New Strategy - Trash the Economy

November 11, 2002

By Tom Barrett, Editor@ConservativeTruth.org

This week everyone is talking about the UN Resolution regarding the danger of Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction. I’d like to focus on another danger – the threat frustrated liberals pose to the U.S. economy.

There is no question that President Bush led the conservatives of this nation to major victories on November 5, 2002. As Bill Bennett said, the election of 2002 amounted to a validation of President Bush and a repudiation of Clintonism. Most Democrats running for office kept Clinton as far away from their campaigns as possible. Almost every one who was desperate enough to accept his help lost their race.

It appears that Election 2000 is finally over. Bush won. Two years ago the liberals were saying, “In the next election we’ll show America that Bush didn’t win.” Obviously the American people have proved them wrong. 2002 was the first time in 100 years (and only the second time in American history) that a sitting president gained seats in BOTH HOUSES of Congress.

So the liberals are mad – fighting mad. The election results have stirred up a nest of hornets, and it’s not a pretty sight. As one sage put it, the Democrats are in their favorite mode – attack mode.

"But what can they do?" you might ask. "Conservatives now control both Houses of Congress." Unfortunately, there’s a lot the liberals can do, and they plan to use all the tools at their disposal. Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe gave us some insight into Party strategy on the day after the elections.

On the Fox News morning show, Brian Kilmeade asked McAuliffe, “What is your strategy now? If you use the same tactics in 2004, you’re going to get your tail kicked again.” McAuliffe replied, “Well, the Republicans are in control now. They’ve got to fix the economy. If they don’t, they won’t have the Daschle Democrats to blame.” Please notice that his answer did not include one word about the Democrats’ strategy – just a hint about how the attack will be made.

Fox’s Kilmeade followed up with, “So your strategy is to hope the economy gets worse.” McAuliffe quickly tried to cover for his slip, but it was clear from his embarrassment that Kilmeade had hit the nail on the head. Well, not quite.

Actually, Fox News, in their attempt to be “Fair and Balanced” didn’t push the slippery McAuliffe hard enough. The real truth is that his strategy will not be to HOPE the economy gets worse. He and his cronies are going to do all they can to HELP the economy get worse.

You see, they’re not satisfied just to blame Bush for Clinton’s economic mistakes. They know that economic decisions take years to cycle though the economy, and that nothing Bush could have done in the last two years could possibly have changed the effects of the eight years of tax-and-spend pork barrel politics we are now feeling. Now that they have lost control of the Senate, they are determined to see that the economy worsens so they can blame Bush for it in 2004.

Of course, had they been successful in maintaining control of the Senate and gaining control of the House, they would have switched courses to doing everything in their power to repair the Clinton-Gore economic damage. Then they could have claimed credit for a good economy and used that to gain an advantage in 2004. But with the recent conservatives victories, we can expect the politics of economic destruction to be the marching orders for liberals for the next two years.

They will attempt to characterize every attempt at economic reform as a sinister plot to:

1. Take food out of the mouths of children.
2. Hurt senior citizens.
3. Kill Social Security.
4. Help rich capitalists.
5. Kill whales (or spotted owls, or egrets, or some rare rodent).

They will twist facts, statistics and history (and anything else they deem twistable) to support their unsupportable positions. Most thinking Americans have long ago concluded that over-taxing the sources of income actually hurts the tax base (resulting is less tax revenue), and that increased government spending ends up hurting those it purports to help (welfare is a prime example of this). They are counting on you NOT being thinking Americans, so that they can convince you with their distortions.

They will use every backroom trick to keep positive legislation bottled up in committees. They will wheel and deal, threaten and coerce any legislator they believe will vote for a better economy. They will use the antiquated and ridiculous filibuster to delay votes. In short, they will use every dirty trick possible, for their very survival is at stake.

Conservatives have historically been far more civil than liberals. When liberals hold power, they wield it mercilessly. Witness the disastrous shortage of federal judges for the last two years due to the fact that the Democrats have refused to allow the Senate to vote on presidential nominees.

Now that conservatives have the power, let’s pray that they will use it to good advantage. Let’s pray that they will do the right thing for our economy and stop worrying about what the liberals will say about them. (No matter what they do, liberals will speak ill of them so they might as well have the courage to do the right thing.)

The American people know which policies are better for the economy. They vote their opinions in the swiftest poll known to man – the stock market. The potential effect of current events is shown instantly by the direction the stock market takes. Within seconds after the announcement of the tragic death of Senator Paul Wellstone, the stock market soared. Does that mean that buyers of stocks are heartless? No, it simply means that they recognized that the loss of Wellstone’s seat could mean that tax-and-spend legislation, which hurts the economy, would be hindered in the Senate.

Even more telling was the market’s reaction to the stunning Republican victories on November 5. The next morning the S&P 500 futures were up sharply even before the market opened, even though Alan Greenspan was scheduled to speak that day. (Normally the markets are down or flat before the Federal Reserve makes interest rate announcements, because no one knows for sure what they are going to say.) It should come as no surprise that people who know how politics (and politicians) affect the economy vote conservative.

When I was younger I didn’t vote because I didn’t feel there was any difference between the parties. In one way I was right. There are some tax-and-spend Republicans, just as there are some financially responsible Democrats. The real difference is not the party label – it is the politician’s voting record. The inescapable facts are that most liberals who vote for socialist policies find their home in the Democrat Party and most conservatives who vote for the economic and tax legislation of which our Founding Fathers would have approved are Republicans.

The liberals are on the warpath. America sees them for what they are, and has sent them a message. They only way they can hope to discredit the president and regain control is to hurt the economy. I’m sure they wish there was some other way – after all, they live here, too. But power is everything to these people, and they are willing sacrifice their economic well being (and yours) to regain power.