Armey
Dick Armey wrote a suprisingly frank editorial in today's Wall Street Journal. I'd link to it, but God knows where it is behind the Journal's wall of paid content.
Armey opens by declaring the 1994 Republican revolution dead, and only gets more blunt.
He points out, quite correctly, that for too long, Republicans have been focusing on retaining power rather than governing. That shallow political moves, like make-believe legislative sessions on gay marriage, were an attempt to anger and galvanize factions of the Republican base.
But people can only be angered into voting for so long. Moderate voters in particular will see through these shameful tactics. In addition to anger, I'd suggest that a majority of the electorate have also tired of attempts to motivate them with fear.
While I'm personally quite pleased with the outcome of this election, lets not pretend this is some great victory for the Democrats.
It was most certainly not.
This election was a giant loss for the Republicans. There is an important difference. This election was a repudiation of the Republican led government, so it was natural to vote against the Republicans. But that is quite different than a vote for the Democrats. Our friends in blue were complicit with most of the disasters we've seen in the last six years: disastrous fiscal and monetary policy, a criminal lack of oversight, and, of course, the war in Iraq. None of these would have been possible without the support of Democratic legislators.
Let us not pretend that the electorate voted against the Republican plan and for the Democratic plan; the Democrats haven't presented anything more cogent than the embarrassing "stay the course" Republican mantra.
We must be realistic about what faces the country. A long, hard slog. Debt won't pay itself, Social Security and Medicare won't find any more money, we won't find any more oil, and the chaos in Iraq won't come to any kind of resolution without some pain.
We can keep playing the same political games, or we can come together with a sense of shared sacrifice. We can face our problems or not.
Interesting times, indeed.
Armey opens by declaring the 1994 Republican revolution dead, and only gets more blunt.
He points out, quite correctly, that for too long, Republicans have been focusing on retaining power rather than governing. That shallow political moves, like make-believe legislative sessions on gay marriage, were an attempt to anger and galvanize factions of the Republican base.
But people can only be angered into voting for so long. Moderate voters in particular will see through these shameful tactics. In addition to anger, I'd suggest that a majority of the electorate have also tired of attempts to motivate them with fear.
While I'm personally quite pleased with the outcome of this election, lets not pretend this is some great victory for the Democrats.
It was most certainly not.
This election was a giant loss for the Republicans. There is an important difference. This election was a repudiation of the Republican led government, so it was natural to vote against the Republicans. But that is quite different than a vote for the Democrats. Our friends in blue were complicit with most of the disasters we've seen in the last six years: disastrous fiscal and monetary policy, a criminal lack of oversight, and, of course, the war in Iraq. None of these would have been possible without the support of Democratic legislators.
Let us not pretend that the electorate voted against the Republican plan and for the Democratic plan; the Democrats haven't presented anything more cogent than the embarrassing "stay the course" Republican mantra.
We must be realistic about what faces the country. A long, hard slog. Debt won't pay itself, Social Security and Medicare won't find any more money, we won't find any more oil, and the chaos in Iraq won't come to any kind of resolution without some pain.
We can keep playing the same political games, or we can come together with a sense of shared sacrifice. We can face our problems or not.
Interesting times, indeed.
posted by Eric Hancock at
12:52 AM
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