Mountain Views News          Saturday, November 6, 2010

11

LEFT TURN/RIGHT TURN

 MountainViews-News Saturday, November 6, 2010 

This just in: 
Republicans 
take control 
of the 
House while 
Democrats 
lose seats but 
maintain a 
majority in 
the Senate. And every time 
you turn on TV, some pundit 
will say it's how he knew it was 
going to turn out all along - 
that and the Giants taking the 
Series in five.

They also tell us what went 
wrong with the Democrats. 
The Obama Administration 
tried to do too much, needs to 
come back to the center and 
work with Republicans more. 
Or, it needs to stop bending 
over for those who'll just say 
"no" anyway, and get back to the 
bold, progressive agenda that 
fired up all those supporters in 
2008 who stayed home in 2010. 
(As Harry Truman put it, “If 
you give the people a choice 
between a watered-down 
Republican and a Republican, 
they will choose the real thing 
every time.”)

 Columnists will offer lessons 
learned, and the media will 
treat the 2012 elections as 
the only news story worthy 
of attention for the next 24 
months. I won't go that far, but 
do have my own observations:

 If a personal reassurance in a 
TV ad is needed to let voters 
know you're not a witch, then 
your campaign is in trouble.

 Unless taken on a movie set, 
there really is no mitigating 
explanation for being 
photographed in a Nazi 
uniform.

It's hard for the arrogantly 
wealthy (Senate candidate 
John Raese of West Virginia, 
Gubernatorial candidate Carl 
Paladino of New York) to be 
accepted as just-plain-folks 
tea-partiers.

Journalists are unlikely to give 
great coverage to a candidate 
who, like Senate hopeful 
Sharron Angle of Nevada, says 
she'll answer their questions, 
but only after she's elected.

 When our new State 
Assemblyman, Tim Donnelly, 
is quoted in the Pasadena Star 
News as saying he's going to 
Sacramento to "reach across the 
aisles to the enemies of freedom 
and annihilate them and 
pound them into the ground 
and take back our power", 
it's understandable to doubt 
whether we elected a grown-up.

Something is amiss when a 
protector of individual rights 
such as Sen. Russ Feingold (D-
WI), whether against corporate 
bankrolling of elections or 
threats to civil liberties in the 
Patriot Act, is defeated by one 
who describes health care 
reform as "the greatest single 
assault on freedom" in his 
lifetime.

Incumbency is a definite 
advantage, as in the 28th 
State Senate District where 
the incumbent won with a 
comfortable 58% of the vote 
despite having died the month 
before.

 Looking at Democratic 
caucuses, 77 of the 80 
members of the Congressional 
Progressive Caucus won re-
election. Only 26 of the 54 
conservative Blue Dogs did.

Another observation is that, 
when looking towards the 
future, it's nice to hear from 
Jimmy Carter. Speaking with 
Bill Maher on HBO's "Real 
Time" before the election, he 
explained, "Obama and the 
country might even be better 
off over the next two years. The 
Republicans will have at least 
one entity of government, the 
U.S. House of Representatives, 
for which they'll be responsible 
to the American people. So, they 
can't be as totally irresponsible 
the next two years as they have 
been the previous two years 
. . . (President Obama) might 
very well find a new element 
of freedom after the election is 
over, when he'll have the ability 
to put forward a proposal that's 
well-considered and wise, and 
when the Republicans vote it 
down, go directly to the people 
with his principles and say, 
'Will you choose between me 
or the ill-advised members of 
the House of Representatives, 
who are under Republican 
leadership?'"

Republicans, especially 
Minority Leader Sen. Mitch 
McConnell (KY) and the 
presumptive new House 
Speaker, Rep. John Boehner 
(OH), have made clear their 
primary goal is to assure the 
defeat of President Obama in 
2012. The best chance they 
have to achieve it is in seeing 
that unemployment remains 
high, recovery is stalled, and 
the Obama Administration 
is denied any legislative 
accomplishment. In the 
meantime, they'll be working to 
dutifully serve their corporate 
benefactors, whether from Wall 
Street or the boardrooms of BP 
and Exxon Mobil, to keep their 
campaign coffers filled with 
non-disclosed cash.

