Election is an opportunity
The polls were just opening as of this writing, but absent a "Dewey Beats Truman" result, the odds are heavily in favor of both houses of Congress being controlled by Republicans when the next Congress convenes in January.
If the voters confound the polling groups, it will still mean a very, very narrow margin for the Democrats in the Senate and a House that will remain controlled by Republicans. A slimmer status quo but still a status quo.
If the polls are right, the GOP will hold a very, very narrow margin in the Senate and retain significant control of the House (in fact, because of the way districts are drawn, it's virtually guaranteed the Republicans will control the House until at least the 2020 census).
Assuming the GOP now controls both houses of Congress it will be a significant opportunity to show that they can govern. Over the last six years they've largely been accused to being obstructionist, of working to block legislation. Now is the chance to show they can pass legislation -- although they may face a certain role reversal issue with the now-minority Democrats capable of playing the same obstructionist games in the Senate as the Republicans did when they were just barely out of power. It depends on how much the Democrats are interested in payback rather than working to jointly develop policies and programs that will benefit the country, the sort of thing they'd been demanding the Republican do over the last six years. We're going to find out how much both sides were either serious, or just filled with rhetorical hot air.
And it will be interesting to see how many incumbents, overall, win re-election. The public has clearly indicated it is fed up with how the incumbents have handled governing the country, but if 90 percent or more are re-elected, it will functionally represent the popular definition of insanity (doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results).
This country has stalled. The new Congress, no matter who controls it, will have an opportunity to move the nation forward -- if the people we elected yesterday actually try to do so. That's what they promised. Now, let's hold them to that promise.
-- Kelly Everitt
- -- Posted by DUMBFOUNDED IN IDAHO on Wed, Nov 5, 2014, at 11:21 AM
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