What Would Democrats Do?

Polling here and around the nation is demonstrating a strong trend toward Democrats winning elections, with chances improving every day for Democrats to take over the U.S. House and maybe even the Senate. What would this mean? What are Democrats planning to do if they succeed? Here's what's in the works, according to a Washington Post column by Harold Meyerson:

In the House, the Democrats have made clear that there's a first tier of legislation they mean to bring to a vote almost immediately after the new Congress convenes. It includes raising the minimum wage, repealing the Medicare legislation that forbids the government from negotiating with drug companies for lower prices, replenishing student loan programs, funding stem cell research and implementing those recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission that have thus far languished.

... Cognizant that they will owe their victory in part to the public's revulsion at the way Congress does (or avoids) business, the Democrats also plan to revise House rules to enable the opposition party to introduce amendments and to sit on conference committees, from which Republicans have routinely excluded them since Tom DeLay became majority leader. They also will ban members from accepting gifts and paid trips from lobbyists.

And doesn't this sound like a wonderful change?

By bringing such measures to a vote in the House, and conceivably in the Senate as well, the Democrats will be in the enviable position of doing both good and well: promoting long-overdue policy shifts that the public supports and putting their Republican colleagues in a pickle. Confronted with an up-or-down vote on raising the minimum wage or making medication for seniors more affordable, many Republicans will side with the Democrats. Should the Democrats win the Senate, Republicans will have to calculate the risks of filibustering such mom-and-apple-pie measures. These bills will also pose a conundrum for conservatives such as John McCain, whose presidential aspirations have not been clouded by having to vote on these issues.

How about the Iraq War?

The war in Iraq -- to which, if they win, they will owe their victory -- will surely prove the most nettlesome. If the Baker-Hamilton commission recommends a phased withdrawal, as some reports have speculated, the Democrats may be handed a relatively easy way out, whether or not the administration goes along with it. Should the administration persist in staying the course, Congress then could pass the kind of legislation it passed in the last years of the Vietnam War, stipulating the kinds of uses to which our military spending could -- and could not -- be put.

And on the environment and energy:

In the course of this year's campaign, Democrats have been pleasantly surprised by the support their proposals for greater energy independence have won in all regions and sectors of the country. They will surely boost funding for alternative energy projects, which they see as a way not just to reduce greenhouse gases but to generate jobs as well. Many congressional Democrats also want to mandate stricter fuel efficiency standards ...

These are just some of the positive developments we can expect if Dems win at least one House of Congress. By healthy margins, recent polling has shown that most Americans want change in Washington and they strongly support Democratic positions on many important fronts. Also, don't forget that core Dems will head most House and Senate committees if we take over, and provide opportunities for much-needed, serious probes into many of the corrupt, misbegotten or stealth actions permitted by the Republican rubber stamp Congress during Bush's presidency.

Can't you imagine all the cockroaches scattering as the light of day penetrates the darkness of one-party rule? Makes you want to go out and phone bank or canvass for a Dem candidate, doesn't it? We'd better. Here's what we're up against in terms of the surging Republican get out the vote (GOTV) effort.