But enough about Democrats leading up to Election Day, we have Halloween to get ready for!
With only hours remaining before the elections, and anticipating a brutal day at the polls, Democrats have amped up their rhetoric. You know, the same stuff we hear every two years; that if you elect Republicans old people will be stripped of Social Security benefits and turned out in the streets, that minorities will be oppressed, the environment will be destroyed, and so forth. It has all gotten entirely too predictable.
There is enough to be frightened about this Halloween season without all of the ghouls and goblins and frightful scenery. We have spent several trillion dollars and still have a stagnant economy. Unemployment has remained near 10 percent for more than 18 months, with no sign of it dropping any time soon. There is an estimated $2 to $3 trillion dollars in private capital being held on the sidelines because of political uncertainty. Our southern border has erupted into a Third World civil war between the corrupt elected government and the drug lords.
What is even more frightening to me, however, is the thought that we have one of our two major political parties that seems incapable of understanding basic concepts of economic growth and incentives, of the damaging results from a class-warfare driven, punishing tax policy, and that refuses to defend our country in a cynical ploy at vote-buying. Most frightening of all is their apparent ignorance of, or complete disdain for, the Constitution and those that support it.
Consider some of the comments made by Democrats since Obama has been in office:
In a recent radio interview directed at Hispanics, President Obama said, "If Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, 'We're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us,' if they don't see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election, then I think it's gonna be harder and that's why I think it's so important that people focus on voting on November 2." The President of the United States, ostensibly charged with serving ALL Americans, now calls more than half of American citizens the enemy? Obama has resolutely refused to use that same language against those that openly seek our destruction, that behead and stone and torture innocents, against Iran or North Korea...but he'll call those that believe in low taxes, limited government and adherence to the Constitution "enemies." Can you imagine the outrage if the last president had used such language?
Last year, in the heat of debate before ObamaCare was passed, Speaker Pelosi was asked by a reporter, "Madam Speaker, where specifically does the Constitution grant Congress the authority to enact an individual health insurance mandate?" With absolute incredulity and open contempt, Speaker Pelosi replied: "Are you serious? Are you serious?!!" (Of course, the answer, as she well knows, is that there is NO power in the Constitution for so a blatant power grab). Later, before Pelosi was strong-arming her caucus and refusing to let them go home until a vote on ObamaCare had passed, she expressed the twisted logic that the ObamaCare bill had to be passed FIRST, so that THEN we could see what was in it. I think that is a bit backwards from how we normally do it.
Of course, it was irrelevant to many Democrats whether ObamaCare was authorized by the Constitution. Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA), at a town hall meeting, said, "There are very few constitutional limits that would prevent the federal government from [passing laws] that can affect your private life...Yes, the federal government can do most anything in this country." He then openly mocked his own constituents that expressed outrage at such condescending hubris.
Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) at least acknowledged his laziness when he said (about the ObamaCare bill), "I love these members that get up and say 'Read the bill!' What good is reading the bill if it is a thousand pages and you don't have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill?" Of course this ignores the obvious question of why you'd pass a bill that you don't understand (and it was over 2,000 pages, not 1,000).
Rep. Phil Hare (D-IL) expressed a similar contempt when, like Pelosi, he was grilled on the source of Congress's power to take over health care. Said he, "[I'm] not worried about the Constitution." At least Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) acknowledged the Constitution, at least before saying that "the Constitution is wrong." This was in response to the Supreme Court ruling that government could not suppress the free speech rights of citizens just because they are expressed through a corporate entity.
Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) on the housing market (defending the Fannie/Freddie overleveraging prior to the market collapse: "Homes that are occupied MAY see an ebb and flow in the price at a certain percentage level, but you're not going to see the collapse that you see when people talk about a bubble." I guess we imagined the market collapse.
There is plenty more insanity from Democrats. Obama, discussing the cap-and-tax plan, proudly proclaimed that "Under my plan, electricity rates will necessarily skyrocket." Of course, this comes from a man who also bragged that he would bankrupt the coal industry. It is still hard to figure out what would be worse. To see Obama bankrupt the coal industry, or to listen to Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) tell oil company executives that "This liberal will be all about socializing ... uh, uh, will be about ... basically ... taking over, uh, and the government running all your companies."
Discussing the fact that allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire would be a tax increase, Nancy Pelosi employed mental contortions to justify letting the rates go back up when she replied "It isn't a tax increase. It is eliminating a tax decrease that was there." Oh, OK then, I guess that's alright!
Well, there is a rich supply of such comments by Democrats, but I think the point is clear. It's okay to be stupid, as long as you are paying for your own stupidity. It is downright criminal to force others to pay for your stupidity, especially on such a massive level.
This is Halloween, and Tuesday is the midterm elections. And if the Republicans make the huge gains in the House, Senate and governorships that are anticipated, we know what comes next ... Thanksgiving!
Louis DeBroux is a Taylorsville resident, married, with eight children. He is vice chair of communications of the Bartow County Republican Party. He owns Gatekeeper data backup and recovery. He can be e-mailed at led@gatekeeperbackup.com.