Republicans Look Like Young Turks of 1994

Remember the "Young Turk" Republicans of the early 1990s that eventually took over the Congress? Led by than Congressman (and future Speaker) Newt Gingrich, Republicans took on the Congress at every turn. It pointed out the corruption that was seen through out the Congress. Members wrote hot checks on their Congressional checking account without consequences and these Republicans reminded voters of such disgrace. The GOP changed the power and structure of committees, taking away the autocratic nature of chairmanships. Virtually every day members of the GOP went on to the House floor denouncing the Democrat's behavior, regardless if Congress was in session at the time.

This approach offered promise to a country that had grown tired of a corrupt and "do nothing" Congress that had ruled the country under one party for decades and resulted in the "Revolution of 1994." These vigorous members saw a net increase of 54 House seats in that election, and a pick up of 8 seats in the US Senate. But it didn't stop there, Republicans won 472 legislature seats around the country, the mayor's office of two big Democrat cities (New York and Los Angeles), and the GOP took control of 20 state Legislatures. The Republican Party became the majority party over night.

The issues against the Democrats in this Congress is even bigger than those in 1994, in my opinion. We have a credit crunch that is being solved by bailing out lending institutions and having the government going further into the banking industry. We have had the price of gas almost double since the Democrats took over just two years ago and they want to solve our energy problems by demanding to make sure we fill the air in our tires. We are successfully waging a war on terror in Iraq and the Democrats are demanding that we pull these troops out before our task is completed.

The energy issue alone is important enough that the Congress should have done what many Americans are choosing to do -- saying "no" to a vacation. Republicans took the House floor today without lights and with little hand held cameras and denounced their Democratic colleagues for failing to do their job. The Democrats went home to run for their political lives and will have a horrible record to try to defend. Yes, it is beginning to look like the good old days!

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