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Posted on 10/25/2014 9:03:01 AM PDT by Kaslin
The vast majority of political journalists -- and I include some of my conservative colleagues -- are missing a very big story.
The Republicans are going to recapture the Senate, picking up more seats than most any forecaster expects. And the House GOP is going to add to its majority. But then comes the big story: The beginning of a new conservative revolution.
The idea that nothing much will change if the GOP captures the whole Congress is just plain wrong. The politics and policies in Washington are about to change in a major way.
Obama may still be president. But he is going to be immediately confronted with a flood of new bills that will change the debate on tax reform, energy, health care, education, international trade and regulations.
Obama will no longer be able to hide behind Harry Reid, who has stopped all voting on these matters. And Mitch McConnell, as Senate majority leader, will be able to move forward the reform ideas of his caucus and House policy leaders like Paul Ryan, Jeb Hensarling, Kevin Brady and many others.
Obama's head will spin with all the new paperwork on his desk. He may even have to cut back on his golf game.
Of course, because of his left-wing ideology, Obama may veto everything. But if he does, he's setting up a new Republican agenda for the 2016 presidential race. Either Hillary Clinton completely jumps the Obama ship, or she's pulled way left by the Democratic party's Bill de Blasio/Elizabeth Warren/Sandinista wing. Either way she's in trouble.
And maybe some Senate Democrats vote to override Obama's vetoes, with some even converting to Republicanism. An Angus King or a Joe Manchin may cross the aisle after the likely midterm GOP landslide.
Unfortunately, the current GOP never put together a clear national-policy election agenda. Not even a downsized Contract with America. But I suggest two Big Think thoughts for the first 100 days of the new Congress.
First is optimism: We know what the problems are, we know what the solutions should be, and we can make these changes quickly. Second is a re-energized evangelism by the Republican party for pro-growth, market-oriented, consumer-driven, pro-family policies.
"We all see this coming," House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan told me in a recent interview. "Energy and tax reform are going to be at the top of the list." And House Financial Services chairman Jeb Hensarling told me, "It's time to put up or shut up for tax reform. Fairer, flatter, simpler, so the American people will at last know what the GOP would do for economic growth to rescue the country from the worst recovery since World War II."
Hensarling also emphasized the need to expand the energy revolution and to stop the massive overregulation that has stunted growth. "The regulatory red-tape burden, which violates the Founding Fathers' Federalist paper 47 by diminishing the rule of law and increasing bureaucratic power in the executive branch at the expense of the constitutionally mandated legislative branch, has got to be stopped."
Let me weigh in on the first two bills that the GOP should put on Obama's desk.
The Republicans should start with energy by legislating a Keystone Pipeline Authorization Act (this is how the Alaska pipeline was approved in 1979), and include energy reforms that would open federal lands to development and drilling and remove all restrictions to energy exports.
More energy supply means lower energy prices and more overall economic growth. Everybody benefits. Who loses? Our enemy Vladimir Putin and his client state Iran. And if Obama kowtows again to the left-wing enviros, so be it. It's a 2016 GOP agenda item.
Second would be a business tax-reform plan that would slash the corporate tax rate to 20 percent, stop the double taxation of foreign profits and allow small business S-corps (including unborn start-ups, which are America's real job creators) to take advantage of the new lower corporate tax rate. This tax cut should also be scored with a reality-based economic-feedback model.
But the key here is that the GOP regains its footing as the party of optimism and growth. A new Republican Congress should message that they're tired of obsessing about Obama's mistakes. Everybody knows about those. The trick now is to focus on solutions. On change. On saying, "We can do this. We can fix this."
Harking back to Ronald Reagan, Republicans should also remind everyone that a nation that's strong at home is one that becomes strong abroad. Not only can we put people back to work in the U.S., with real take-home pay, but a new recovery will gather new respect from our allies, and new fear from our enemies.
This is the potentially huge story that so many in the media are missing.
