When will the Democrats get their shit together?

I am primarily a capitalist and then a conservative. I have more faith in capitalism than I do conservative ideology. That should help you understand the next statement I’m about to type.

I wish that the Democrats would get their shit together!

I truly believe that competition is the best way and that great competition breads great competitors. One example was the “Heiden Effect” in the 1980 Olympics. Eric Heiden was the fastest skater in the world. You’d think that skaters would have avoided skating against Eric, but they didn’t. Many skaters recorded their personal best times while losing to Eric Heiden. Think of that; he was such a great competitor that he actually improved the performance of his competition.

Today we have the exact opposite of the Heiden Effect in politics; we’ll call it the Biden Effect. Joe Biden is just one of many Democrats that epitomize the sad shape of the Democratic Party. They have lost any hope of regaining control of the Senate or the House, they have lost the White House in 7 out of the last 10 elections and they are in the process of finally losing the Supreme Court.

Look at their prospects for regaining any control.

But the party's problems are structural and can be explained by three numbers: 21, 34 and 45. According to the network exit polls, 21 percent of the voters who cast ballots in 2004 called themselves liberal, 34 percent said they were conservative and 45 percent called themselves moderate.

Consider that in 2004 Democrat John Kerry won 85 percent of the liberal vote and defeated Bush by a healthy 54 percent to 45 percent among moderates. But Bush prevailed because he won 84 percent of a conservative vote that constitutes more than a third of the electorate.

Or consider the lay of the land for the 2006 congressional elections. It takes 218 seats to form a majority in the House of Representatives. Kerry carried only 180 congressional districts, according to the Almanac of American Politics. Put another way, Democrats, according to the Almanac, now hold and have to defend 41 House districts that Bush carried. Republicans are defending only 18 districts that Kerry carried.

We can see by these numbers that Americans are losing their faith in the Democrats, vis-à-vis their lost faith in liberalism. Democrats can’t get off their message of abortion-on-demand, higher taxes and more social programs that doesn't appeal to anyone but the far left and the wards of the nanny state. Many Republicans, including myself, have rejoiced over the dismal prospects for the Democrats and the impending death of Liberalism. I now see that I was short sighted.

Republicans now have little in the way of real competition, in any electoral or ideological contest. This has made for some pretty fat and flabby Republicans. The Biden Effect can be the only explanation for the idiotic recent comments from Republicans like Tom Delay and Dennis Hastert. The Republicans have stopped skating as hard as they can to cut the budget, secure our borders or even fix Social Security. They now lag NANCY PELOSI in sound fiscal policy. Did you hear that? Nancy Pelosi from San Francisco has a better handle on pork barrel spending than the Republicans!!!!!

Redistricting and term limits would help immensely, but I have no hope of either taking place in my lifetime. That leaves us with the loyal opposition. Unfortunately, I do not believe that the Democrats have the capability of changing themselves with leaders like Cindy Sheehan and George Soros; they can’t understand the 21st century and refuse to admit the failures of the late 20th century.

This leaves us with some lazy, fat, pathetic Republicans who will continue to win elections without any stiff competition. With each victory, they will become more and more deaf to the real needs of their base. It's easy to spend like a drunken sailor when your opponent wants to spend even more.

For everyone who moans that Perot voters cost the Republicans the White House, you are correct. But Perot voters also got the Republican party back into shape. 12 years of Reagan and Bush I had left the party fat, lazy and vulnerable. Perot injected some real fear into the party and got Republicans focused on winning again. Bush I thought that no one would care if he raised taxes, but people did care, they still care. We also have Bush I to thank for a shitty liberal Supreme Court Justice and an unfinished job in the Middle East.

So, the next time we celebrate the colossal defeat of a Democratic candidate, just remember that the Republican who beat him probably didn’t even break a sweat. And that’s bad news for all of us.