They Had Their Chance and Blew It

As we all know by now, the GOP won control of the House of Representatives--by a rather substantial margin--but the Democrats retained a majority in the Senate.  That latter figure is not set yet, as I write this.  These results are pretty much what most had predicted and expected in the last few days leading up to the election.  Fortunately, we will no longer have to put up with Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House, but unfortunately, Harry Reid won re-election in the Senate and remains Senate Majority Leader.  And Barack  Obama is still President for two more years, but hopefully no longer than that.

What does it all mean?  I'm not an alarmist, nor do I get overly jubilant about matters pertaining to politics.  It's nice that the GOP controls the House; all money bills must originate in that chamber, so the Republicans should be able to put some brakes on the reckless spending of the Obama administration.  The Democrats cannot say they didn't have a chance.  They have controlled both houses of Congress since 2007 and the presidency since 2009.  They had solid majorities in both chambers; there was absolutely nothing the Republicans could do to stop anything the Democrats wanted.  The Democrats could simply have out-voted the Republicans on any bill.  But the only really significant piece of legislation passed these past two years was the health care bill, something a solid majority of Americans did not want.  Well, there were also the stimulus bills, something else which peeved the people.  That elitism--ramming laws down Americans' throats that they disapproved of--plus the utter inability of the Democrats to improve the economy, are major reasons they took a pounding in this election.  It was a well-deserved rebuke, but the chances that Obama and his cronies have learned anything are zero and none.  He'll have to compromise on some things, but he'll still get as much of his radical left agenda as he can.  That's what the takeover of the GOP in the House can prevent.  And it's not a small thing.

Yet, the Republicans won't be able to do very much in a positive vein simply because the Democrats will still control the Senate and the presidency.  I've already, in this blog, and more than once, expressed my approval of gridlock, and so that may be the biggest positive the GOP brings to Washington.  They won't be able to undo, however, anything Obama has done to this point; don't look for a repeal of the health care bill in the next two years.  It's not going to happen.  And keep in mind, Harry Reid, Barbara Boxer, and a few others of that ilk got re-elected; there are still massive numbers of people in the United States who are woefully ignorant of the principles of proper government and civilization, and unfortunately, they have as much right to vote as people who do have such knowledge.  That is the curse of democracy and the ultimate reason it always fails.  Ignorance can always be demogogued and will inevitably fall prey to a philosophy of dependence and "feel good-ism." 

Yet, there are obviously still enough perceptive people in America who want to put a stop to the unbounded radical agenda of Obama, Pelosi, and Reid.  This election will go a long way in doing that, even if it won't go very far in returning America to a course of righteousness, decency, individual responsibility, and hard work.  That, I fear, will never happen, not until the crisis comes.  And then, as Israel learned in Biblical times, it will be too late.