Originally posted by: Vic
Originally posted by: Darwin333
I couldn't agree more. Although this is probably a topic for another thread, I am curious about your conclusion.
The Dems already control the Legislative branch and are looking to pick up more seats. Add in a Dem controlled Executive branch and a single faction has just as much, if not more, power than the mess we just got out of (a single party controlling both branches).
The dynamic is not that simple. For one thing, the Dems don't control the legislative, they have a slim majority. While the Pubs have 100% control in the executive at this point. Big difference. The Executive also controls all the operations of the govt BTW. The 3 branches of govt are by no means equal, just ask the Supreme Court.
Basically, my issue is that the Pubs have held the Executive for the past 8 years on the basis of lies and aggressive propaganda. They have legions of ultra-loyal followers who believe whatever the party mouthpieces tell them even as the party's actions and agendas are repeatedly in direct contradiction to what their followers believe. These followers have become so zealous in protecting their party loyalty that every lie by the Pubs only strengthens their resolve that much more. It has, in short, become all about egos and emotions and almost nothing about issues and reality. Obama has got nothing on Bush when it comes to being the Messiah of his people (an irony of the Obamessiah rhetoric IMO is that Bush was actually hailed as Moses by the religious right in 2000).
And to them, believing what they are told and not what they see, everything is an upside-down world of lies, where liberalism and actual free markets are the same as communism (but our current heavily socialized economy is a 'free' market), where their freedom of religion is under attack when they're not allowed to push their religious beliefs on other peoples' children in the public schools or to control women's bodies, where freedom can only be protected by invading it and destroying it, where war profiteering is considered patriotic while actually getting back at the people who attacked us on 9/11 is argued against, and (most importantly IMO) where "small government" is growing the size and cost of government faster than any President since FDR during WWII (Bush has actually increased spending faster that FDR did during the New Deal).
IMO any retention of control by such people at this point would be too much. It's like letting the blind guy in the car drive... but worse. However, as they will retain a large measure of control, and their zealous followers will retain their voice and numbers (I expect Obama Derangement Syndrome to break all records for political whining), and as the problems they have caused in this country are far too numerous and deep to be solved by the other party in 4 short years, the Pubs will retain more than sufficient power to keep the Dems in balance. Hell, giving the Dems the election would probably be doing themselves a favor.
OTOH, if the Pubs do retain the Executive this year, then that will be a triumph not for any single party, but for the willful and open use of all their immoral political tactics. Our republic will basically be history.