 A couple things might interfere 
with their plans, however. 
One is the intensifying battle 
between "establishment" 
Republicans and the Tea Party. 
GOP stalwarts in Washington 
are well aware that were it not 
for certain Tea Party victories 
over establishment candidates 
in the primaries, Republicans 
would undoubtedly have 
captured the Senate, as well 
as the House, on election day. 
Tea Party activists are already 
preparing their hit-list for 2012 
- of incumbent Republicans. 
Characters like Sarah Palin 
accuse Republicans who 
suggest modifying health care 
reform rather than trashing the 
whole thing altogether as being 
collaborators with the enemy 
and traitors to the cause. 

Another is Republicans' 
predictable habit of ultimately 
embarrassing themselves. 
On his show last week, after 
explaining to the tea-partiers 
that their problem is in simply 
being "too easily manipulated", 
Bill Maher harkened back to a 
time in the not-too-distant-past 
when another new Democratic 
president saw a Republican 
majority take control of 
Congress in the mid-terms. 
On the screen behind him 
appeared that familiar portrait 
of Monica Lewinsky. At a time 
of significant challenges both 
at home and abroad, Maher 
explained, one of the most 
powerful, distinguished, and 
vital legislative bodies in the 
world "spent the next two years 
investigating a (slang term for 
certain sexual act)".

 It didn't take long for the 
American people to catch on, 
especially when then-House 
Speaker Newt Gingrich in 1995 
thought it was a bright idea to 
shut down the government. 
It's a lesson many Republicans 
seem to have forgotten.

 One of the most significant 
results of the balloting here in 
California will be re-drawn 
maps of state legislative and 
Congressional districts. 
It should make for some 
interesting contests in 2012. I 
expect to be receiving my first 
robo-calls on behalf of the 
candidates any day now. 

HOWARD Hays 

As I See It

GREG Welborn

2010 THE MANDATE

 
The 2010 mid-term elections 
were nothing short of epic, 
clearly establishing a mandate 
for the victorious Republicans. 
But understanding the nature 
of the mandate is harder than 
recognizing the voters have 
given you one. Republicans 
gained 60 seats in the house, 6 
seats in the Senate, 8 additional 
governorships and at least 510 
seats in state legislatures across 
the country. Republican gains 
in the House were the largest 
in 70 years. 50 incumbent 
Democratic congressmen lost, 
among them 22 freshman 
specifically recruited in 2008 
and 9 senior leaders. It is tough 
to find words to describe it, 
although “a shellacking”, as 
President Obama observed, is 
probably a good start.

 But is this a mandate 
for Republicans to be 
obstructionists - to stand in the 
way of everything just for the 
sake of saying “no”? Clearly 
that was not the message. The 
mandate given Republicans 
was to bring about real change 
and to include any and all 
Democrats who are willing to 
go along with that. They have 
a mandate to stand on principle 
and openly embrace anyone 
who will joint them in this.

 Remember, President 
Obama came into office largely 
on his promise to change the 
way Washington did business. 
Everyone heard that and 
thought he meant what they 
meant. Change still is what 
Americans want, it’s just a 
different change than Obama 
had in mind, and this gets to 
the heart and soul of the 2010 
mandate. Interestingly, it was 
the same as the 2008 mandate. 
The conventional wisdom 
then and now is that spending 
should be brought under 
control. Bush overspent, and 
Obama double downed. Both 
received the same message 
from voters.

 But spending is only the tip 
of the iceberg. What the voters 
understand pretty clearly at this 
point is that spending is simply 
the basis of Washington’s 
power. Politicians take money 
from us and then they decide 
how it is to be returned into 
the economy. Controlling the 
spending sustains politicians, 
bureaucrats, and regulators. 
It’s what gives them their 
power. Lobbyists flock to 
D.C. because they either seek 
to channel the money toward 
their causes or prevent it from 
leaving their causes. Money is 
just the mechanism that is used, 
but it is the exercise of power by 
an elite few over the rest of us 
citizens that is the crucial issue.

 Returning power to the 
people is the heart of the Tea 
Party message. Americans 
want to substantively alter the 
power structure in Washington 
D.C. No longer do they want 
D.C. to be the most important 
city in the U.S. What happens 
in D.C. should remain 
important, but it should 
not be the most important 
or even the most dominant 
locus of events. America 
works best and its citizens are 
most content when the most 
important activity is what’s 
happening outside Washington 
– when it is what’s being done 
by average Americans in their 
own pursuits of happiness, 
unfettered by strangling rules, 
regulations and burdens 
emanating from self-righteous, 
self absorbed elites.

