by Clyde Johnson

Well, the midterm elections are over and the Republicans now have control of both houses of the Congress. As John Boehner and Mitch McConnell strut around Capital Hill like barnyard roosters, the Democrats are licking their wounds and wondering where they went wrong.

Politics is a tricky business. It lends itself to a lot of rhetoric, which is used to try to balance one’s political convictions with the desires of his constituents. One does not always know the desires of others because everyone does not have the same agenda. So the politician walks the tight rope and struggles not to fall off.

As I see it, one should stick to his own conviction and core values. The Democratic candidates did not do this. They tended to distance themselves from the base of the Democratic Party and its Core Values. The President was perceived as being cancerous to their campaigns. As a result they drifted away from Democratic principles and moved toward agendas exclusive of their party’s base. There is an old proverb that states, “A person that does not stand for something will fall for anything,” and fall they did.

There was little or no mention of the things Democrats promote, like increases to minimum wage, women’s rights, equal pay for women, fair play in the Justice System and the list goes on.

Now that the Republicans are in control, how will things change? There is one thing we all must remember. The Republicans’ Agenda favors the rich and Corporate America and is color blind. It has no color boundaries. It does not discriminate by race only. It discriminates according to the haves and the have-nots. It doesn’t matter what color you are. Their policies do not favor poor and working class people. They are insensitive to needs of the underprivileged. That’s the bottom line. And it is important for us to understand this. There may be a particular population of voters that have yet to comprehend the impact of the Republicans’ policies on their lives. These voters’ vision has been clouded by ulterior motives.

So now the Republicans are talking compromise. This is all the President has asked for ever since he has been in office. But the Republicans have never even slightly relaxed their position on any piece of legislation the Democrats or the President promoted that dealt with a change in the status quo of the rich and Corporate America. They have unwaveringly stood against anything that did not benefit the affluent. A comprise to them means giving in to their agenda.

Where are you in the overall scope of things? Are you a part of Rich Corporate America, or do you belong to the less fortunate? If you belong to the ladder, don’t expect to see a change that favors you with this congress

CLYDE JOHNSON is a retired health physicist from the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. He resides in Franklin and can be reached at 562-4402.