We have heard endless commentary from main line pundits about how the Democratic Party lacks a coherent program going into the 2006-midterm elections. This criticism may be valid, but Democratic promises are not any more worthy of attention than the actual governing record of the Republican Party. Republicans who plan to go to the polls and sheepishly cast their votes for their party's standard bearers on November 7th should ask themselves: What are we voting for?
Here are some possible answers:
The "Fiscally Conservative" Republicans will be voting for record budget deficits and a national debt of some $8 trillion.
The "Libertarian" Republicans will be voting for run away government power over individual rights in the form of NSA wiretaps, secret prisons, and the suspension of habeas corpus.
The "Small Government" Republicans will be voting in favor of a greatly expanded federal bureaucracy. (The 2003 changes in Medicare alone will add over $720 billion in government spending; and the "No Child Left Behind" law has infused the federal government into areas that had been previously left to the states.)
The "Ross Perot" Republicans -- who warned us about the "great sucking sound" that "free trade" agreements would create by vacuuming up good American jobs and exporting them to Mexico or China -- will be voting in favor of tax credits to corporations to encourage such outsourcing.
The "Law and Order" Republicans will be endorsing disgraced GOP officials such as "Duke" Cunningham, Jack Abramoff, Tom DeLay, Bob Ney, Ralph Reed, David Safavian, Michael Scanlon, Curt Weldon, and many others.
The "Strong on National Defense" Republicans will be voting for a party that dragged us into a nearly four-year occupation of Iraq that has weakened the Army and the Reserves, cost the lives of 2,800 American soldiers, (with 20,000 wounded), and has tied down U.S. forces while other crises are developing in the Middle East and Northeast Asia.
The "Personal Responsibility" Republicans will be giving a vote of confidence to an administration and a party that refuse to accept any responsibility for their many missteps or to hold anyone accountable.
The "Family Values" Republicans will be voting for the political party that allowed a pedophile, Representative Mark Foley of Florida, to prey freely on underage male Congressional pages for over a decade.
The "Private Sector" Republicans who seek to bring business "efficiency" to government will be supporting one of the most inefficient and wasteful administrations in U.S. history, illustrated by its dismal response to Hurricane Katrina.
The "Log Cabin" Republicans will be endorsing a party that has consistently singled out gays and lesbians for open attacks on their civil rights.
The "Soccer Mom" Republicans who value education will be voting for under-funded, dilapidated schools. And the "Nascar Dad" Republicans will be voting for a more polluted environment for their hunting and fishing.
Finally, the Republicans who honor decency and fairness in our political discourse will be voting in favor of Karl Rove's smear tactics, and his underhanded techniques to fool voters and suppress their democratic right to vote.
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