Election 2010

[scoutingagain]

"Anybody betting that they decide to tackle social security and medicare, da biggest "socialist" deficit programs ."

 

The first thing on the agenda when they come back will be how much to extend the Bush tax cuts that John McCain decribed as irresponsible. The debate will be to how much to increase the debt, either by $3.2 billion, by only extending cuts up to those making >$250K/yr or by $4 billion by extending to everyone. No one is talking about cutting government spending, providing real leadership on the deficit, or making the tough choices that need to be made to bring fiscal sanity to the Federal Government...with the possible exception of Rand Paul.

 

The biggest mistake both parties make when they're elected is they think people voted FOR them, when for the most part the only reason they got the vote was people didn't want to vote for the other guy/gal and they were the only alternative. That's no mandate. It wasn't for Bush, it wasn't for Obama and it isn't this time around either.

 

Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. As long as we elect Republicans and Democrats, who've been in charge as long as I can remember, the Federal Government will stay in the hands of those who have bought both parties. There's a reason TARP was started under Bush and kept going under Obama.

 

If things don't get better economically by 2012, we the electorate will either flip flop again and vote Democrats back in, or maybe, just maybe, we'll figure out both parties are governing based on the desires of their own special interests,(you pick'em, big labor, big oil, big banks, big defense, insurance co's, etc.) and vote in candidates interested in protecting the interests of the American people.

 

Who want's to put money on that?

 

SA

[Stosh]

Heck, we've had civil polarization in this country before. It only cost the lives of 400,000 people, but then if that happens, there will be less people clamoring for Social Security, medical benefits and Medicare. Lincoln was right, a house divided cannot stand. We have wolves at the door and the people are fighting over the only gun in the house.

 

Stosh(This message has been edited by jblake47)

[GernBlansten]

Well, if disappointed with the results of the 2010 elections, at least we have our 2nd Amendment remedies to fall back on.

[JoeBob]

Gern,

Most of the firearms are in the Red States...

[scoutingagain]

That's because gun control laws have been so successful in keeping weapons out of the big cities in the East and West.

 

To be read with a health note of sarcasm.

 

SA

[BrentAllen]

sherminator,

This Democrat agrees with me on the country being center-right, and has the numbers to back it up. Interesting read.

 

A Center-Right Nation Again

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/11/04/opinion/main7021190.shtml?tag=cbsnewsSectionContent.13

 

Excerpt:

Here we reach the nub of the matter: The ideological composition of the electorate shifted dramatically. In 2006, those who voted were 32 percent conservative, 47 percent moderate, and 20 percent liberal. In 2010, by contrast, conservatives had risen to 41 percent of the total and moderates declined to 39 percent, while liberals remained constant at 20 percent. And because, in todays polarized politics, liberals vote almost exclusively for Democrats and conservatives for Republicans, the ideological shift matters a lot.

 

To complete the argument, theres one more step: Did independents shift toward Republicans because they had become significantly more conservative between 2006 and 2010? Fortunately we dont have to speculate about this. According to the Pew Research Center, conservatives as a share of total Independents rose from 29 percent in 2006 to 36 percent in 2010. Gallup finds exactly the same thing: The conservative share rose from 28 percent to 36 percent while moderates declined from 46 percent to 41 percent.

 

This shift is part of a broader trend: Over the past two decades, moderates have trended down as share of the total electorate while conservatives have gone up. In 1992, moderates were 43 percent of the total; in 2006, 38 percent; today, only 35 percent. For conservatives, the comparable numbers are 36 percent, 37 percent, and 42 percent, respectively. So the 2010 electorate does not represent a disproportional mobilization of conservatives: If the 2010 electorate had perfectly reflected the voting-age population, it would actually have been a bit more conservative and less moderate than was the population that showed up at the polls. Unless the long-term decline of moderates and rise of conservatives is reversed during the next two years, the ideological balance of the electorate in 2012 could look a lot like it did this year.