Election Musings

Here's an excerpt from something I posted on November 3, 2004: "Even
though I am a Republican I am nervous that the Republicans control the
Oval Office and both houses of Congress. I almost voted for Kerry for
this very reason; for if he had won, he wouldn't have been able to get
anything through Congress, so the threat of the "liberal" taking
office and ushering "big government" back in was an empty one. With
Bush now in for another four years, I fear we'll have another four
years of pork being dished out to various special interests and signed
into law. I urge people on both sides of the aisle to help me monitor
our representatives to make sure this doesn't happen."

Oh well. So I'm kind of glad the D's have taken the House, especially
since it's mostly centrist D's. As long as the next two years aren't
taken up with investigations and posturing, the more balanced Congress
could possibly mean less pork and more fiscal conservatism. Or as my
even-more-right-leaning friend once said, "Split Congress = can't ram
anything through = nothing gets done = fiscal conservatives rejoice!"

One other post-election musing: I'm saddest about Rick Santorum
losing. Not only does he represent many of my political views, but I
think highly of him as an individual. Allow me to indulge in two
personal anecdotes. First, he's visited my former workplace a number
of times, most recently with then-Secretary of Treasury John Snow to
announce tax credits for Pennsylvania, where he spoke earnestly and
intelligently about the use of the tax code to stimulate private
sector initiative.

Second, about six years ago, I decided I ought to write to my elected
officials on a regular basis because that's what good citizens do. So
I got the addresses of my two senators (Santorum and Specter) and my
congressman (Fattah) and, on a quarterly basis, wrote to them about
issues important to me, like public education and world hunger and
mental health. Senator Santorum's office was consistently the first
to get back to me with a response, and not just a short "thanks for
caring" note, but a detailed letter with information about what he was
working on. I always appreciated that.

Time will tell what the 2006 elections mean for America and the world.
For now, those are my two thoughts.