VOTING WITH THEIR POCKET BOOKS

Why was there a Republican wave this last Tuesday (November 4, 2014) when ALL the economic news is good.  Why didn't the Republicans face a penalty for doing nothing, for shutting down the government, for not enacting background checks for guns when more than 80% of those polled wanted it, for not raising the minimum wage when more than 50% of those polled were for it, for the House's failure to vote on the Senate immigration reform bill that passed the Senate with 68 votes, eight more than needed.  In view of slow employment increase, why was there no infrastructure bill?  Why was there no penalty for the Republicans doing nothing?

The problem is that the employment numbers , in spite of the large increases, are only back to where they were when President Obama took office, and the steep decline in the numbers of jobs started before he took office but continued for some months after he took office.  And wage increases are not only not keeping up with inflation, but household income has actually dropped.  In states with better economies, like North Carolina, the Democratic Senators only lost narrowly, but in states where the economic recovery was poor, like Arkansas, Democrats did poorly.

And then, white male Democrats do not seem to turn out for mid-term elections for reasons not known by me.  Blacks and Hispanics did come out and Democratic women did come out for Democratic politicians if not in the percentages as they do in presidential elections.  Would Democratic candidates have done even more poorly if they had come out for the advances in medical care and lowering of medical inflation?  Would they have done more poorly if they had strongly noted the increase in the economy and job recovery even if there is a long way to go yet?

Well, there seems to be some optimism that now that Republicans control both houses of congress, we will see more bills passed, something on immigration, for example.  But the Senate bipartisan immigration bill was never voted on in the House and thoughts are that it would have passed with sufficient Republican votes if a vote was allowed.  It is expected that the Keystone XL pipeline will now pass (as I believe it should), and I would expect our Center Right President to sign it.  Not mentioned is drilling in ANWR (Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge) as I think should occur under some stringent conditions.  We don't really know if there is even any economic amounts of oil there.  How much of the religious agenda of the religious Republican Party will be pursued?  The Republican party has become such a religious party that I even wonder if it is even a legal party.  And will Republicans get rid of cloture in the Senate to get their bill through?

Well, let's be optimistic and think that now that the Republican are in control of congress, they will agree to some things they formerly opposed.  I tell myself that they will, but I can't help but wonder if they even know how to.  I'm a little more optimistic about the Senate than the House  Time will tell.