The political issues of the Republican vs. liberal Democrat political struggle continue to be debated. The political issues for the midterm elections of 2006 are discussed in detail. Issues for the 2008 presidential election are also discussed.
Although an important background political issue in all recent U.S. elections has been the conservatism vs. liberalism issue, the "hot button" political issues in the 2006 midterm elections and the 2008 presidential election, temporarily, at least, moved the background issue aside. Instead, the hot issues were:
Economic Recession. This is almost the only news now. American voters are hurting. The stock market crash has caused them to lose much of their savings and their loss of confidence has caused them to stop spending. So things get worse & worse. This has now become Obama's biggest challenge.
Iraq. Two years ago, this appeared to be the only issue as it had become evident that things in Iraq were not going well at all. However, in the past year, other issues have moved to the fore and have eclipsed Iraq as the major issue. But the U.S. failures in Iraq are still very important. It appears that, despite all former President Bush's assurances, we have not won a major victory in Iraq. (For more discussion on Iraq, see Iraq War & World War 2)
Afghanistan. This "won" war is becoming an issue again.. The Taliban is emerging as a strong force and Obama may be forced to negotiate with them. "W," why didn't you win this one for the gipper. It was an easy win early on. But no, you just had to get involved in Iraq. By the way, W, that laughter from the cave is from Osama Bin Laden.......he beat you after all.
Stem Cell Research. If there is one area that shows just how out of touch the conservatives are with the real world, it is in the area of stem cell research. Stem cell research offers the potential of cures for many of our major illnesses. The Republicans, however, have treated it almost as if it were another abortion issue. Prior to the midterm elections, the actor, Michael J. Fox, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, made a commercial supporting Democrats who have pushed for stem cell research. He was moving convulsively as he made the commercial. Rush Limbaugh, again, jumped up and accused Fox of either being off his meds or faking the movements. On a TV clip, he mocked Fox's movements. A sad day for moderate Republicans (if there are any such Republicans still around). Another big black star for the former Bush administration. Now, with the election of Obama, stem cell research is on the move again.
Torture. Probably, the worst item that work against the Republicans (outside the Deep South, anyway). Americans just don't torture or, rather, we didn't used to torture. Now, we are becoming the world experts at it. Can the country fall any lower? Both Bush and Cheney were guilty in this area and the Republicans get another black star by their name. Senator McCain, who spoke up against the torture practices and then capitulated, had to live with his actions as he ran for president. Senator McCain, I thought better of you! (This issue actually had little effect on McCain during the campaign. McCann had himself been tortured while in a North Vietnam prison camp. McCain lost the election for other reasons!)
Although, the above hot issues, along with numerous corruption issues, were the focus of the midterm elections, lets take a look, below, at the the normal conservative vs. liberalism issues that were mostly put aside for this midterm election. They will re-arise in future elections.
The division of party issues has become more distinct than usual since the capture of the Republican party by its most politically conservative elements. This capture of the party by conservatives prevented any move to the middle of the political spectrum by the Republican Party. These conservative people, egged on by Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, and others have a winner-take-all attitude.
Social issues such as religion, faith, family, and same-sex marriage were important to the conservatives in 2004, 2006 and 2008 will be important in future elections, though to a lesser extent. So were issues such as the Bush tax cuts. Budget deficits counted for little to the conservatives as Limbaugh and other conservative radio talk show hosts ridiculed the importance of budget deficits. Mounting trade deficits didn't even appear to be on their radar screens. The present severe recession gripping the nation didn't show up on the conservative screens either. Lets face it! The conservatives got caught with their pants down.
Illegal immigration got little notice by Republicans in the 2004 election and was not too important an issue in the 2008 presidential election. The economy collapse stole the show as far as issues go.
Abortion Issue. Conservatives always consider the issue of abortion important. If nothing else gets their attention, abortion issues will. The conservatives are almost unanimously against abortion.
It seems incredible to me that this issue was swept aside in the midterm elections of 2006. However, the stem cell research issue is somewhat related to abortion and it received quite a bit of publicity.
In the 2008 presidential election, neither issue seemed to get much attention. Attention was focused on the collapse of the economy. The George Bush recession trumped all.
In 2004, the liberal Democrats, with their black and other minorities elements, were insistent that attention be paid to the election issues of 2004 that matter the most to them: jobs, education, the environment, health care issues and the twin budget/trade deficit issues.
In the midterm elections of 2006, these pocketbook issues received less attention as the election discussion centered around the Iraq War and, to a lesser extent, the other issues listed above. As with the Republican social issues, the pocketbook issues are not dead - they are just resting for future elections.
The pocketbook issues came back strong in 2008 due to the deepening recession.
The number of political moderates in both the Democratic and Republican parties is declining rapidly so the voter is generally faced with choosing among the issues advanced by the extreme right wing conservatives and extreme left wing liberals of the respective Republican and Democratic parties. These extreme elements control the respective parties.
The voter often has only black and white election issues to base his vote on. Being a moderate, I don't like to see this scenario because I realize that all issues are not black and white but might also be composed of all shades of gray. However, the agendas of both parties are likely to be advanced with a "You are either with me, or you are against me!" attitude.
Such is the mood of the country at present. It is not a good mood as important issues are shoved aside to make way for ideological issues.
When will America return to its historic moderate political ways? Hopefully, the midterm elections in 2006 will mark the beginning of a trend in that direction. Quite a few Democratic moderates were elected. Unfortunately, some of the more moderate Republicans were defeated in the 2006 election and the trend continued in the election of 2008.
