Berkeley Forum

ARASH-The Weekly Standard claims that “the Canadians of American politics are finally back.” I voted Democratic this time to protest the many wrongdoings of the GOP leaders and the Bush administration. I believe in balanced budgets, reducing the deficit, better education for our children and a small government. The Republicans failed me and many other voters on all those counts. When they took power in 1994, the GOP promised change, but Washington changed the GOP. Corruption became the motto of the party and they became involved in some of the most bizarre scandals of modern politics. They lost their credibility not only with the moderate voters but with the conservative base as well.

The Republican defeat of Tuesday was no surprise. The Republican Party abandoned its conservative ideals, small government was chief among them. Over the past 6 years the GOP has been responsible for the expansion of the bureaucracy to an intolerable level. The eavesdropping on American citizens and invading their privacy, voting to legalize torture and the mistreatment of detainees lead many Americans to believe that the GOP does not represent their values. The GOP – Grand Old Party – must change its name to the GOG – Grand Old Government-.

In 1994, after the Republican take over of the House after nearly 50 years of Democratic control, many Democrats justified their Republican votes by saying this: We didn’t leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party left us. Today many conservatries have a similar justification for their upset votes: We never left the GOP but the GOP left us!

# posted by Berkeley Forum : 6:37 PM