Some lessons to learn

Sitting bleary-eyed in the wee hours of election night witnessing the monumental turn about in American politics, one is given to wonder if America and particularly the country’s elected representatives are drawing the proper conclusions from this massive political shift. John Boehner’s victory speech made the point that the Republicans’ reversal of fortunes wasn’t so much about agreeing with that party’s policies, as it was a repudiation of President Obama and his party. There is even a question about whether it was the policies or the arrogance and deeply rooted sense of entitlement that undid the Democrats.

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Politics is akin to an ocean where tides roll in and then roll out, often leaving behind a policy residue that’s either harmful or beneficial. In the most recent ebbing of the political tides, it seems that the residue left behind by the Democrats is deeply harmful to the nation as a whole, both fiscally, as well as socially. America has always been about equality of opportunity and not about equality of outcome. The Democrats’ efforts at buying votes from less fortunate Americans by punishing successful Americans has been a long-standing strategy that began with The Great Society in 1964, a strategy that has exacerbated poverty and resulted in a general lowering of America’s standard of living. This is no reason for Republicans to pat themselves on the back because they had a kick at the can under George W. Bush, whose concept of “compassionate conservatism” was one of those meaningless non sequiturs that made for great sound bites, but did not stand for sound policy. Americans of all walks of life loudly and soundly condemned Bush’s spending binge, and Obama was correct in stating that he inherited a mess from the previous administration. But now the mess is his, as the Democrats’ policies were essentially more of the same, albeit fine-tuned to seem beneficial to those at the bottom of the economic ladder. Clearly it is a policy that will create more unemployment and destroy economic opportunity for those Americans who still believe in the American dream. One hopes that the Republican gains in Congress will put the brakes on many of the president’s hare-brained schemes and return fiscal responsibility to the American government. Multi-trillion dollar deficits are unsustainable. Obamacare is unsustainable. The insane carbon reduction schemes most recently introduced are unsustainable, as is the “economic reform” package that continues the concept of “too big to fail.” Taxpayers should not be held accountable for the careless errors of corporate America. Most importantly for American voters, as the euphoria of this night fades, is the admonition that now that they have elected to Congress a majority of individuals they can trust, it is important not to trust them. As we have seen countless times throughout history, today’s reformers become tomorrow’s oppressors. Power corrupts, absolutely. And just as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow that same sense of entitlement currently permeating the Democratic Party will through contagion spread to the Republican representatives. For this reason it is important that we keep our eye on the ball and continue to hold our elected representatives to account. No matter what.