I bring you two excerpts that make me wonder if Republicans – who were clobbered in 2006 and 2008 for their big government policies – have learned anything from their defeat. First, an article from The News Virginian discusses the possibility of the Tea Party being absorbed by the Republican Party in order to stay effective after the November elections. Former Virginia Governor and Senator George Allen (R) said that made sense, but RTP President Jamie Radtke disagreed:
“People are just as nervous if the Republicans get in there,” Radtke said. “They are afraid they will act just like the Bush years. Neither party has proven to be trustworthy.”
Sam Adams Alliance Research Director Anne Sorock said her group’s work shows Radtke’s sentiment is widely held by tea partiers.
“It won’t be a fix to simply elect Republicans,’’ she said. “There is a sense that there is a Republican class, and that class is not listening to the people.”
And second, this article states that our own Congressman Eric Cantor said that if the Republicans retake the house (which he expects to happen), they “may roll back their ban on earmarks, as long as the spending items have ‘merit.’”
Amazing. I guess it’s cool to aggressively oppose all earmarks when you’re not the party in power and have no ability to advance legislation, then as soon as you are back in power, start trading pork for votes again. If an earmark has “merit,” why can’t it stand on its own instead of being inserted into some other bill it has nothing to do with?
That’s exactly the kind of governing that landed Republicans in the minority. This, along with Governor Allen’s statement about absorbing the Tea Party (as if we want to be absorbed by any political party), makes me think that the Republicans still don’t understand the mood of the country and if they do regain control, we’re in for much the same old, same old.
What they don’t realize, of course, is that voters will no longer tolerate that type of nonsense. Sooner or later, one way or another, politician by politician, We the People will control our government again and no longer be ruled by it.
