LOG-ROLLING 101: HOW MINORITY INTERESTS HAVE TAKEN OVER AMERICA

By D. E. Lovett

If you doubt the premise that minority interests have taken over, consider the following:

The majority fears the current massive debt, and deficits, stretching further than the eye can see, but the government spending binge continues unabated.

The majority favors smaller government, but socialism has gone from creeping to galloping.

The majority believes labor unions (which represent a small fraction of the workforce) have too much power, yet all government spending bills protect and reinforce that power, the secret ballot for unionization elections is about to fall, and unions have been given control of the Chrysler Corporation (should make for very interesting contract bargaining.)

The majority wants domestic oil drilling (offshore and ANWR), but there will be none; nor any other development of domestic fossil fuel sources.

The majority considers themselves pro-life, but federally funded abortion on demand is within a few votes of being enacted.

The majority believes marriage should be between one woman and one man, but legislation is advancing to require the great majority of states which oppose homosexual marriage to recognize such marriages from the small minority of states which approve it.

The majority supports term limits for Congress, and perhaps even federal judges, but politicians with a vested interest in perpetual power have a stranglehold on the machinery which might bring about term limits.

The majority favors less taxation, and tax simplification, but energy taxes and “sin” taxes are about to explode, and the tax code will further expand for more “social engineering.”

The majority likes their current health care and insurance arrangements, but are about to see the whole system tossed into the trashcan for the benefit of a very small minority.

The majority favors school choice, and public assistance to assist the poor in getting it; but one of the first acts of the Obama administration was to kill such programs in the District of Columbia, another sop to unions.

On a list of the top twenty concerns of voters last November, “global warming” was number 20, but the disastrous Waxman-Markey energy tax is nearing enactment.

How has all this come about? By the ancient tradition of “log-rolling,” which can best be explained as “you vote for my turkey, and I’ll vote for yours.” Thus a coalition of minority interests has effectively thwarted the clear majority on almost every issue of current public concern. Will the “silent majority” again find its voice? Only time will tell, and the majority can only hope the damage these minorities have inflicted can eventually be undone.