Let the GOP keep Congress

Bad Republicans don’t equal good Democrats

By Sunthosh Madireddi
From the November 2006 Print Edition

Political placards have been erected, ideological battle lines have been drawn, and the airwaves have been inundated with such slanderous refuse that the greatest landfill on earth would be envious of its company. There is only one season that bears such hallmarks of change and it only comes every two years: election season. However bothersome November is, many political pundits will confess that this election has the potential to register a 9.0 magnitude earthquake on the political Richter scale.

The latest polling data seems only to corroborate what the pundits have prognosticated: a transfer of power to the Democrats in the halls of Congress. According to the latest CNN/Today/Gallup poll, the Republican-led Congress has garnered a meager 19 percent approval rating, a 12-year low. But the Gallup poll also found that six out of ten Republicans disapprove of Republican-led Congress, which means the erosion in Congressional approval can be attributed in large part to the brewing discontent among the conservative faithful over Republican policies.

There is no doubt that the conservative rank and file has become disillusioned with Congress. It doesn’t take a political pundit to see why this has transpired. One only has to turn on the TV or open up a newspaper for it to become quite apparent. The headlines read, "Top GOP Republicans accused of covering up Foley Page Scandal." The social conservative of 2004 was a moral foot soldier with a stated goal in mind: to restore moral values to the streets and classrooms of America. The social conservative of 2006 feels like a defeated man. A federal marriage amendment has not been passed, but was promised. A flag-burning amendment has not been passed, but was promised. A tough border-security bill has not been passed, but was promised.

The fiscal conservative too feels like a defeated man. The Republican Party was supposed to be the party of fiscal discipline, yet produced a record deficit upwards of $521 billion. The Republican-led Congress is now being seen as an unfaithful servant of the conservative cause, someone who has forsaken the conservative agenda for the quick fix that only monopolized power can provide.

While there is a growing consensus that the Republicans in Congress are not doing a good job, there is no consensus for change in conservative America. Some conservatives would contend that change is required in order to cleanse Washington of the stigma of Republican failure and that a Democratic victory in November would make the Republicans accountable to their conservative constituency.

Though I am in resolute agreement that that Republican-led Congress has been a disappointment, I am not ready for an overhaul of Congressional leadership. Change by itself is not a solution to the problem, but a childish frustration with the status quo. I am ready to call for change when a viable alternative has been proposed, yet the Democrats are far from being considered a viable alternative.

The Democratic counter-plan so far is nothing more than what President George W. Bush in 2004 called a "litany of complaints." When asked about the Democratic plan for Congress by a reporter in a news conference, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi responded in a fit of frustration, "Why should we put a plan up? Bush is the one creating the crisis. Our plan is to stop him. Stop him. He must be stopped."

Though the Republican-led Congress has not lived up to conservative expectations, the Democratic Party has shifted considerably to the left. With Howard Dean at the helm of the Democratic commune, the party is hardly a moderate alternative to the Republican Party.

Since this election is about party choice it is important that we not overlook the Democratic platform. They wanted to grow the economy by freezing the Bush tax cuts. They wanted to protect the American border by voting for the Senate amnesty bill that would "require the consultation of the Mexican government before the building of any American border fence." They sought to restore moral values by voting NO on the Federal Marriage Amendment. They sought to fight terrorism abroad and domestically by voting NO on the USA Patriot Act and moved in favor of abolishing the NSA wiretapping program. They displayed their support for free trade policies by voting NO on CAFTA and calling for greater regulation of companies that outsource their labor forces overseas.

Admittedly, the Republican-led Congress had a good number of hard-left liquor shots in the halls of Congress over the last two years, but I am not about to concede the law-making body to tried-and-true Kool-Aid drinkers whose leftist fiscal and social policies are not an exception but the norm. Change is a valid goal. Party accountability is a valid goal. But an election doesn’t feature the above goals in isolation but in a comparative context between Democrat and Republican. Between the two, Republicans are still the better choice for America.

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