Politics Decoded

Vote Out Incumbents?

Are you frustrated with the economy, and thinking about sending a message to Washington by voting out incumbents?

On the surface, this may sound like a good idea.  In fact, Sarah Palin and the Tea Party have been using this sentiment to win the Republican primaries.  Click here to see their Senate and House candidates.

Because the Tea Party has been so successful in the primaries, any incumbent Democrat will probably be running against a right-wing extremist.  Before you cast your protest vote or non-vote, you may want to go to my Tea Party page AND Google the views of the opposing candidate. 

If all incumbents are voted out in the nationals, the Republicans will control the House and Senate.  And this caucus will be extremely conservative because of all of these new Tea Party senators.  Many mainstream Republicans have already become more right-wing because of the Tea Party influence.  Just look at John McCain.

To see what a Republican Congress would look like in 2010, go to my Republican Congress page.

The Republicans drove our economy into the ditch, and almost had us in a depression in September 2008 before Obama was elected.  The recession started in December 2007 and ended in June 2009.  That was the longest of any recession since World War II.

When President Bush took office in 2001, he inherited a $236 billion budget surplus, with a projected 10-year surplus of $5.6 trillion. When he ended his term, he left a $1.3 trillion deficit and a projected 10-year shortfall of $3 - $8 trillion. 

It is a slow, painful process, but at least the economy is headed in the right direction.

Unfortunately, the unintended consequence of voting out all incumbents would be to give the keys back to the Republicans, before the Democrats have even had a chance to get the economy running smoothly.