Herman

Cain

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November 17, 2008

Harry and Nancy Have Me Politically Nervous

While many people are anxiously awaiting the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama, and the mainstream media are feverishly trying to anticipate his Cabinet appointments before they are announced, I am politically nervous.

Waiting to see what socialistic legislative gems the Democratic leaders in Congress will serve up first as priorities is unsettling for this conservative.

I am less nervous about the first priorities of a President Obama, which will obviously have to start with the looming economic crisis. And no, it will not be over before Inauguration Day merely because Sen. Obama was elected president as some with unrealistic expectations believe.

But Democratic leaders of the House and Senate, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, respectively, make me nervous because their majorities in both chambers have increased, and the Democrats in the Senate are dangerously close to a 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority. 

Based on the actions of the current Democratic-controlled Congress, they will try again to pass legislation to eliminate secret ballots for unionization votes, a “cap and trade” carbon emissions tax structure, a windfall profits tax on oil companies, an illegal immigration bill that does not secure our borders, an expansion of the SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program) to families making over $50,000 a year and a rollback of the successful Bush tax cuts.

These are just some of the legislative proposals that we hear about through the mainstream media. There are many more socialist-leaning proposals that remain below the media’s radar that most of us never hear about.

Of course, a lot of attention will initially be given to the proposals of the new president, but they will go nowhere without first going through the House and Senate for approval. And just because those chambers are controlled by Democrats, there are no guarantees that Harry and Nancy will give President-elect Obama any slam dunks.

President-elect Obama may have his agenda, but Harry and Nancy have theirs, which may or may not be the same. I would be surprised if they are.

The newly elected Congress will also distract the public with talk of another “stimulus package,” even before the current measures from the “emergency economic rescue plan” are given time to work. And we can also expect another continuous chorus of “the last eight years of Bush” as an excuse for not really doing anything.

Harry and Nancy’s proposal to let all of the Bush tax cuts expire at the end of 2010 is even more worrisome. All they have to do is to do nothing, which is what they do best.

In light of our current and projected economic crisis for the foreseeable future, that would be disastrous for the U.S. and world economies. Whereas most businesses learn from mistakes of the past, such lessons don’t seem to matter as much in Democratic partisan politics.

I believe that 25 percent of what we experience from national policy is attributable to the previous president. Fifty percent is due to the actions or inactions of Congress, and another 25 percent is due to the decisions of the new president.

Now you know why I am more politically nervous about Harry and Nancy than I am about President-elect Obama.

After all, the new president will be “campaigning” for re-election.  

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