A Scary Day

Today, January 4th, marks the day that the GOP finally relinquishes its control of Congress - which it has held since 1994 - and turns it over to the Democrats. The Dem's won a majority in both the Senate and the House in the last election. Everyone seems to have a considered opinion on why this happened, but few people agree. Liberals, of course, say that it was a referendum on President Bush's "lies" and "failed strategy" in Iraq and/or Afghanistan. Some have also referred to "corruption". Conservative politicians seem bewildered by the whole thing.

The truth, as is often the case, is probably nearer the middle. Assertions of the president's lies are no more than despicable insults, thrown out by juveniles, against a man with far too much class to respond. Has the president, however, made mistakes? Serious ones? Without a doubt. If you want to argue that his management of the "War on Terrorism" has been incompetent, I can agree to a certain extent. But that's far different than insulting the man and calling him a liar - or worse.

Yet that is what we've had to endure since practically the day Mr. Bush took office back in 2000. It started with complaints that he had somehow stolen the election (ridiculous) from Al Gore, and it has never died down. Liberals have not just disagreed with this president, they have truly hated the man. And this hatred has produced some of the most disgusting political rhetoric I've ever witnessed.

Today is a scary day because these very same people who have called our president "corrupt", "incompetent", "a liar", etc., in public, are now taking over the Legislative Branch. That means that they will actually have a degree of power that they have not had in recent years; and that they will actually have to be listened-to.

Listening to these kooks is scary because of the times we live in and particularly because of the seriousness of the threats to our country and to our combat troops engaged in the Middle East. Make no mistake -- we are at war with Islamic Fundamentalism, and we must win. They started the war against us in 1979 in Iran, and we simply never responded seriously until after 9/11/2001. Yet the Democrats have difficulty acknowledging this at all. That fundamental "disconnect" between them and reality is frightening because it means they will back us away from the steps we've been taking to fight the war.

Predictions
There are 5 very serious issues that I see right away as direct threats from the incoming congress. Watch the news and see if these don't come to pass within the next two years:

I. Killing the War on Terror
This Democratic congress believes we are not at war with Islamic fundamentalism, and that we face no real threats right now domestically. This means that our current war in Afghanistan and Iraq is a war of aggression and is unjust. They want us out. They dress this desire up as concern for the troops and wanting to get them out of harm's way, but do not be fooled. They are pacifist, isolationist post-modernists and they want us out of the Middle East altogether. They will de-stabilize our mission there by de-funding the war, as they did in the 70's in Vietnam. The results would truly be disastrous for our country and for the world.

II. Amnesty for all Illegal Aliens
The American people seem to be the only people in the country who recognize the threat and the injustice that illegal immigration has wrought. President Bush, who should know better having governed a border state, has done ZERO to address the problem, and the Republican congress made some inroads but didn't solve the serious problems (part of why they got abandoned by conservatives). With the Dem's now controlling Congress, there is nothing stopping them -- truly, nothing at all -- from passing amnesty legislation legalizing all 12-15 million illegal aliens currently in the country.

III. No More Conservative Federal Judges
It has been hard enough for President Bush to get conservative, "originalist" judges appointed to lifetime positions on the Federal Circuit, Appeals, and Supreme courts with a Republican majority. The Dem's, aided by left-leaning Republicans, have effectively stopped up the appointment process. With them in full control, you can forget about getting good judges installed in the high courts.

IV. Higher Federal Taxes
On this point the Democrats don't even try to disguise their position. Many have said openly that they will not renew the president's existing tax cuts, which are temporary and must be renewed every few years. Democrats don't believe that your money is yours and that taxes are what you offer up to run the government. They believe that your money is really theirs, and that they should choose how much or little of it to allow you to keep, based on what they feel like spending it on. Higher taxes are on the way.

V. Endless Hearings
With the majority in Congress comes the authority to conduct investigations and hearings. The Democrats have been spoiling for a fight with the president all along, but have been held down by the Republican majority. Now that they are in power, and with a presidential election looming in two years, look for an immediate creation of panels and investigative committees with the one unifying purpose of going after President Bush. The investigations and hearings will be very expensive and go on forever, and in the end will accomplish exactly nothing, providing just one more example of just how incompetent and irresponsible these Democrats are with our - yours and mine - money.

Watch and see. Other bad things will also happen, but these 5 are the biggies. I honestly believe all 5 will happen, and in pretty short order. What I don't know, or can't bring myself to imagine, is what the net effect on our country will be. Can we sustain all these hits? And assuming we do, what will the country look like when the 2008 election rolls around? And if by some scary stretch of imagination a liberal makes it into the White House in '08, how will the country look in 4 or 8 more years? It truly is scary, and it all begins today.