Positives and Negatives of Democratic Takeover

The Democrats will take control of Congress today for the first time in twelve years. Let’s examine the positives and negatives of this power shift.


POSITIVES:


Accountability

The Republican Congress was little more than a rubberstamp body. They have sat by while the President misled the country into war, made no-bid contracts, illegally wiretapped American citizens and presumptuously cherry picked bills by choosing to ignore certain provisions. Hopefully, the Democrats will fulfill their constitutional obligation and act as a check on the executive branch.


Social Issues

The Democratic party, having less religious lunatics in their ranks than the Republic Party, is more respectful of the separation of church and state. Most of them understand that religion is a personal matter that has no place in drafting policy. Under the Democrats, we’re not going to see distractions like trying to constitutionally ban Gay Marriage or congressional intervention into the Terry Schiavo case.


Foreign Policy

The Democrats will be less arrogant in their foreign policy, being more willing to compromise. The Democrats understand that it is in our interests to maintain alliances and respect international law. They’ll be less go-it-alone type engagements. Thankfully, it seems very improbable that we’re going to start a war with Iran now that the Democrats are in power.


The Environment

The Republicans have been completely out of step with the scientific consensus that Global Warming is real and needs to be dealt with immediately. One of the things I’m most happy about the Democrats taking power is that Jim Inhofe -a man who compared environmentalists to Nazis- will no longer be the chairman of the senate Environment and Public Works committee.



NEGATIVES:


Minimum Wage

There is a near consensus in this country that minimum wage ought to be raised. The democrats have been trying to raise it for years, and president came out in support of it. It doesn’t seem like anything could stop this from happening, despite adverse economic effects it will have, and despite the fact that it doesn’t address the root causes of wage stagnation.


Welfarism

It will be interesting to see how Bush’s “Big-Government Conservatism” will interact with liberal populism. Interesting as it will be, one thing is for sure: there will be an increase in the size of government. The Democrats will push for more welfare funding, education funding, etc. Considering Bush’s history, he’s unlikely to restrain this growth in government. Instead, he’ll probably approve it under the condition that it adheres to his “faith-based” policies. Yikes!


Immigration

The Democrats are soft on immigration. Many of them are against building the border fence. They are also in favor of granting amnesty to illegal aliens. All this despite the fact that the influx of immigrants has hurt lower and middle class workers by depressing wages. I hate to be cynical, but it is in their political interests to support an open-border policy because Hispanic-Americans tend to vote Democratic.