It didn’t take very long for the GOP to get into power and then overreach. The GOP ran on “Democrats cut Medicare!” then proceeded to present a plan to end Medicare. Instead of working on the economy, they hold it hostage and hope it tanks so that the GOP will benefit. This may be a hard argument to sell in an election but it may be sinking in to the nation at large. The WSJ writes about the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC poll:
On the one hand, 51% of Americans now say government should do more to solve problems and help meet the needs of people, while 46% say government is doing too many things better left to businesses and individuals. In October 2010, just before the Republican midterm landslide, those numbers were reversed, with half of those polled wanting government to do less, not more.
Fifty-four percent of Americans say they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who supports a federal requirement for companies to reduce greenhouse gases, against 17% who say they’d be less likely. Forty-seven percent say they’d be more likely to support a candidate who favors allowing illegal immigrants to stay in the country if they pay a fine, learn English and go to the back of the line behind legal immigrants applying for citizenship; 35% say they’d be less likely to support a politician embracing what conservatives have disparaged as “amnesty.”
And 44% say they’d be more likely to vote for a politician who voted for President Barack Obama’s health-care law, compared with 40% who say they’d be less likely.
The Republican idea of be more Bushian only EXTREME doesn’t seem to be selling very well right now. Personally, I think 2012 is going to be a pivotal election for deciding the future of our country. Will we continue to take baby steps to a more responsible and responsive government or will we take the path to decline?