Many of the races for Congress and the Senate are starting to get bogged down in personalities and silly issues about who did what to whom twenty years ago. I think it would be wise for everyone to take a moment to remember what is really at stake this November.
First, will the federal government raise taxes during this recession? Everyone agrees that raising taxes during an economic slowdown will reduce growth or send us into decline. The Democrats want to raise taxes and the Republicans do not.
Second, will the federal government adopt a cap and trade system that is designed to reduce US carbon emissions? This system will drive the cost of all energy up by a substantial amount. In Connecticut, it is estimated that the cost of heating the average home will rise by just under $1000 per year, gasoline prices will climb by about 70 cents per gallon and twelve thousand jobs will be lost. Across the nation, the job loss will be close to half a million. Republicans are generally against this plan while the Democrats are for the most part supporting it.
Third, will there be any reduction in federal spending. In the last year and a half, the Democrats have raised discretionary spending by 84%. The Democrat plan moving forward is President Obama's pledge to freeze this spending at the already increased levels. The Republican Pledge calls for rolling this spending back to 2008 levels (before the 84% increase).
Fourth, will there be any attempt to remove waste and corruption from Medicare and other federal programs? The Democrats passed Obamacare with the promise that they would save half a trillion dollars over the following decade by removing waste and corruption from Medicare. Seven months later, the Democrats have not yet done anything to save even a dime. In fact, nothing will be done before January, so the Democrats have already lost nearly a year of these promised savings. There is not a specific Republican program to fight waste and fraud, but the Republicans certainly cannot do worse than the Democrats already have.
Fifth, will anything be done to fix Social Security? Most Americans know that Social Security is destined to go broke if nothing is done to fix the system. In the four years since they have controlled congress, the Democrats have not even attempted to address the structural problems with Social Security. The Democrats are leaving the fate of millions of elderly in bad shape rather than dealing responsibly with the problem. It would not be that hard to fix this system by postponing the retirement age and some other monor tweaking. Certainly, it makes sense to recognize that the life expectency of the average person has advanced substantially since the system was begun 75 years ago. The Republicans say that they will address the problems with Social Security, but have not given out a detailed plan. I have to believe that almost any fix will be beneficial.
Sixth, will we all sit by as Obamacare destroys the American healthcare system. In the short time since Obamacare was passed, the premiums on health insurance policies have skyrocketed. No surprise there, since Obamacare heaps all sorts of new costs on the insurance carriers who need to make those up from the premiums. At the same time, nothing is being done to increase the numbers of doctors while the number of patients will soar. Ths means that contrary to the promises of obama, healthcare costs will not go down but rather will soar. The Republicans promise to repeal and replace this monstrosity, or, if Obama vetoes the repeal, to cut off any funding for implementation of this law.
Seventh, will anything be done to secure the borders of the country. We have seen that the Obama Administration has held border security hostage to its plan for comprehensive immigration reform (also known as amnesty). enforcement of the immigration laws is a matter for the executive branch, but still, Congress could go a long way towards forcing enforcement. We have already seen the lack of action from the Democrats. The Republicans promise to do better.
I have not even addressed the many defense and foreign relations issues since these involve a great deal of executive decision making. Nevertheless, treaties will require approval by the Senate. Much of the defense and foreign relations agenda requires appropriations from the congress. A Republican congress could force a change in direction on many of these subjects.
Last, there are a number of issues of federal control of everyday life that will surface in the next two years. Judging by their record of the last four years, the Democrats never met a regulatory scheme that they did not want to enact. And with each enactment, they make life more difficult and cumbersome. A good example is the financial reform bill that the Democrats passed a few months ago. It was supposed to be addressing the problems with the banking system that were uncovered during the financial crisis. So what do the Democrats do? As part of the overhaul of financial oversight, they pass a law that requires all banks or other financial institutions that do business with the federal government to meet racial, ethnic and gender quotas in their employees. That's right, to stop the process that led to bad bank loans with subprime mortgages, Congress says that it is important that banks have a certain minimum of Asians and Pacific Islanders, a different minimum of African Americans, a certain ratio of women, Hispanics, and you name it. In other words, the Democrats did not know what to do, so they required racial quotas which are whollly unrelated to the problem. Indeed, there is not even any proof that banks discriminate in any way against any group. The Democrats, however, fall back on their liberal orthodoxy that Americans are racist and need to be controlled to do the right thing.
These are just some of the many issues that hand in the balance in the election. Don't forget how important this election truly is.
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