Why look back?

Wednesday – October 6, 2010

Why look back?

When we look for answers, we always look back at the facts. In politics, every past has a meaning and the past means something for the future.

Every pundit is out with projections and predictions for the midterms in 27 days. The Democrats are saying they are pulling ahead in key races and the Republicans are choosing the drapes for the Speakers Office. Some of this is true and some of this we cannot take for granted.

It is true that the polls are favoring a Republican victory. Some pundits are predicting major gains in both houses for the Republicans. If this is true, we must start the process of keeping the party honest and true to their promises.

It is time for every American to make a choice. I wrote about making a choice last week. The choice is clear: more of the same or a return to our Constitutional roots. If your vote is for the side that wants more of the same, then you will get more of the same. However, if your vote is to change the makeup of the Senate and the House then you will become part of what I believe is going to be an historic political shift in the nation. This election will be the one that will recognize the Constitution and recognize that you are part of the process.

There are four years that will match what, I believe, will occur in 27 days. They are 1894, 1928, 1946 and 1994. These are all election years that turned the political course of the nation.

The U.S. House election, 1894 was a realigning election—a major Republican landslide that set the stage for the decisive Election of 1896. The elections of members of the United States House of Representatives in 1894 came in the middle of President Grover Cleveland's second term. The nation was in its deepest economic depression ever following the Panic of 1893, so economic issues were at the forefront.

The United States presidential election of 1928 pitted Republican Herbert Hoover against Democrat Al Smith. The Republicans were identified with the booming economy of the 1920s, whereas Smith, a Roman Catholic, suffered politically from anti-Catholic prejudice, his anti-prohibitionist stance, and the legacy of corruption of Tammany Hall with which he was associated. Hoover won a landslide victory.

The U.S. House election, 1946 elected (1946) the United States House of Representatives of the 80th United States Congress. It occurred in the middle of President Harry Truman's first term. Truman was thrust into the presidency following the death of Franklin Roosevelt and did not garner the same support as the deceased president. Following many years of Democratic majorities in Congress and Democratic presidents, this election resulted in a Republican majority, with the Republicans picking up 55 seats. The Chicago Tribune hailed it as "the greatest Republican victory since Appomattox".
The vote was largely seen as a referendum on Truman, whose approval rating had sunk to 32%[1] over the president's controversial handling of a wave of post-war labor strikes, and even more so, the back-and-forth over whether to end unpopular wartime price controls to handle shortages, particularly in meat and other foodstuffs. While Truman's early months in the White House had been plagued with questions of "What would Roosevelt do if he were alive?" Republicans now began to joke "What would Truman do if he were alive?" and "To err is Truman."[2]
The president's lack of popular support is widely seen as the reason for the Democrats' congressional defeat, the largest since they were trounced in the 1928 pro-Republican wave that brought Herbert Hoover to power. And for the first time since before the Great Depression, Republicans were seen as the party which could best handle the American economy.

The U.S. House election, 1994 was an election for the United States House of Representatives on November 8, 1994, in the middle of President Bill Clinton's first term. As a result of a 54-seat swing in membership from Democrats to Republicans, the Republican Party gained a majority of seats in the House for the first time since 1954.
The Democratic Party had run the House for all but four of the preceding 62 years. The Republican Party, united behind Newt Gingrich's Contract with America, which promised floor votes on various popular and institutional reforms, was able to capitalize on the perception that the House leadership was corrupt, as well as the dissatisfaction of conservative and many independent voters with President Clinton's actions (including a failed attempt at universal health care and gun control measures).

If the history that I have outlined is the guide, if the predictions are correct and if you believe in trends, then a victory might be at hand. But don’t get complacent. The Democrats will not give into this fight. They will do everything in their power to retain those seats of power that they enjoy.

Gallup’s generic ballot for Congress among registered voters currently shows Republicans with 46% of the vote and Democrats with 43%. However, in Gallup’s first estimates of the vote among likely voters, Republicans have a double – digit advantage under two turnout assumptions. The key here is that two assumptions are now being tested.

These numbers will tighten, as we get closer to the election. Your vote is crucial, as are the votes that you garner among your friends and family. Use this election to make a choice. Use this election as the one that you choose to become involved in. Use this election as the one that you made history with. Use this election in 27 days to create a better place for you and for your family. Use this election to ensure that the people you send to office will vote with their constituency’s conscience in mind. Use this election to send the message - no more one party rule! Use this election to stop the depleting of the nation’s fiscal strength that is designed to placate to a voting block. Use this election to rid the country of the forces that will tear down our greatness. Use this election to repeal healthcare. Use this election to start the process of evicting the occupant at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. This election is just that important. Your participation is just that important.

Make history with this vote because as you can see when history happens in America it happens in a big way.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: In 27 days the chances of making history and beating the records are very big. If we look back then we can see where the future is.