Republicans: Sit Back and Enjoy the Ride

The Democrats in Washington and California want to raise taxes. The Democrats want to spend, spend, spend. The Democrats want to get more money and make more government. Fine. Let them. Sounds like a crazy scheme, perhaps. Junior Senator Rand Paul has floated the notion, along with The Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol, that since the country sent the slightly-left leaning message, then the Democrats can have their way.

If taxes are to be raised, raise them on the $1 million or more earners in this country. Then wait for comedians and Hollywood stars like Jon Lovitz and Clint Eastwood to raise Hollywood Holly Heck for having to pay more. Imagine the shake-up on the Left coast all the way to the North East.
I do not fear that the United States will find itself fighting the same catastrophe that is enveloping Greece. Parliamentary systems do not have the checks-and-balances which break government spending as the United States Constitution has provided. Two years from now, everyone gets to reassess where the country and their state are going. 2010 can reemerge in 2014.

US Senator Thomas Coburn (R-Oklahoma) has raised his voice on the most recent edition of "This Week With George Stephanopoulos". President Obama should be negotiating with the United States' foreign creditors, including China, since they may become so jittered by the stonewalling on debt and deficit reduction as to issue a massive sell-off, with Greek-like conditions exploding all over the country and the world. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan continues to paint the debt and spending problems as a matter of revenue. Coburn refused to play games, but it appears that Democrats are just waiting out their turn.

Republicans need to shake off the "hangover"of November 6, 2012. Unlike the reprobates from the eponymous film and sequel, Republican Party leaders do not have to ask themselves "Where did this hideous tattoo come from (a la Mike Tyson)?" The Republicans control thirty -- thirty! -- statehouses across the country. Kansas, Indiana, Texas, Wisconsin: they are cutting taxes, spending, and government out of the lives of their citizens. They are welcoming businesses that have looked for a solid place to plant and spread their wares. They will look good while Washington D.C. (and California) governance look bad.

California Republicans from the South Bay to the Valley our grousing. From their sparse discontent that "Henry (Waxman) the Evil Dwarf" won reelection, to their outrage that another four years of Obama is upon us, the sky looks dark, and the light of early morning remains remote. Such upset, such cynicism makes sense. For the first time in decades, one-party rule is roosting in Sacramento, and the GOP are outsiders just looking in.

If the Democrats in Sacramento want to sink the ship of state, then let them. Yes, I wrote that: "Let them". If state senators like Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) think it's a good idea to raise our car tax three times over, then let him float the idea, and help sink their own party's supermajority. Let them cobble together the rope on which they hang themselves. Hopefully, the centrists in this state will have enough presence of mind to hold them back. Torrance School Board member now Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi (D-Torrance) spent his way into office claiming not to be an "ideologue" or an extremist. How will he measure up after two years in the midst of union-backed and union-bought fellow Democrats who push the extreme views of tax, spend, regulate, frustrate? Even welfare programs and entitlements require cash, and unlike the federal government, Sacramento politicians cannot print the money.

Republicans, sit back and enjoy the ride. One-party rule is no party for the majority. Former Governor Gray Davis won reelection without much ado, then he was recalled without much panache. Another recall just might be in the works. Is there a California version of Chris Christie out there?
Governor Jerry Brown has run up against his own unruly party. He has to be the parent supervising the unruly children, and he has to clean up their messes and take the fall for their failures. Even the progressive Jean Quan of Oakland had to give up Occupy-Oakland solidarity as councilwoman and demand law-and-order as mayor. Let the liberals play by their own game. Like a religious fanatic who gives up confessing his sins when he succumbs to the reality that he is a sinful man, so too liberal voices in the state will have to evaluate the truth and consequences of policies which they had delineated and debated in the quiet atmosphere of back-rooms and faculty lounges.

Republicans in the minority, sit back and enjoy the ride. Be glad that the problems will not be your fault. The Dems may crash, but you can rest easy in the backseat with the seatbelt labeled "shut-out minority."