Pimping A Blog, Plus Mid-Term Elections, All In One Post!

OK.



For those of you who don't read, chipmkr420 is an often quite insightful blogger, who I met through Sheila.



He's just put up a good article about the upcoming election, which prompted me to write a "comment"  I decided to make it a blog post.



Read his article first; it'll give you the necessary background on what I'm gonna say.



Ready?



Good.



Hopefully both parties will receive a huge makeover, top to bottom, regardless of who wins.



Doubtful, but hopefully.



As you say, the Democrats don't actually HAVE an agenda - at least not one they're willing to admit to. The reason for this, I suspect, is that they remember the last time they ran on an agenda, and how badly the voters rejected it. However, that would simply make things even worse for them in the long run.



If the Dems win, and begin advancing their agenda, their future success depends upon one factor: whether or not they prove themselves to be any different. They've built their campaigns on "We're not Republicans," and as long as the average voter perceives that to be true, fine.



The problem is that despite the polls, the general perception in this country is that Dems are soft on national security. If the Dems get control of Congress and then start playing "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss," they will find themselves in dire trouble, sure enough, in the next election, as the voters decide to pick security and corruption, over corruption all by itself.



Considering the Republicans will no doubt have undergone a major political restructuring in the meantime, this could result in a disaster for the Democrats of monumental proportions.



The Dems don't seem to realize it, but the best outcome possible for them would be for the Republicans to win this election - by a good margin - and things to continue as they are. If the situation continues with the same leadership until 2008, they are virtually certain to be able to put anyone they want in office as President, and take a huge chunk of Congress away from the Republicans.



Winning Congress now, however, will merely highlight their failings immediately before a Presidential election in which their likely candidates are Hillary Clinton - a disaster waiting to happen - and John Kerry again, who would simply bore people out of voting for him, just like he did last time.



The Republicans, on the other hand, are likely to run Rudy Giuliani, who may not have the name recognition Hillary does, but will make her look like a punk in the debates. (Not, of course, that anyone watches them; I remember everyone running around after the 2004 debates, which Bush and Cheney clearly won - to the point of absurdity - saying "Kerry won," because the media stuck its fingers in its ears and went "la la la" to any suggestion otherwise.)



Now, the Republicans don't seem to have realized it, but they have a guaranteed win candidate if Hillary runs; Dr. Condoleeza Rice. They don't seem to be making any plans to run her; but if they did, she's a minority; staunchly conservative; strong on security; female, thus splitting the women's vote - nearly impossible to beat. All she'd have to do is campaign "I'm not a rich white woman" and Hillary would be sunk.



Anyway, as I said, I suspect that seeing the Democrats win Congress this go-round would herald the collapse, long-term, of the Democrats, not the Republicans; their victory in this election would lead to a sense of voter betrayal far more profound than that currently directed at the Republicans. We'd see, maybe 2 elections down the road, a Republican hegemony of the Congress just like that of the Democrats during the Carter / Reagan / Bush 1 years.



I'm not convinced at this point that either party is capable of governing adequately. We need more libertarians in office, IMO.