We're going to be sorry

On Tuesday, as expected, Republicans made historic gains in midterm elections nationwide. It's not really a surprise that Republicans would gain seats in midterm elections, or even that they would regain control of the House. It is traditional that the party that controls the White House loses seats in the following midterms. What is surprising is the number of seats that they gained. At last count, they stood to gain at least 60 seats in the House of Representatives, the most one party has gained in at least 60 years. While it fell short of the "Republican Revolution" of 1994, it was a significant shift in power engineered by voters who are scared and worried about the nation's economy, which continues to stumble along with an unemployment rate of 9.6 percent. As giddy as Republicans are at regaining the House, though, they shouldn't make the same mistake that Democrats made in 2008, when they solidified their majorities in both houses. Tuesday's gains don't represent a mandate from voters for Republicans' conservative policies. They represent a rejection of Democrats, who failed to fix the economy. despite four years of controlling both houses.
So what can we expect now that Republicans have taken over the House and tightened Democrats' majority in the Senate? In a word, gridlock. Republicans, with rare exception (think John McCain or Lindsey Graham), are not known for their willingness to work with the opposing party once they gain control. With Republicans in control of the House, we can expect them to push their agenda of smaller government and reduced spending and extending Bush-era tax cuts for the rich. We can expect them to do everything in their power to stymie Democrats' efforts to advance their own agenda as both parties begin jockeying for position for the 2012 presidential election. And we can expect Republicans to maintain their majority for the forseeable future, since they will be in charge of redistricting this time, and are sure to redraw congressional districts to their advantage.
It was only four years ago that Republicans controlled both houses of Congress. Is our collective memory so short that we don't remember the power grabs, the corruption, the looking out for the rich at the expense of the middle class and the poor and the Republicans creating much of the mess that we currently find ourselves in? We can expect more of the same now that Republicans are back in control of the House. We're going to be sorry.