http://action.afa.net/Blogs/BlogPost.aspx?id=2147494031Elijah Friedeman, the Millennial Perspective
The day is January 4th 2011, the day after the 112th congress has been sworn in. Teapartiers and conservatives are exultant. Obama and liberals are utterly dejected. Defeated. The Republicans have a three seat lead in the Senate and a 20+ seat lead in the House. It's huge. Republicans everywhere trumpet a cataclysmic shift in the politics of America.
New house majority leader Mike Pence lays out a monumental agenda for the first one-hundred days the GOP is in power. Change has finally come in the way Republicans wanted. The healthcare bill, Republican leaders promise us, is toast. Spending will be cut drastically. No more stimulus bills. Tax cuts for all both rich and poor. Stringent abortion laws are passed. Term limits are enacted. We're told that a new era of politics has arrived. Words like 'transparency' and 'accountability' are thrown around in abundance, just like taxpayer's money under the old Congress.
The TEA party movement has succeeded. The teapartiers breathe a collective sigh of relief. They have accomplished their goal: to stymie Obama's destructive policies. Now it is time to enjoy the fruit of their labors. The pressure is off. They have won.
The in-power GOP tackles the problems facing our nation, but quickly becomes bogged down in D.C. politics. The main campaign issues fade to the background. But there isn't any accountability from their constituents to keep on track. Because, after all, why would we need accountability? The conservatives are in power! All the problems will disappear, right? Wrong.
It's 2011. Republicans are in power. And the finger pointing begins yet again. The vicious cycle of politics kicks into higher gear, guaranteeing yet another four years of ballooning budgets and an increasing debt load. Pork-barrel spending skyrockets, immorality runs rampant on Capitol Hill. Welcome to the GOP reign in Washington. Depressed yet?
Thankfully, it's still 2010. The mid-terms are still in the future and there is still quite a bit of ambiguity regarding the outcome of those elections. The pressure is still on for members of Congress. However, after November 2nd regardless of who wins, conservatives and teapartiers cannot let off the pressure. If Republicans win, they must be held accountable by both liberals and conservatives.
This whole idea that we as conservatives are just pushing towards the final goal of the mid-term elections is wrong and potentially destructive for our nation. Right now the Republicans are poised to win big this year. Some are even suggesting that the House and Senate will be GOP-controlled. If that happens, conservatives must hold the Republicans' feet to the fire in the same way the teapartiers held the Democrats' feet to the fire. Enough of party politics. Republicans will lose touch with voters in same way that the Democrats did.
An unaccountable GOP-led Congress will result in more spending and larger government. An unaccountable GOP-controlled Congress will give us more elections just like 2006 and 2008. The pendelum will continue to swing back and forth as Republicans and Democrats alternately shoot themselves in the foot. We need accountability in government, but that won't happen by itself. The TEA party movement has shown that the people can effect change by pressuring their congressmen. We must not forget that lesson. Keep the heat up, even if Republicans win in 2010.