This is a shill-piece (albeit a hopeful one) for Hensarling to replace Boehner, and some sugar to make the amnesty medicine go down.
Notice the amount of TEA Congressmen mentioned.
Ted Cruz last week promised the top 10 issues the double-red Congress will achieve, and people are ripping him off on them all over the place.
I’m not so sure it will be the landslide that everyone is hoping for this election. The polls show the races are tighting a lot.
He knows that “pundits” of any political persuasion can publish any BS at all and the 90 percent they get wrong will be forgotten or forgiven by partisans of their viewpoint.
Why everyone is pretending that this election going against the party holding the white house is any thing but normal is beyond me; the party out of power almost always picks up seats in the last midterms of a 2 term president’t reign.
Obama may veto everything.
Not if he’s out numbered.
So many third partyers in here, that would like nothing more than hand victory over to the rats, just because their party has zero chances *sigh*
After I stopped laughing I realized this is a good reason to not vote for republicans. Because if this is what they will do if given power, they should not be given power.
Republicans, if they are fortunate enough to retake the Senate, must not throw away what may be America's last and only attempt to restore individual liberty and the rule of law, and that task can only be accomplished by restoring the ideas and principles essential to liberty to the "American mind" of 2014 and forward.
Else, 2016 will occur with a still-constitutionally-illiterate voter pool, and determined "progressives" will dominate public discussion.
Technology has made it possible for an innovative group of liberty lovers to capsulize and publicize the ideas which allowed individual freedom to flourish in the first place. So-called "progressives" no longer must be allowed to censor them out of textbooks, hide the Founders' writings in far-away and dusty stacks of libraries, or eliminate them from public discussion because they claim they violate some artificial PC standard they made up.
The opportunity to accomplish that task may have a short shelf life; therefore, those who want to pass on to future generations a nation where "freedom rings" had better begin restoring the ideas of liberty to a nation whose prevailing coercive power centers deny the very ideas which gave birth to freedom and opportunity.
Of course Billy Jeff is an American citizen, unlike Hussein, but still the thought of Hussein having to actually do some work if nice.
I’m sorry the GOP won’t capture the Senate. The Karl Rove lead ticket in NC is a complete f-up
It’s good to see Kudlow is still taking his happy pills.
Somebody must be forcing Rush to take happy pills because he says basically the same thing.
The difference may be that the GOPe has been taking heavy shelling from their own right flank for several years now and the conservatives are getting stronger every election.
The leadership will complain because they are not used to being told what to do, but they will begin moving in that direction.
Oh look! Concern Troll pees on any positive editorial about the 2014s. HOW does Concern Troll still have posting rights?
Steyn: One Person Can Change Everything and ‘I Like Ted Cruz’
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-gop/3219332/posts
I hate to be a constant skeptic, but won’t the majority only allow McConnell to bring bills to the floor? The Democrats can still block them, can’t they? If this is accurate, nothing will make it to Obama’s desk because every (conservative) bill McConnell brings to the floor will be met with cries of starving children, and throwing old people onto the street. McConnell will suck his empty head back into his shell and hide, instead of promoting a positive message. On the positive side, I think a Republican Senate would actually make it harder for Obama to use executive orders, because the Republicans could point to legislation blocked by the Democrats.
Oh look! Concern Troll is back to this thread to drive home the message of "Abandon All Hope".
Concern Troll should have been banned in 2011.
Is he back to snorting that white powder?
“The idea that nothing much will change if the GOP captures the whole Congress is just plain wrong.”
The idea that the idea that nothing much will change if the GOP captures the whole Congress is just plain wrong.
It’s not going to make any difference. The Obama won’t be
impeached and prosecuted, neither will anyone in his
administration. Obamacare wont be thrown out. The IRS
wont be reformed or abolished. It will be pretty much
the same as the last time they had the majority in both
houses during baby Bush, more socialism, collectivism.
“Somebody must be forcing Rush to take happy pills because he says basically the same thing.”
That ‘somebody’ is the GOPe methinks.
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