 "Photo: Domenic DiBerardinis")
This country is facing a crisis of leadership. We are coming to a fork in the road. A choice lies before us.
The choice may not seem clear, but upon closer inspection, there is only one road this country can embark upon. We must continue down the path of Republican leadership. The country cannot afford otherwise.
The Democrats' "alternative" is nothing but dressed-up rhetoric, while Republicans have shown that they can take the difficult road and succeed. What the national issues come down to is how the Republicans have acted, and how the Democrats claim they will act.
First, the economy. In 1992, voters were bombarded by the clichéd Clinton campaign slogan, "It's the economy, stupid." This unofficial theme allowed Clinton to ride President George H.W. Bush's economic woes into the White House.
Right now, the economy has recovered since the recession following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and the stock market has been posting record highs on a regular basis. One of the leading factors in this economic boom are the tax cuts proposed by President Bush and passed by the Republican Congress. According to Investors Business Daily, since the 2003 tax cuts went into effect, there has been $14.4 trillion added in real wealth and 5.8 million jobs created.
How would Democrats handle the economy? They will run it into the ground, stifling growth and hurting small business owners, the main beneficiaries of the Bush tax cuts. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, the most likely candidate for Speaker of the House under Democrat majority, has promised "a rollback of the tax cuts."
Rep. Chuck Rangel, D-N.Y., who would be the Chair of the Ways and Means Committee, was one of 205 congressmen who voted against the tax cuts and "cannot think of one tax cut" he would renew. This will cost the economy a good deal of growth, and will have a severe negative impact on the job market and your wallet.
Second, the war. While Iraq is not stabilizing as easily or as quickly has we would all hope, Republicans are determined to finish the job. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., said earlier this year that "we can't win" and has accused U.S. troops of "killing innocent civilians in cold blood."
Murtha calls for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq. This would be tantamount to an unconditional surrender and leaving now would only make Iraq more unstable and under the control of terrorists.
As for the wider War on Terror, Democrats have yet to put forward any sort of policy that would fight terrorism. This is the biggest international crisis facing the Western World today, and the Democrats have no plan. What sort of leadership is that?
I will be the first to admit that the Republican Congress has been far from perfect. It has not acted as it should on several issues, and the negative feelings toward it is mostly justified. However, the Democrats have not shown that they can lead.
In 1994, when the Republicans took over Congress from a Democratic majority that had lasted for 40 years (except for two years in the 1980s when the Republicans had a slight majority in the Senate), they had clear leadership and a clear plan.
The Democrats of 2006 have neither.
So what if the Democrats win? As well as having higher taxes and no direction on foreign policy, we will have a country torn apart by meaningless trials and investigations. I call this the "Lesson of 1998," or the ridiculous circus that the Clinton impeachment hearings became and how detrimental they were to the state of government in this country.
Though Clinton did clearly violate the law, the proceedings themselves became politically motivated and fruitless. In the end, Clinton remained president and actually more popular than before they began.
Why is this an issue?
The loudest Democratic voices are those calling for the impeachment of our president based on a loose confederation of assumptions and conjecture. It will not take much, but they will pressure a Democratic-controlled Congress into relentlessly investigating the Bush Administration in search of "the smoking gun" that can bring its most hated man in America down.
If the "Lesson of 1998" shows us anything, it is that they will never find this smoking gun. The trials themselves will turn people off from the political process and will divert attention away from the real problems at hand.
These are the stakes. Two years of meaningless, politically-motivated, investigation coupled with misdirected foreign policy and a shattered economy. That is far worse for the country than anything the Republicans will enact in the next two years.
Ryan Silberstein is the President of the College Republicans. Please send all comments to
flybyyyz@udel.edu
Follow us on Twitter
Subscribe to our feed
Contact us through email
Be the first to comment on this article!