Republicans Retaliate with a Move Back to Conservative Principles
January 14, 2010 • By John Scott,
Print This Post
Email This Post
Last year, the Obama administration and the Democratically-controlled Congress celebrated multiple victories: a Democratic inauguration, successful stimulus package, groundbreaking cap-and-trade program and sincere progress on health care reform. With all of these impressive accomplishments, how could the Democrats worry about the 2010 congressional elections in November? It would seem the majority power will gain seats for next term.
For all Republicans, Election Night 2008 was a nightmare, and Obama’s inauguration day served as icing on the cake from hell. Television headlines screamed that the Republican Party was extinct and the cause of death was eight years of George W. Bush.
With the country in a recession, the Obama administration designated itself to clean up the mess. The answer to the problem was a stimulus plan that would theoretically pump money into the paralyzed economy and somehow spur the private sector into heavy investing. On the contrary, businesses saved what little of their money they had and cut their losses, resulting in an unemployment spike. Several congressional Republicans felt the pressure to cater to a public spooked by the media-loved package and voted for the bill.
Months after statistics showed that the stimulus plan was not fixing the recession, Democrats pushed for the cap-and-trade environmental program. Unlike the situation involving the stimulus, the Republican response was unified with neoconservatives, libertarians and the religious right referring to the program as “cap-and-tax”— a taxpayer’s worst enemy. The House vote on the bill was 219-212 and a clear indication to the rest of America that liberal Democrats would have their agenda, regardless of whether or not Republicans and fiscally conservative Democrats vehemently disagreed.
When health care reform came to serve as the new hot-button issue, the Republicans tried to propose bipartisan alternatives and were obviously shut down. Instead, Republicans, independents and the fiscally conservative “blue dogs” united together to stop a public option, and health insurance reform resulted. This marks the first time in this country’s history that Congress has mandated every citizen purchase a good or service, and Republicans are fighting it on a unified front. The GOP has seemingly remembered that it supports a small government and a sensible budget, and everyone who was disenfranchised in 2008 is migrating back to the conservative movement.
In 2008, Democrats united against the Republican out-of-control spending habits. George W. Bush was the biggest recruiter for the Democratic Party as voters clamored to support anything that was not associated with him. Exactly one year later, the Democratic Party mimics its counterpart.
If 2008 is the year the Republican Party died, then 2009 is the year it rose from the dead with a vengeance. But 2010 shall serve as the beginning of a conservative wave not seen since the days of Ronald Reagan. What’s worse for Democrats is if the current administration continues this course of ludicrous spending sprees and big government takeovers, then Barack Obama will serve as the best recruitment tool for the GOP — and we all saw how well he did in 2008.
John Scott is senior writing, rhetoric & technical communication major and former SGA senator.
Contact John Scott at scott2ja@jmu.edu.
Comments
3 Responses to “Republicans Retaliate with a Move Back to Conservative Principles”
Got something to say?
Check Out New Videos!
March 4, 2010 Issue in Print
2010 Baseball & Softball Guide
Also, don’t forget that the “healthcare bill” was really the most obvious (and apparently legal?) display of government corruption in recent memory. Democrats visibly purchased votes for their mess of a bill with taxpayer dollars. Glad to know my tax dollars will be shipped across the country to cover some random Nebraskan’s medicare expenses. But hey, it’s all the same to Harry Reid. A vote bought is as good to him as a vote earned.
At least they did it transparently, right?
Conservative principles? What have Republicans done that’s conservative lately?
This was such a waste of my time, I had to write a comment to justify being on this page. I was hoping for something more thought provoking than the same opinion-entrenching ranting found in the endless sea of self-important blogs. Take careful note that I am not harping on Republicans(this article just happens to support Republicans by chance). Supporters of both parties do this to no end. Does anyone really believe people get opinions from political parties? While those that must find their identity with a one political party or another assign themselves the opinions of that party, I find that when you take time to speak with any one person, they are comprised of mixed reasoning and logic that is conducive to give pause and reflection. If I need over-simplified dumbed-down buzzword level explanations of political bantering, I’ll tune into the news.