The Ghost of Daschle and the Demons of Newt

What were you worrying about ten years ago? Think back to what your problems were. For me, they had a lot to do with math. I was in Mr. Hughes' homeroom class, and though grades weren't a huge priority yet, it was pretty obvious that I was sucking it up when it came to basic algebra. Girls were barely even on the horizon (which was what happened when you went to an all-boy's middle school.) When you weren't even old enough to see an R-rated movie without your parents, the political realities of the world you lived in weren't very, well...real.

But ten years ago, something very bad was happening for Democrats across the country. The Democratic President was mired down in Watergate and Troopergate. The Republican minority had engineered a furious and resounding defeat of the Clinton health care plan. And the election of 1994 had been the worst defeat for the Democrats in 40 years. All this helped to propel a white-haired guy from Atlanta with a funny name to the forefront of American politics. The Gingrich Revolution was on, the Contract With America was rapidly being enforced, and things looked supremely bad.

(A side comment about that chart-topping masterpiece of conservative crap. The titles are amazing. The "National Security Restoration Act" actually helped piss off our allies, and the "Senior Citizen Fairness Act" did great things for forcing the elderly to work until age 70. Whoever came up these deceptive and disingenous nicknames is clearly still employed by the Republican Party, however. "No Child Left Behind," anyone?)

The situation is not the same as it is right now- it's clearly worse. We elected a Democratic President in 1992, and in 2004 we have a President who wasn't even democratically elected (at least the first time around.) But the wild-eyed Republican determination to mold the country in their image (even though this image in 2004 is far more terrifying than that of a decade ago) is the same. And that's a blessing in disguise.

Oklahoma elected a Senator who supports the death penalty for doctors who perform abortions and decried "rampant lesbianism" in public schools. South Carolina's new Senator doesn't think that homosexuals or unmarried pregnant women should be allowed to teach. And President-re-elect Bush (who, among a myriad of other reasons I hate him, wants to cripple and eventually destroy stem-cell research) has stated as of today that he has accumulated "political capital," and "intends to use it."

Of course he does, and of course they do. Every political party that gallops into the majority and promotes a reactionary agenda, will implode. Newt Gingrich and the Contract With America had their day, culminating in the glory days of 1995, where a bunch of conservatives shut down the government just because they could. And because that Clinton dude pissed them off. Within a year, Newt Gingrich had become symbolic of the same stagnant political system he had galloped into Washington to supposedly defeat. 60% of Americans had a negative impression of the Speaker. The Republican cheese, hand-delivered to the American kitchen by Newt, had gone decidedly stinky.

The unpleasant and depressing victory of the Republican Party in 2004 no more represents a sea change in American values than it did in 1994, or, for that matter, 1982. Democratic Speaker Tip O'Neill, a massive figure (in every sense) who I miss terribly in this age of revolving-door Congressional Democratic leadership, was disgusted with the tax plans and social security cuts proposed by the popular Republican President. And though he theoretically had a majority, conservative Democrats split the party vote and left O'Neill in the minority. But instead of wasting political capital, O'Neill, a crafty Irish politician of the old school, simply smiled at his lieutenants and said, "Give him rope." And he did- just enough rope to let Reagan craft the epic disaster we call Reaganomics.

Our government is currently controlled by the most reactionary, fundamentalist administration in history. And, by their own account, they are hell-bent on imposing their agenda on the rest of the country- just like ten years ago. We should realize that this administration is tearing down a path which was cleared by Gingrich, a path which leads them straight over the same cliff. We can acknowledge that we have been forced to retreat, but we must never consider surrender. We should not give them the opportunity to make us backpedal on the liberal principles which are going to move this country forward. In fact, we should give them only one thing.

Rope.