 Get the government out 
of the way, let the American 
people do what they want in 
their own spheres of freedom, 
using their own hard work and 
ingenuity, and there is no limit 
to what we can achieve. This 
is the mandate Republicans 
received in the 2010 election. 
Sadly, it was also the mandate 
given to Barack Obama and the 
Democrats in 2008. The voters 
took the reins of government 
from Republicans, who didn’t 
get it, and gave it to Democrats, 
who they thought got it. But 
the last two years have clearly 
showed America that liberal 
Democrats didn’t have a clue 
– or perhaps they did, but they 
just lied about it. 

 For proof we need only 
point to the two major 
legislative accomplishments of 
the last 2 years. You cannot 
possible understand what 
really makes America great 
when you pass 2,000+ pages of 
broadly worded law regulating 
healthcare, which you haven’t 
even read and which must then 
be “interpreted” by a body of 
unelected regulators. You 
cannot possibly understand 
what really makes America 
great when you pass another 
2,000+ pages of broadly worded 
financial regulations, which 
will bore so deep into the fabric 
of our economy as to regulate 
whether one business can allow 
another business 30 days to pay 
for what it buys.

 The 2010 mandate rests 
lightly on Republican 
shoulders. They don’t own it 
yet; Americans are putting 
them back, but putting them 
back on probation. Americans 
realize that Democrats still 
control the Senate, that Obama 
is still President, and that he 
can veto anything he wants. 
Americans aren’t expecting 
miracles. They are expecting 
Republicans to stand on the 
principles they articulated 
and make the sincere effort to 
return power from D.C. back to 
main street.

 Here are a few things 
Republicans should consider 
doing. As 
promised on 
the campaign 
trail, 
spending 
should be 
returned to 
the 2008 base 
line level. 
The Bush 
tax cuts should be extended 
for everyone, especially for the 
upper end where lower taxes 
translate directly into new 
investment of capital which 
translates into jobs!! Earmarks 
should be ended, bills should be 
shorter and read before passage. 
Bailouts should be ended, and 
as the money comes back, it 
should be used to reduce the 
deficit, not just spent again. 
Obamacare, which promises to 
disrupt the private relationship 
between doctor and patient and 
which promises to bankrupt 
this nation, should be repealed 
and replaced with something 
that works. These are just the 
first thoughts. There’s plenty 
to be done to return power to 
where it rightfully belongs.

 The pundits say that President 
Obama will simply turn from 
the legislative to the regulatory 
arena to push forward his 
agenda of further concentrating 
power in D.C. Perhaps they 
are right. But the revolution 
didn’t end with the November 
election; it just got started. 
If Republicans take up the 
mandate, rise to the occasion 
and are stymied along the way, 
they can still educate and shine 
the light of day on the darkness. 
Summoning Administration 
officials and regulators before 
Congress to explain just what 
they’re doing to implement 
Obamacare, financial market 
reform, carbon taxing and a 
host of other intrusive actions 
will be quite sufficient to 
keep Americans engaged and 
committed to reclaiming the 
freedoms they’ve lost to the last 
several congresses.

 Republicans have an historic 
opportunity to demonstrate 
for this generation and those 
which follow that they are 
the true protectors of the 
people’s rights and freedoms, 
that they understand where 
America’s true strength resides 
and that they have heard the 
people’s will. Let us hope they 
understand their mandate so 
that we do not have to teach 
them again.

 About the author: Gregory 
J. Welborn is a freelance writer 
and has spoken to several civic 
and religious organizations on 
cultural and moral issues. He 
lives in the Los Angeles area 
with his wife and 3 children and 
is active in the community. He 
can be reached at gregwelborn@
earthlink.net.

SUSAN Henderson

What Americans Are They 
Talking About? 

 
Who in the 
devil ... I shall 
restrain myself as this is a 
family newspaper, but … 
just who in the devil are 
the Republicans talking 
about when they say 
“America has spoken?” 
Don’t lump the segment 
of the population that 
elected you to office with 
the rest of the American 
public, and don’t even think about trying 
to eradicate those who did not vote for you. 
You were not given such power.

 First of all, let’s be clear, you didn’t 
accomplish anything that significant 
with the gains you made in the House of 
Representatives. Americans are not as 
stupid as you think. History has taught 
us that for the most part, Americans are 
more comfortable when the party that has 
the majority in the House is different than 
the party that is in the White House. (See 
Chart Above)

 Secondly, despite your gains, you do not 
represent the majority of the American 
population. Graphics depicting “red states” 
and “blue states” are deceptive and do not 
give a fair picture of that state’s political 
leanings. Those colors just indicate which 
party had the most votes in a particular 
election. It by no means indicates that 
everyone in the entire state thinks that 
way. If you have 100 people and 51 think 
one way, do the other 49 no longer exist? I 
think not.

