Promises, Promises ...

Nov 13, 2006

Senator Harry Reid, soon to be Majority Leader in the Senate, said, “Americans chose Democrats because, like them, we stand for change. We will move in a new direction.... From here on out, Haliburton is out. Hard working families are in. Special interests are out. People’s interests are in.”

Of course, it’s almost impossible to take seriously what a politician says after winning an election. But suppose the Democrats did want to make changes with their new majority?

There’s plenty of money available. The Bush tax cut has allowed the wealthy and the corporations to save about a TRILLION dollars in five years, which is more than 500 million dollars a day... yes, a day. The top one% of taxpayers saved about $50,000 in taxes each year, while the middle income taxpayer got an average of only $650 per year. So plenty of money is available. The Democrats could even increase the tax savings of middle and poorer taxpayers.

And there’s no lack of things to do with a trillion or so dollars: schools in all the big cities are falling apart; the roads and bridges are crumbling; 45 million of us have no health coverage, etc.

Yes, the Democrats could begin to do all that–if they meant what they said.

But President Bush would exercise his veto, right? Well, the Democrats have enough votes to bring him up on impeachment charges–for lying us into a war. Maybe they couldn’t win a conviction, but they could impeach–if they were so keen on getting rid of special interests.

So will they? Sure, right after pigs begin to fly!