Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Between a Rock and a Hard Place…

In fourteen months time, we’ll be having the mid-term elections.

That doesn’t allow much time for changing minds.

But if we don’t start working now, the line-up could conceivably stay the same. That means our candidate, whomever he or she may be, will face a hostile Congress.

That’s like trying to run a race with one leg tied.

So, if we plan to win, we also need to plan to lead. And we can’t do that with a Congress dominated by a truculent and belligerent Congress. If you have any doubts of that, think back to what Clinton had to confront when he wanted to go in to Bosnia and the difficulties he faced in trying to get rid of bin Laden.

The next president will have so much on his plate that without the full consent of Congress it will be virtually impossible to role back the disastrous policies of his predecessor. And if we don’t role back all of the damaging legislation, we will not control a debt spinning out of control or the imbalance of trade that is currently being swept under the rug with disastrous consequences.

That is why we cannot afford to waste this opportunity to identify good candidates and start building a groundswell of support now. Our focus must be on upsetting the status quo using whatever means are within our power. Without becoming an inexorable force, it will be impossible to restore sanity to a government that has lost its grip on reality and has forgotten what the words physical prudence means.

Can that happen?

Well, it depends on who you talk to. But one prophet says that anywhere from 1 to 435 seats are up for grabs. And maybe that’s a good way to look at it. While the numbers will get more refined as we go forward, we should think that all of the seats are winnable unless proven otherwise.

The good news is that the prospects for change are probably better than they have been for a long time. And that’s because democrats are top-heavy at the State and city level. And we can expect a lot of good candidates to emerge from that mix. On top of that, there is another operative force oftentimes referred to as the ‘grass-roots.” And it is suspected that this is where any future change is going to come from.

If the ‘grass-roots’ rises to the occasion—and they might if the democratic party continues to act as a power vacuum—and if the present inventory of state and city officials who consider themselves democrats decide to make a run for nationwide office, we can expect to see some interesting fireworks.

It may be too early to speculate now, but if change is in the air, I think the pundits are right, it will come from the bottom, not the top. And that just may be good for America.

Les Aaron