So, let me see if I understand this correctly; and remember, I am an independent and vote for whoever I think is the best person for the job.
The Republicans told me back in the mid 1990s that they wanted to make a contract with America and put this country on the right road to success. Never mind that there was a multi-billion dollar national surplus, the economy was flying high, the world was at peace, everybody was making a ton of money, property values were soaring and we were all thinking that we were going to be able to retire without any worries and our kids would go to college and graduate and get great jobs and everything would be hunky dory.
And so, in our infinite wisdom, we the voters of this country in the 1999 election, bought into the “contract with America” and decided that George Bush was the better man for the presidency, that he would do a better job than Al Gore in continuing this life of honey and roses, and we already had elected the Republicans to majorities in the U.S. House and Senate.
And then what happened? After eight years as President, George Bush left office and the nation was in tatters; the country was fighting two wars, the economy was in shambles, unemployment was soaring, property values had plummeted, nobody had any money, our kids were dropping out of school to help pay off our credit card debt, and nobody had any idea about what to do.
And then we elected a Democrat to be President and returned that party to control in both the Senate and the House. And after two years, the economy seems to be slowing its headlong rush into calamity, unemployment has begun to show improvement, there are signs that the economy is improving and life in the good old US of A does seem as if it will survive, after all.
Yet, there are clamors from some who incessantly call for the reelection of the Republicans to control our Senate and House. They say the Democrats have done such a bad job over the last two years that it is imperative that we restore Republican control and they are campaigning on a new platform, a Pledge to America.
I say, balderdash. Please! Why would we want to return control of our government to the party that instituted the policies that got us into this situation to begin with? Let’s give Mr. Obama the time we promised him two years ago and allow him to try and resurrect this economy and this nation, as he said he would try to do.
Yes, I know that the “Hope and Change” slogan he campaigned on has not been as forthcoming as we all had wanted, but a lot of progress has been made. And I, for one, think we have moved ahead enough to allow the Democrats at least two more years in power to see if what they have begun will bear fruit.
What the hay! It can’t be any worse than what the Republicans and George Bush gave us in the previous eight years.
Ron Beasley is the executive editor of the Pinecrest Tribune. The opinions he expresses are his own and not necessarily those of the publishers of this newspaper.
