Offering Common Sense Checks and Balances

One of the most critical issues facing voters in Missouri’s U.S. Senate race is this:

Will America begin restoring some checks and balances to the one-party rule in Washington? Or will the Obama Administration and its liberal majorities in Congress pick up yet another liberal Senate vote, and plunge even deeper into the headlong flight toward very liberal policies in area after area?

Missouri and two or three other much-watched states will ultimately make this choice for the nation.

One choice is more liberal one-party control that listens to itself and a handful of big special interests. This is the monopoly in Washington that wants to place a national energy tax on an economy with nearly 10 percent joblessness along with major new government control of energy, health care, and much else besides, and rapidly expanding deficits and national debt. That is the Robin Carnahan-Barack Obama plan.

The other choice is a step to restore the rule of checks and balances, to protect against too much power gathered into too few hands. Congress checks the President, and vice versa. The Senate checks against excess by the House. Debate is open and fair. People offer amendments. Some compromises are reached, just like on most school boards, city councils, and in civic clubs. Then they take the final votes.

Right now, checks and balances have been destroyed by the liberal one-party control in Congress and the White House. The present majority’s basic plan is becoming more obvious by the day to millions of people. If enough one-party officials are held in line with partisan pressure and inducements, then the President’s party has accumulated just enough votes to impose its ideological agenda of bigger and more powerful government.

The new liberal majorities have gotten just big enough that they’re running away with things as fast as they can … before the next election, before the people can see the plan, and with absolutely as little debate as possible.

The results for daily life are coming into plain view, more so every day. The gigantic so-called "stimulus" of borrowed money was slammed through in early 2009. The promise was joblessness to peak at between 8 and 8.5 percent. It’s now almost 10 percent. The deficit and national debt are racing upward at rates never before imagined. The economy languishes in a severe downturn. People’s hopes and dreams for themselves and their families are at risk.

Missouri’s U.S. Senate seat can mean a nation heading even further to the left, or headed back toward Missouri common sense, toward basic fiscal responsibility, strong American leadership in the world, and greater respect for people’s right to make their own decisions.