Politics 2010

Except for a few close races, the mid-term elections are over and the Republicans now control the House while the Democrats have managed to hang onto the Senate.  The pundits and other experts tell us that this was a repudiation of President Obama and his policies.  Indeed, the President said that he had received a "shellacking" at the hands of the voters.

We are told that America is angry; that the voters are more conservative than 2 or 4 years ago; and, that people are fearful of their economic situation and frustrated that government has either (1) done too much, or (2) not done enough.  But, as the New York Times editorialized in this morning's paper, "The question for the Republicans now is whether they are going to bask in triumphalism or get down to the real work of governing.  It is one thing to pander and obstruct when you are out of power.  With a divided government, it won't take long for voters to demand that they explain their plans."

As a young man in college, I was an Eisenhower Republican and a Goldwater conservative.  For virtually all of my adult life, I have been a registered Republican and have leaned toward a conservative economic philosophy.  George Bush and the extreme right wing of the Republican party--especially their dogmatic and uncompromising attitudes--changed my political leaning.  Moreover, my own personal experiences with corporate attitudes that place a higher value on the bottom line and short-term financial gains over what is right and fair for the worker who has devoted a lifetime to that corporate enterprise has also contributed greatly to my change of philosophy. 

President Obama was elected on a platform of change and a commitment to help the working people who had been ignored and shunted aside by years of callous capitalism.  I supported his call for health care reform.  I supported his efforts to clean up the economic mess that George Bush left.  I supported his vow to get out of Iraq.  My frustration and great regret is that rather than trying to work with Obama to create sensible and workable legislation, the Republicans did nothing but obstruct and block.  As a result, the economic bail-out was too little to be as effective as it could have been, and the health care legislation was so full of compromises that it might never deliver anywhere near the desired results.  And, now that the Republicans have regained control of the House, it might be gutted even further.

It remains to be seen whether the Republicans can, as the Times asks, assume the chore of governing and set aside their obstructionist tendencies.  I am less than hopefull, especially with the advent of "Tea Partiers" who have an attitude of "my way or the highway."  Compromise will always leave people on each side of an issue less than happy; however, compromise in a polarized political world is absolutely essential in order to govern.  We can only hope that both Democrats and Republicans will recognize that compromise is essential for the long term well-being of our nation.