Many have said, since the election results became known, that the Republicans are better off not having taken control of both houses of Congress. At first glance, this seems like a ridiculous notion but, on second thought, maybe not so ridiculous. The Senate Democrats who are up for re-election in 2012 are not going to be taking any giant steps to the left over the next two years and may even take a step or two to the right. So, even without control of the Senate, the Republicans may still find they can get what they want by peeling off a few Senate Democrat votes. When that happens, the President will be forced to go along or be forced to veto the legislation and take responsibility for it. If a few Democrat votes are not forthcoming, the Republicans can still pass the people’s agenda through the House and let the people see that it is the Democrats in the Senate thwarting their wishes.
On a very bright note, one thing recently announced by the incoming Republican House leadership is the future of the debt ceiling vote procedure. Now, there isn’t much point in placing a “ceiling” on the debt level when it can be easily increased as needed – but that’s a story for another day. What will be new is that the debt ceiling vote will no longer be buried in other legislation and will be brought to the floor of the House as an individual bill without any distractions or white noise.
On January 3rd, his first day as the new Republican Speaker of the House, John Boehner should also introduce legislation to:
• Repeal Obamacare – let the Senate Democrats kill it or let the President veto it.
• Extend all of the Bush tax cuts permanently.
• Roll back congressional salaries, office staff, and office budgets by 10% and freeze them there indefinitely.
Boehner should then call for an immediate vote on all three measures. Never mind the committee system where things get bogged down. He is the Speaker; he can change the rules. Let’s vote right now: 1-2-3 yes or no.
On January 4th, Boehner should introduce legislation to:
• Force all bills to contain language justifying them as part of Congress’ enumerated powers in Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution; pass the Enumerated Powers Act (already introduced repeatedly by John Shadegg, R-AZ).
• Disallow all earmarks (aka: pork barrel projects) permanently. No non-germane amendments or additions to any bills that tack on pork. If a congressman wants a program for his district, let him introduce a separate bill for that program and then defend it.
• Eliminate all of the newly created bureaucracies in the Executive Branch. In fact, eliminate any that were not specifically created by Congress and make the top positions all subject to Senate approval.
• Drill here, drill now – allow any and all drilling on or off shore. If we want to decrease our dependence on foreign oil, we need to drill for our own oil and natural gas. (In the 1970s, Carter and Congress created the Department of Energy to decrease our dependence on foreign oil. We are more dependent on it now than ever before. Apparently the Department of Energy is not doing what it was designed to do; disband it.)
This is a right-of-center nation. A Gallup poll of ideology, taken semi-annually and most recently in the summer of 2010, showed that only 20 percent of the American people describe their own political ideology as liberal. Conservatives are self-identified as 42 percent and moderates are 35 percent. (www.gallup.com) Clearly, the Marxist Obama-Pelosi-Reid regime of the last two years was not in tune with the American people and now the American people have corrected that imbalance. Even New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Michigan were swept up in a sea of red. The left-wing media and the loud-mouth liberals of places like Boston, New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco brought this regime to power two years ago.
The silent-majority has now been awakened. The election results in the states truly show this. The Republicans have taken 19 state legislative bodies away from the Democrats – and they lost control of none. That alone shows this was not so much an anti-incumbent vote as it was an anti-Democrat vote. Additionally, Republicans will control almost 30 governors’ offices across the states. This does not bode well for the Democrats. The census was just taken this year and the Constitution requires that after every census the House of Representatives be reapportioned to reflect the shifting population. The governors and state legislators will be redrawing the House district lines next year. And the party that controls the governor’s office and the state legislature will be able to draw the lines more favorably toward their own party members.
Maryann Zihala, J.D. is a political scientist and author of Rights, Liberties & the Rule of Law (2004) and Democracy: The Greatest Good for the Greatest Number (2003). Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Maryann Zihala, J.D. is a political scientist and author of Rights, Liberties & the Rule of Law (2004) and Democracy: The Greatest Good for the Greatest Number (2003). Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
