Consequences of a Democratic Victory

As the mid-term election cycle comes full circle, it seems as though everyone in the country has all but conceded that the Democratic Party will win the House of Representatives and possibly even the Senate. Of course, in light of recent news stories about our elected officials in Washington, this comes as no surprise.

Whether it's the continuing difficulties in Iraq, the George Allen racial slur, the Mark Foley email sex scandal, the investigation of Curt Weldon, or the guilty plea of Bob Ney, it seems that the GOP is doing everything it can to ensure that it becomes the minority party in the Congress after the November elections.

There are a few notable exceptions to this consensus, though, including President Bush, Vice-President Cheney, and conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh, who all predict that Republicans will maintain their majority status in both houses of congress. While the President and Vice-President have predicted a tough race in which Republicans will emerge victorious, Limbaugh has predicted that Republicans will not only maintain their majority in the House, but they will actually win additional seats in the mid-term contests.

Personally, I think the entire Congress is in need of a major overhaul. Power tends to corrupt and the vast majority of the men and women in the House and Senate today have been in Washington far too long already.

With most polls showing Democratic candidates with huge leads over Republican candidates, the Congress may experience its biggest shake up since the 1994 elections. But is that really what America wants? Sure the current Congress is rife with scandal and corruption. Republicans in both the House and Senate have strayed far from their conservative roots and their base of support has been steadily eroding. But what happens to the country if Democrats really do win in November?

For starters, the American people can expect to be subjected to numerous congressional investigations on everything from weapons of mass destruction and domestic wiretapping, to the supposed torture of terrorist detainees and the government's alleged racist response to Hurricane Katrina. The hearings would be highly partisan on both sides of the aisle and the truly ugly nature of politics in Washington would be broadcast around the world for all to see.

Once the investigations reached the inevitable conclusion that everything was Bush's fault, likely Chairman of the Judiciary Committee John Conyers would be free to pursue his long-time goal of impeachment proceedings against the President. Make no mistake about it. This would be the long sought after payback for the Republican impeachment of Bill Clinton.

With the casualty count rising daily in Iraq, a Democratic Congress would likely vote to de-fund the war, forcing a wholesale withdrawal of American troops while abandoning the more than 20 allied countries who also have soldiers in the war-torn country and the fragile Iraqi government that is relying on the United States to finish the job it started.

And, you can probably bank on an economic downturn if Nancy Pelosi becomes Speaker of the House and John Murtha becomes Majority Leader. Rush Limbaugh, in the October edition of his Limbaugh Letter, quoted Howard Dean as saying, "We'll put a check on the President's crazy economic policies." That's Democrat-speak for rolling back President Bush's tax cuts.

Raising taxes on "the rich" seems like a good idea, but the markets typically respond negatively to tax increases on the people who do the majority of the investing and job creation in the country.

Government spending is also likely to increase, as hard as that may be to believe, with Charlie Rangel at the helm of the Ways and Means Committee. Citizens can expect to see a concerted drive for nationalized health care, more government regulation of industry, and increased social welfare funding.

Democrats need 15 seats in the House and 6 in the Senate to regain control of Congress. If they win the requisite number of races to become the majority party, there will likely be serious obstruction from both sides as a Republican President and a Democratic Congress block each other at every opportunity until the next round of elections in 2008.

I've never been one to pay much attention to the constant barrage of political poll results that fill the major networks and cable news channels. But this time around I am genuinely concerned. I fear they may, for once, be right in their predictions.

The Republican Party deserves a serious wake-up call, and it has done everything it can to make that happen for itself. But the consequences of a Democratic victory are frightening indeed. While the GOP may pay for its loss of focus at the polling booth, it is America that will pay if the Republicans lose control of the Congress.