Dems in Congress: We Warned You About This

Now that the Democrats have a tenuous hold over Congress, they have begun to already stretch their legs and spout their frightening plans for the future. I say frightening not because I am going to lash out and attack the opposing party--unfounded negativity and opposition never solved anything. I say frightening because of the various pieces of legislation that I hear them talking about.

Firstly, they aim to raise the minimum wage and, unfortunately, they seem to have the President's support on the issue. I have written time and time again about the dangers of raising the minimum wage without protection for small businesses, as have most Republicans, however it doesn't look like these protections will be included in any new bill. I also firmly believe that the minimum wage is something that should be decided on a state-by-state basis, because some states with a higher cost of living may need to have a different min. wage than one with a relatively low cost of living or small population. However, the Democrats in Congress, specifically the House of Representatives, aim to raise the bar nationally, with little protections for small businesses. President Bush, doing everything he can to "get along" with the Dems may just let them have it-- further angering the conservative base.

Okay, raising the minimum wage isn't the worst thing in the world... but raising taxes is close. Yet the Democrats are now talking about the pay-as-you-go system that they used to employ; with the philosophy of no new programs without new taxes. This means that they will try to repeal the Bush tax cuts that have boosted the economy ever since 9/11. They seek to punish people making over $500,000 a year (i.e. punish the successful), the very people that own businesses and push the economy along. So you tax the business owners and the economy will slow, less people will get hired, and we'll have more government programs. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

And then there is talks of re-instituting the draft. I find it rather strange that the only time you hear about a draft is when Democrats are in control. If you look back through the 20th Century, you will find that no Republican has instituted a draft. They have talked about it, or reformed the draft standards, but it is always a Democrat who wants to enable conscription to raise troop levels. In the current instance, you can find most of the draft-talk coming from New York Rep. Charlie Rangel. He has issued bills in the past calling for a draft, and has voted against them when they have come to the table. The current talk about drafts are mainly aimed at making President Bush look bad--strengthening the anti-war movement and demonizing our President further. Thankfully, I believe President Bush when he says that there won't be a draft... I just feel terrible having to reassure my aunt every time I see here that I won't be drafted.

While the Republicans are hopefully taking this time to reform their party and return to their conservative roots, I can only sit and guffaw at the power-statements being made by Speaker Pelosi. Her muscle flexing at the podium, and her image-makeover as a Italian-Catholic Grandmother (instead of a radical-liberal California politician), shows that she is ready to get what she wants at whatever the cost of the country. Her statements that she is the "most powerful woman in the nation" are off-putting--not to mention that you would never hear former Republican Speaker of the House Denny Hastert say that. If you intend on "healing" American and working with the folks across the aisle, you can't go around saying that you're the new Queen of the House. While some will say that President Bush has acted similarly... he's never come out and said a statement quite like that one.

With the new Congress already taking a short work week, after pledging to go five days every week, I'm interested to see how their other plans pan out. I just hope that President Bush is ready to stand up for what he believes in, and use that veto power a little more than he did with the last Congress.