OK Democrats, now what?

By FRANK MIELE

The Daily Inter Lake

People who don't know me may assume I have always been a conservative, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Indeed, I'm pretty sure I'm not a conservative even today - at least not in the sense most people use the term.

Rather, I'd cautiously classify myself as a pragmatic optimist. I usually look for the best possible outcome of any occurrence, including elections, but don't necessarily expect to see it.

Thus, while I personally would have preferred a Republican victory in the recent congressional elections, I am entirely ready to be proven wrong by the Democrats taking action to save our country from the train wreck that is in progress.

Let's face it, the Republican Congress had a dismal record of inaction, corruption, and overspending. It's hard to see how the Democrats could do much worse.

I guess that is a kind of optimism, but on the other hand I have no reason to expect real solutions to real problems anytime soon. Suppose that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid accomplish some of what they wish to do - increase the minimum wage, decrease deficit spending, improve health-care coverage, even force the president to get our troops out of Iraq. Should that all happen, we would still be the same country, facing the same dilemmas, ignoring the same crises as during the era of the soon to be departed Republican Congress.

It is those crises which concern me - the crisis of declining morality, the crisis of immigration, the crisis of a jihad declared against us by Islamic fascists - and it does not matter to me which political party puts aside expediency and picks up a sword to solve them. The fact of the matter is that our leadership is the only thing between us and total chaos, and if I have to root for the Democrats to come to their senses and save our country, then I will do so, just as I have rooted for President Bush, even though he has proven himself to be a flawed president.

Did I call myself a pragmatic optimist? Maybe I should change that to prayerful pessimist. I do pray for our country to come to its senses, or for a strong leader to arise who may get us back on track, but the evidence of the past 50 years is that some prayers are not answered, and I would hope we could get a bipartisan AMEN! from the back rows on that one.

Indeed, in a way, I suspect we are better off to have a Democratic Congress in place for a few years, so that the Democratic Party can take part of the blame for the problems the country faces. There's no reason why anyone should think these are Republican problems. Instead, they are problems that have occurred over the past 50 years, as presidents both Republican and Democrat, have dithered.

But some politicians, at least, think they can win and keep power by blaming their opponents for all that is wrong in our country. Lord knows, Rep. Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. John Murtha have loved to call President Bush names for the past six years, but now they will have to take responsibility for their own actions - or inaction - as the United States of America collapses into a second-rate power.

Am I too pessimistic? I hope the Democrats prove me wrong. Maybe they can stave off the coming collapse with a well-placed tax-raise here or another government program there. Maybe they can do it by preventing any public acknowledgement of God in the town square.

I'm sure they have a plan.

Otherwise, our children's children will one day be kneeling toward Mecca five times a day and making their goodwill offering in Mexican pesos.