(09/23/06)
Mid-term elections are coming up pretty soon, and many people are watching and speculating that the Democrats might take control of the House. Here's why I think they deserve to, or why I believe the Republicans should lose (I hate the Democrats, actually, but not nearly as much as the Republicans).
- Public dissatisfaction with how the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are going
- The voters should punish the Republicans for this alone. People I know in Iraq explain that there is no mission, other than driving around hoping they'll get fired upon. Unfortunately, the enemies of the U.S. servicemen don't even like to engage in firefights anymore - IEDs, which used to be the way the insurgents would start an ambush involving actual fighting, have more commonly become a way for terrorists to just blow up a few Americans and slip quietly away. In Afghanistan, there appears to be almost no hope of creating a liberal democracy, and it looks like the warlords and factions won't participate in the central government. I know I once defended the Iraq war and all, and I still support the principles on which I had mistakenly believed drove the motivation behind the war, but it has become clear that the decisionmakers (or the DECIDER, if you will) have incompetently or maliciously squandered our military resources and our tax money for unstated, unattainable, or undesireable goals. Our military readiness to engage in war is remarkably low, with jaded servicemen leaving the military when their terms are up, and recruiters being forced to stoop to signing up recruits who are stupid, fat, and have criminal tendencies. Yet, the Republican Congress refuses to engage the Executive Branch in discussion and lets them do whatever they want. Meanwhile, chronicly underpaid servicemen can only watch as Congress appropriates insane sums of money to weapons that will not be used in any conceivable fight in the next 10 years.
- Respect for the rule of law
- The Supreme Court, with a Republican-appointed majority, has issued some harsh rulings against the Executive's crappy legal opinions about the inherent authority of the Executive, but without Congressional support, the Executive demonstrates no willingness to back down. In response to possibly illegal wiretaps, Congress responded by trying to make it legal without any Congressional or Judicial oversight. Stop giving the White House more power. There's a reason why we took power away from Nixon, and why no single president should have the power to authorize secret prisons, torture, suspension of rights to a fair trial, wiretaps on American citizens in America, all without judicial or congressional approval or even knowledge. More importantly, if an executive has been engaging in these acts, I find it to be abhorrent that the legislature will move to legalize it after the fact, and to refuse to really demand answers from the President.
- Uncontrolled spending and corruption
- In the early 90's, the Democrats in congress were known for their corruption and their kowtowing to special interests at the expense of most Americans. They had nothing on the current legislature. Lobbying, campaign finance, and shady deals, while not illegal, are definitely more prevalent today than they were back then. This, coupled with the fact that the current budget and budget deficit is larger than ever, means that the Republicans of today are not serious about controlling government spending. Even if you take away the expenses of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the budget is still entirely too large. Deficit spending will be hurting people of my generation and below, while the short-sighted old people in power completely screw us over for temporary gain.
I just wish that there could be a party that showed at least some libertarian concerns. Where is the party that is serious about limiting government power at the local, state, and federal levels?
I'm actually pissed off enough that I don't feel like quoting sources yet. I'll be back later this week to add citations to this post.