The terrorist attacks of 9/11 and our reaction to them have not been pleasant developments. Osama Bin Laden created great mischief for the American people with those 9/11 attacks. The highly questionable Iraq War, begun in 2003, is still being fought as a result.
Other American reactions to 9/11 include: Prisoners of war are held in camps outside the U.S. and denied prisoner of war status so that they can be denied legal rights normally available for such prisoners. Torture of terrorists suspects has become a routine topic of conversation and a surprising number (majority ?) of the American people agree with the use of torture by our government (too many Arnold Schwarzenegger movies?) The controversial Patriot Act was passed almost unanimously and is in full sway.
Some of our own American citizen civil rights have already been lost; others are threatened. Again, surprisingly few American citizens seem to even know about the loss of their rights or could care less. (Note: they didn't care in Germany either until the Night of the Long Knives and then it didn't matter whether they cared or not. They were Hitler's bitches after that horrific night. They even fell in line and voted for Hitler in Germany's last pre-war election.)
Do we have to give up a substantial portion of our freedoms to win the war on terrorism? Do we want to take the next step and become the bitches of the conservative fanatics? The voters should have debated these questions in the elections of 2004, 2006, and 2008 but there was little discussion.
This is another issue that will bite us on the butt in the near future.
Terrorism had American People Terrified. In summary of the effect of terrorism on the American people, it is obvious that the American people were, after 9/11, scared half to death, scared far more than is justified by the terrorist events, horrendous though they were. Conservative elements have played this angle to the hilt and, as a result, were able to rapidly advance their agenda. Rush Limbaugh must have been in a state of ecstasies as he determined on his popular radio talk show who was patriotic (Republicans and conservatives) and who was not patriotic (any non-conservative).
For a discussion of coming events in Iran, Syria, Venezuela, North Korea, and Taiwan, visit Next War . The next war may arrive soon and will likely be an oil-related war!
Under George Bush, our nation became increasingly mistrustful of the United Nations. Conversely, there was great resistance in the world to our seemingly heavy handed actions against Iraq. This resistance will no doubt grow if we move against the Iranians, North Koreans, and the Syrians as some right wingers have recommended.
With Obama as president, hopefully our relations with the United Nations will improve.
Our relations with most of Europe, particularly our oldest ally, France, deteriorated a great deal during the Bush administration. We had to pretty much go it alone except for Britain and a few small countries, some of whom were desperate for our money.
Of course, Rush Limbaugh is not unhappy with the present relations with Europe. He doesn't like Europe. As a matter of fact, who does Rush like?
Controlled Media Whores
To most of us, America has always been the home of free speech, a nation where all opinions could be heard, a nation where the mass media is not totally controlled by the government, by religious organizations, or by political groups.
Of course, we have all known that Rush Limbaugh and other right wing talk show hosts were strong conservative Republicans and don't tolerate liberal views on their programs. However, the extent to which these conservative talk shows, FOX News and other TV networks (ABC, for example), and many, if not most of the newspapers, are directly controlled by billionaires with a strong conservative Republican bias, was not known until recently. Even more of a shock to me is how many of the reporters could be compromised by the conservative billionaires for a monetary payoff. What a bunch of whores!
I am a Chemical Engineer by profession and have worked with many chemists and laboratory technicians who perform various laboratory tests on a myriad of items. Nothing, absolutely nothing, destroys the reputation of these chemists and technicians like being caught "penciling in" phony test results. When discovered penciling in results, the guilty individuals are severely punished and the word is "unofficially" spread around so the disgrace sticks to the individual. It is a cruel but effective means of controlling the quality of laboratory testing.
And yet, in the media industry, more and more of people supposedly reporting news are found to be reporting (penciling in) fake news, receiving a nice monetary reward in the form of new business, and then being rewarded with government contracts!
Folks, whatever happened to truth? Whatever happened to checks and balances?
The Bush administration had pretty well abandoned the big government approach to helping US citizens prior to Hurricane Katrina striking New Orleans. For example, at one time, the once proud agency, FEMA, had assisted Americans during many disasters and was well thought of. The Bush administration gutted the agency and put in a Bush crony, Michael Brown, to head the agency.
Then came Katrina and where was Brown. He obviously didn't know what was going on and was such an embarrassment, Bush had to fire him. Meantime, over 1,000 New Orleans citizens died.
Bush had some nice praise for Brown at a press conference the day before he unloaded him:
"Brownie, you are doing a heckofa job!"
The jaws of New Orleans spectators dropped when those words were spoken.
Well, so much for placing golfing and drinking buddies in high places.
One Last Thought on Issues. A lot has been written and debated on specific issues of the 2004 election. I have discussed these issues above, however, it should be noted that the 'underlying issue' in the election of 2004 and in the midterm elections of 2006 was, essentially, the conservatism vs. liberalism issue. The issue was much less important in the presidential election of 2008. However, the issue will not fade completely until one side or the other gives way. All other issues, are, to some extent a play on the conservatism vs. liberalism issue.
At this time, I see no compromising between the Republicans (conservatives) and the Democrats (liberals or progressives as they now like to be called) . The fight goes on!
1. US Politics, 2008. The Democrats won both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Will moderate politics reemerge as a result.
The midterm 2006 elections shaped up to be about a new set of issues from those discussed in 2004. Old political issues have only been temporarily shoved aside, however, and the conservatism vs. liberalism political issue is still the most important background political issue.
Updated: 06/09/10
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