It looks like a certainty that the House will go Democrat. Divided government, here we go! I am very pleased at this repudiation of the GOP’s policies of big-government conservatism, reckless foreign policy, and relentless intolerance and nanny-statism. (And everyone knows that the GOP establishment in Washington is horrified at the prospect of the subpoena power being exerted against them. I look forward to it, as I did to the exercise of the subpoena power against the Clinton administration after the 1994 elections.)
It’s not the victory of the Democrats that I celebrate, but the defeat of the Republicans. They deserve it so much.
I couldn’t agree more. I’ve always voted Republican, and I believe in the conservative ideal, along with the libertarian ideal. But what has happened to the current Republican party is a never ending spiral of issues and policies all leading away from the core values that the Republican party was once founded on. Now it’s time to see how the Democratic party will act with it’s new power and whether or not they will retain it thru 2008. If they remain moderate then they will have a good shot at 08′, but if they let the far left base run their party, they will surely lose. In addition, the Republican party will finally get the message that its base conservatives will not stand for their careless governance, overzealous spending, and anti-liberty policies.
Amen! I voted GOP last time and I’m sorry about it. This time I could barely punch the ballot for the Democrat, but I did it. The GOP has to rethink what it’s about – Freedom or Big Government? for now, bring on checks and balances!
Correct if i’m wrong but isn’t the democrats record on “big government” and “nanny statism” just as bad (if not worse)?
I fail to see in this election the repudiation of such policies. I wish I could…
Miguel —
You’re right, the Democrats are also very, very bad. But after the last six years, it’s pretty hard to argue that they would be worse: Few Democrats want to grow spending at anywhere near the pace of FDR, but this is exactly what the Republicans have given us.
Also, as a commenter at redstate.com put it last night, this vote is not a victory for the American left. It’s a rebuke to the right for abandoning small-government conservatives.
And lastly, we should remember that neither party is so tied to their ideology as most libertarians are to theirs: The Democrats in Congress are very likely to oppose growth in government spending, provided only that the proposals to do it came from the other side of the aisle. Were I in office, I would oppose most government spending no matter who wanted to do it, but not so with them. They will shoot down lots of the Republicans’ bad ideas, while (I’m hoping, at least) they will have their own proposals vetoed.
Come to think of it, though, that last bit might not be so certain…
I think the Reps, deservedly out of power, are much more likely to be against pork and against big gov’t. Also, new blood is a huge plus — too bad Reps didn’t push Term Limits on Senators and Representatives, so that long-term incumbents would “lose” and be replaced, much more often, by elections without an incumbent.
I can even imagine Bush will be able to veto some excessive spending, if the Dems send it, which he couldn’t quite do when Reps send it.
On relentless intolerance, I think the Dems are more intolerant of tax-cuts than the Reps are of gays or pro-choice folk. Yet I’ve read that the Dem plan is to have a ton of Tax Credits nanny state programs — credits are a huge improvement over gov’t grant cash.
Credits may be better than cash, but it’s still just another way for the ‘elites’ to have influence over our lives. Progressives are nothing more than arrogant do-gooders who think that they need to tell us what’s best for us.
Jason,
My argument is that theres is little to cheer about.Also I don’t expect any improvements in the protectionism and agriculture subsidies issues.
This republicans were a disapoitment and deserverd to be punished, I agree, but I wonder if this will make americans* better off.
*Just to make this statement clear, I’m portuguese.
I doubt there will be any difference in the everyday goings on in the Capital. The Dem’s and Rep’s were using the Iraq War as a smoke screen to pass pork spending in war appropriation bills.
I don’t think the Dem’s will take this opportunity to pull out of Iraq as they should. It is my hope that they will. However, before they do, if they do, more pork money have to be brought to the fridge.
Miguel: I would say that it’s enough that this country will not invade or bomb Iran, which was certainly a possibility under a Republican-led Congress that provided no oversight to this administration.
Another bit of good news: farewell to Rumsfeld.
The software rejected the link I put in, so let’s try it this way:
http://praxeology.net/blog/2006/11/08/good-riddance-to-rumsfeld
Actually, it is arguable that the Democrats have a *better* record so far as big & powerful government goes, at least since the 1970’s.
1. The only president to *reduce* the size of the executive branch in the last 40 years is Jimmy Carter.
2. The biggest welfare program since LBJ’s Great Society is the Republicans’ presecription drug program.
3. No Republican President in this time period proposed a balanced budget, and only in Bill Clinton’s presidency did we have regular budget surpluses.
4. Democrats put in place the limits on federal spying on citizens. Republicans led the way to dismantle these safeguards, get rid of habeus corpus, legitimize torture, and the like.
The only place where Republicans *consistently* beat Democrats in opposing big government is in talking about it. But the talk is all hot air.
The libertarian spoiler, part 2
ITA neighborand friend Jason Kuznicki follows up my analysis below with even more evidence that the GOP’s drift from limited government principles helped fuel their losses this November.The spoiler effect may be even more significant when we consider t…
The chief virtue of democracy has just been demonstrated. Democracy is horrible at expressing “the general will.” In fact, I think it corrupts the public conscience, as it twists individual wills into conformity, into tribal alignments for ever-increasing plunder. But it can, on occasion, peacefully remove even whole batches of politicians from power. It’s not everything we could hope for, but consider the historical alternative: bloody revolution. Tuesday’s process was almost painless, and some things will change. Even if not enough.
Miguel —
You may very well have a point about Americans versus others. Still, I’m encouraged by the statements of the Republicans now out of power: They’re talking about free trade, dropping subsidies and tariffs, and so forth. If only they’d done six years ago what they’re talking about now.
So great to have found this website!
Wirkman: Beautifully, beautifully said.
Compared to ideal blackboard systems, democracy is awful. But compared to real world alternatives, democracy — with constraints — at least gives us a method of getting rid of mistakes relatively painlessly…a sort of natural selection.