officials exactly what they think of the direction in which our country is progressing. The GOP is well aware of the stakes of this election – and their status in the eyes of many Americans – and they’ve put all their chips in on this hand. Before each side sees how they fare next Tuesday, let’s take a look at the cards down on the table, and the deplorable tactics one side is using to win.
First of all, new lows have been set in the campaigning arena. When the Democrats are so desperate to win a majority in Congress that they will stoop to the low of reviling the troops serving in Iraq, it becomes clear how disgustingly perverted and overreaching their delusions of grandeur have become. This past Monday, Oct. 30, former presidential candidate John Kerry remarked to college students in Pasadena, Calif.: “You know education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.” Not only did Kerry undermine the troops’ efforts in the war, not only did Kerry show a colossal lack of respect for the men and women who fight for our country, but he has adamantly – and very publicly – refused to apologize for his remark. And liberals – let alone Kerry himself – wonder why he’s not the 44th president. George W. Bush may not be the most eloquent man to have sat in the Oval Office, but he has certainly shown himself to be more adept at getting his point across, and not looking like a jerk while doing it, than Kerry ever has. Kerry’s election-week comment, perhaps more than any event or statement in the past decade, shows why liberals are so out of touch with mainstream America: they care more about the needs and welfare of citizens of Rome, Italy than those living in Rome, N.Y.
Now, let’s take a step back and look at the chips – or the promises and accomplishments of each party – that are being wagered on the election. When James Carville, speaking on behalf of Bill Clinton in 1992, said, “It’s the economy, stupid,” he summed up in four words what has been one of the most important issues to the American voter since a small group of men came together in Philadelphia to declare some self-evident truths. President Bush has brought the country out of the Clinton-caused recession of the early 2000s to the point where we have low interest rates and inflation, low unemployment and rising wages for most Americans. Oh, yeah, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is trading at the highest point it’s ever been at. As Dan Mitchell of The Heritage Foundation said to The Washington Post in July, “[The] tax cuts of 2003 are working exactly as we would have expected? Lower taxes on work, saving and investment leads to more work, saving and investment. It’s not exactly rocket science.”
Democrats plan to raise taxes to a level that prohibits any further growth – by some estimates up to $2.4 billion.
Now, one of the most troublesome facets of this election is the Mark Foley sex scandal. While Democrats (and Republicans) have been outspoken in condemning Foley and his actions, and have publicly assumed the moral high ground in the ethical shenanigans that have plagued the government in recent months, the one word to describe them is hypocritical.
While Foley immediately resigned the first time he was questioned about the incident, we only need to look back to 1983 to find out the Democratic reaction to the same crime. Congressman Gary Studds (D-MA), admitted to having a long-term sexual relationship with a 17-year-old male page. Although he was censured by the House of Representatives, other House Democrats came to his support and encouraged him not to resign. He didn’t, and after denouncing the incident as an invasion of his privacy that he had “never been ashamed of,” went on to run for Congress six more times – and winning – until finally retiring in 1997. Democrats have taken an issue that should have been dealt with quickly and severely and turned it into a push to sway voters to their party through their disgust.
To paraphrase the question posed to the American people in the 1980 presidential election, the way we should vote this election should be based on reality. We were asked if we were better off now than we were in the previous election and if we wanted that trend to continue. While the answer in 1980 was a resounding “No,” it is hard to argue that America, as a whole, isn’t better off than it was during the last election.
So, there you have it. You can vote for the Republican Party with a hand that shows a promising future for America, or you can vote for the party saying that the Republicans are using a trick deck. Keep in mind, that would be voting for the party whose most common strategy lies in attacking the country’s current situation, but consistently offers no new solutions, or instead, gives resolutions that have historically been proven to fail time and time again. I’ll be the first to admit that neither choice is ideal – nor is it foolproof – but personally, I’ll take proven results and committed action over arrogance, elitism, and hypocritical attacks any day.
Sansky is a member of
the class of 2009.
