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Wednesday, November 3, 2010

It’s Only the Beginning

“If it be asked, what is the most sacred duty and the greatest source of our security in a Republic? The answer would be, an inviolable respect for the Constitution and Laws—the first growing out of the last... A sacred respect for the constitutional law is the vital principle, the sustaining energy of a free government.” — Alexander Hamilton

The election isn’t quite over yet. The pundits will have millions of words in the next few weeks as the final results come in and the Senate and House are fixed. However, several things are clear to me.

This election was repudiation of the Obama administration. As Carl Rove pointed out last night on Fox, when challenged by Juan Williams that this was repudiation of the entire Congress, that only two Republicans lost their House seats while some 55-60 Democrats lost theirs. As Rove said if this was repudiation of the entire Congress it was a strange way to show it.

I believe Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia Center of Politics, summed it up best when he said that this was the biggest wave of change in the House since the 1946 elections. It was not only the House that changed, but there will be some 37 Republican governors seated in state house across the nation. He also cited that six or seven state legislatures will change from blue to red. This is quite a change no matter what the spin the partisan pundits attempt to put on the results. This change will affect the redistricting of several states and the Republican governors will control the next presidential election. The Senate, while an important deliberative body does not have the power the House and Governors have. The House holds the nations purse strings and the governors control state party apparatuses, something that will dictate the next presidential election.

Right now the senate races in Alaska, Washington and Colorado have not been called by the media so I do not know the final outcome of the senate. It could be end up 49 and 49 with two independents who caucus with the Democrats. At worse it would end up 51 Democrats, 47 Republicans and 2 independents. This would be a pick up 6-8 senate seats for the Republicans. As of 23:29 hrs Buck (R) leads Bennet in Colorado 48-7 and 6,000 votes. Murray leads Rossi by 14,000 votes (50/50) and Alaska has the write-in candidate leading.

No matter what the final outcome in the Senate is the Democrats do not have filibuster proof majority and the Republicans can stop most of Obama’s proposals for the next two years. They will also be able to stop any Appellate or Supreme Court nominees.

With the House controlling the purse strings we should be able to extend the Bush tax cuts, which will help create jobs, reduce the size of government, cut spending and do something to stop Obamacare.

You will hear many calls, especially from the left, for bipartisanship. This has never been a bipartisan nation. The loser of an election always calls on the other side for bipartisan cooperation. Our founding fathers did not want a bipartisan government as it would result in a tyranny by the legislature and executive. You will hear calls for “getting things done”, but I think the only thing the American people want is to reverse some of things that have been done. In Governor-elect Brown’s discombobulated acceptance speech, where when referring to the returns not being in yet  he claimed it was "close enough for government work", he rambled on about all the things his vision of government could do for us. Everything he proposed will cost the money, money the State of California does not have. When he says he wants Republicans and Democrats to work together what he really means is he wants Republicans to succumb to his vision, something I pray they will not do.

In two years there will be another election and if the Republicans can walk to walk and cut spending and allow for a better business climate to create jobs they will be reelected. What Californians need to do is begin to change the complexion of the state legislature for blue to red. In light of the passage of proposition 20 (62-37) the redistricting of California will be done by a citizens committee. No one really knows what this effect will have on 2012, but Governor Moonbeam will have a tougher time setting the district boundaries he wants.

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