Op-Ed: Get ready to wait for the midterm results
By Michael Snyder, The Christian Science Monitor, Published on September 16, 2010
The election results are finally in, and now that the polls and the pundits are done with their predictions, it’s time to take stock of the results.
For conservatives, the most important thing to look at in the wake of this election is the state of the economy.
So don’t look at the election results in a negative way.
There was a lot of talk after the election about a new economic boom-bust cycle, this time with President Barack Obama and his stimulus plan at its center. But as we now know, the nation’s economy is growing stronger, and we’ve shown that we don’t need a “stimulus” spending package just to get our economy growing.
For conservatives, it’s time to focus on the economy, not the state of the country.
On the other hand, it’s been a banner year for conservatives with the Republican takeover of the U.S. House of Representatives. And with that, the House agenda is now in the hands of the conservative wing of the Republican Party. The agenda includes tax and budget issues, as well as issues pertaining to domestic politics, to which I will address in a future column.
I’ll leave it to others to discuss the state of the world and the state of the economy.
As far as what the new House of Representatives does once it gets started, I don’t have much to add here. But there are two areas that I will touch on that I believe are particularly important.
First, I think that the Republicans got a lot done in taking control of the House and the Senate this year. And that in turn means that it’s time for conservatives to make the case to the country, through the medium of the press and through the public statements and through the action of the new Congress, that we really have a serious agenda that addresses the concerns of both parties, not just the Democrats.
Second, I think it’s important that we make the case in terms of the issues that Republicans and conservatives care most about–issues that not only deal with the country but also deal with their own constituencies. And so I think it’s important to look at the conservative agenda in the context of what they care most about.
Here are some of the issues that I believe are important to conservative agenda items and
