Should we try to elect a Democrat president and Republican congresspersons?
What better way to guard against the abuse of power than to put conservatives in charge of the nation’s purse strings and a liberal as commander-in-chief of the military? After all, the last time we had a Democrat president and Republican-controlled Congress they actually managed to balance the budget and even had a surplus.
You are absolutely correct in everything you say here.
Short of the emergence of a third party, that would be an ideal situation.
The issue is that the division between the two parties has gotten so out of control that they would just cancel each other out and nothing would get done. That’s what’s happening now with a republican president and a democratic congress. It will be the same the other way around. They just vote against each other out of spite. It’s really quite ridiculous that our government is so childish.
This is 100% true. And the democratic president you are referring to was a moderate who wasn’t afraid to reach across the aisle on issues like free trade and welfare reform, much to the chagrin of his party.
I personally am very fearful of the democrats controlling both the White House and Congress. Power needs checks and balances and an Obama presidency situation presents neither.
I think there’s some merit to what you’re saying, as the consolidation of power is the biggest threat to our wealth and liberties, not the Democratic or Republican parties. I doubt however that a Republican Congress and a Democratic President would do much to eliminate our $10 trillion deficit. What we need is fiscal conservatives from both parties, and people who abide by the Constitution rather than just making stuff up that suits their needs (which Republicans and Democrats are equally guilty of). We need more Ron Pauls and Dennis Kucinichs, regardless of which party they hail from.
First, WE’VE NEVER HAD A BALANCED BUDGET AND WE NEVER HAD A SURPLUS! Maybe in the 1700′s but in modern times it has never happened.
Second, since that is the case the reasoning doesn’t make sense.
I have thought of this myself. Obama, with all his flaws and misguided ambitions, is likely the best black candidate we will ever see, and this nation NEEDS a black president (at least once).
I think with Obama in office, a lot of healing will take place and race relations will improve. After all, a person can no longer say that race keeps him or herself down when the president is black.
Basically, I’m saying the plusses of him as president outweights the damage he might do.
The most damage the Democrats do is in the halls of Congress, so I agree that Republicans would make better stewards of our finances and, most importantly, our freedoms.
No
I plan on electing A Democrat president and a Democrat congress as well
I agree that it is a good idea to keep a balance of power.
However, you have no way of influencing which way (Dem or GOP) other states will go when electing their congressmen.
Congress is ruled by Dems. That is ONE very good reason I am voting for McCain – an attempt to keep the Dems form controlling all of the branches of power.
The nation always seem to function best when the branches are split. We had 6 years of Republican rule and we seriously over spent. Previous to that we had a Republican Congress and Democratic President the nation did pretty well and recovered from a recession. There are other patterns you could point to, but generally speaking we just do not do well when one party controls everything.