I haven’t blogged about the 2014 election… until now. Am I disappointed Republicans now control the House and the Senate. Yes. Am I devastated? No. And here’s why.
Since 2010 the Republican battle cry has been that the House can’t get its crazy past the D controlled Senate. This worked for them – it was like a constant campaign commercial. It worked for the so-called “sane” Republicans as well. Vote to repeal the ACA for the gazillionth time? Sure. Why not. The D controlled Senate would block it and the Rs would get to keep their Conservative street cred while doing nothing. It’s why there were so many votes taken to repeal the ACA – every Republican wanted a chance (or two, or forty) to go on the record with that meaningless vote.
But now that vote isn’t meaningless, and I’m seeing problems on the horizon. Given the history, come January the House should vote to repeal the ACA again and send it to the now Republican controlled Senate. The Senate now has no excuse not to pass it, and there’s a part of me that says let them have their way, mainly because I’m tired of hearing how there’s no difference between the Ds and the Rs. That line is old and tired. It’s meaningless, so perhaps it’s time to make it meaningful. Perhaps it’s time to remind people of the difference. So maybe, in some strange, wince inducing way this isn’t the end of the world. The voters (and non-voters) will get to see the Republicans in action, or in non-action, which is more likely.
The debt ceiling vote will come up in March 2015. How will that work out? How will kicking millions of people off their health insurance (those with preexisting conditions, kids on their parent’s policies, etc.) work out? Immigration reform is now dead, unless President Obama acts alone – which gives me hope since he’s really done a lot by himself – while Dems cower and mewl bipartisanship. But don’t worry, I expect impeachment proceedings to begin sooner rather than later. It’s what Republicans do – it’s one of the only things they do. And I fully expect a ton of abortion/reproductive rights bills to sail through the House and Senate. Of course, Republicans won’t have the nerve to make them stand alone bills, they’ll attach the amendments to things like the Federal Budget deal… or the debt ceiling?
Obama will veto these bills, but I’m sure there will be Democrats calling for him to sign off on them, because, ya know, bipartisanship.
And Mitch McConnell shouldn’t get too comfortable. He’s going to have to deal with Ted Cruz and his band of merry men and women. He might want to review John Boehner’s past experience to see what he’s in for. There’s about to be a lot of Republican-on-Republican crime. That stage is set and I have my popcorn.
I’m really not as pessimistic as I sound. I’m just weary. I’m tired of trying to pull Liberal/Progressives out of their constant, angst-y funk. I’m tired of the “woe is me” whenever things don’t go exactly their way. And I’m tired of their pretending to be the majority. They (we) aren’t, and abandoning ship every time they (we) don’t get what they want is self-defeating and one of the main reasons off year election turn-out is so low. And while I agree that we are a center-left country, we aren’t a left country. For some reason, certain Liberals/Progressive always seem to forget the “center” part of that description. Why is that?
Last night as Mr. Pandora and I watched the returns I pointed at the TV and said, “This! This is what’s wrong with Democrats!” What I was talking about is what everyone had been talking about – Alison Lundergan Grimes refusing to say if she voted for Obama. Of course she voted for Obama. Why wouldn’t she? She’s a Democrat. But instead of just answering the stupid question, she turned what should have been a duh moment into a national story that dogged her every step. It’s stupid things like this that make me angry. And it’s behavior like this that explains so much. It’s as if Democrats decided to follow in Al Gore’s footsteps… and achieved the same results.
True confession: I had to make myself vote yesterday. I wasn’t excited. I felt beaten down and apathetic. And if I felt that way… how do you think less politically interested voters felt? Sometimes “faking it until you make it” is sound political strategy. And maybe losing the Senate is enough to remind everyone exactly what we’re up against, because some people need a reminder. Hopefully it won’t hurt too much.