 Perhaps looking at some real numbers 
might bring that haughty attitude down a 
little:

 So, regardless 
of party 
affiliation, in 
2008 a few more 
than half of 
the voting-age 
eligible people 
in the United 
States even 
participated in 
the process. 

 Those figures 
are for the 
Presidential 
election.

 The numbers 
are considerably 
lower in a mid-
term election. 
It would seem 
to me that truly 
committed 
‘leaders’ who 
are elected to 
office should be 
dismayed that 
so few people 
sent you to 
Washington. 

 But now 
that you are 
there, don’t try 
to project more power than you have, 
and don’t disrespect our President. You 
are there as part of a team …. yes, the 
concept is that both Houses would work 
TOGETHER and do what is best for the 
country, not walk in the door speaking as 
though you had a personal invitation from 
God. 

 So stop the gloating and get to work. Do 
your part in helping the President continue 
the progress he has made in the last two 
years digging us out of the mess that it took 
your President 8 years to create.

 And remember – America is much more 
than the sum total of the number of people 
who cast a vote in your favor!

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Dear Editor:

 No doubt many of the editorial staff 
and columnists of the Mountain Views 
News are not pleased with the Republican 
victories on Tuesday and a map of the 
country that is 80% or more red (that 
red even stretches across the majority of 
California).

 Before they spend too much time 
speculating on the causation, observers 
should make sure they are listening to 
what these red counties are saying. The 
messages are not hard to find or grasp.

- Despite all the financial stress of 
the Great Recession, they want less 
government, not more.

- They don't like the fact that a trillion is 
now the new billion.

- They believe the country is exceptional 
and good, not flawed and in need of 
public penance.

- They know that in this country a 
worker can become a business owner.

- They know a poor man can't give 
another man a job.

- They know what it is like to make 
payroll.

- They can't fathom that the 16,000 new 
jobs created by Obamacare are IRS 
agents instead of expanded ranks of 
family doctors.

- They find it hard to believe the clamor 
for more money for education, when 
even as enrollment is declining, LA 
recently spent a half billion dollars each 
on two new schools.

- They know that ninety percent of trial 
lawyers make the other ten percent look 
bad.

- They know that a battlefield is not a 
CSI crime scene, and reject the idea of 
the butchers of Gitmo having access 
to an ACLU lawyer and the American 
court system's premise of reasonable 
doubt.

- They are irritated with judges who 
routinely cancel the will of the people 
and legislate from the bench what 
cannot be achieved at the ballot box.

- They know that federal income tax, 

alternative minimum tax, state, 
property, special assessments, social 
security, state disability, medicare, 
gasoline, sales, etc... can consume every 
dollar they make all the way up to July 
of each year. 

- They know the private sector pays 
the present and future bills of public 
employees who make more than they 
do for the same job, have retirement 
plans guaranteed by the state, and 
possess deep job security in the form of 
tenure or union contracts.

- They don't make excuses for evil, 
failure, or the fact that life is not fair.

- They recognize the difference between 
redistribution of wealth and private 
ownership.

- They know the difference between a 
producer and taker.

 No doubt one should not expect that the 
intellectually superior will break away 
from their default assignment of blame for 
these losses to the puppet masters of talk 
radio, ruthless captains of industry, or 
the ignorance of a simple people. It is too 
hard for the media or tenured professors 
to grasp that the majority views from 
these red counties are genuine, home 
grown, and grounded in the Jeffersonian 
tradition of keeping government (not the 
people) in check.

 For those of you who are not a tenured 
professor, citizen of the world, Hollywood 
star, urban consumer, or editorial pundit, 
the choice is simple - would you rather 
stand with the belief systems of the best 
and brightest of the Ivey League or with 
the Small Town America of the red 
counties who feed us, still make things, 
and do most of the dying (per capita) in 
our wars on terror? 

 Val Usle, Sierra Madre 

 American Population as of 2008: 301,237,703 million

 Voting Age Population 2008: 227,431,128 million

 Registered Voters in 2008: 146,311,000 million

 Actual Voters in 2008: 131,144,000 million 


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