In 1928, the Republican Party assembled in Kansas City, Missouri to choose their candidate for President of the United States. Calvin Coolidge had announced the previous year that he would not be a candidate for President in 1928. The
GOP turned to a man who had never previously run for political office,
Herbert Hoover, who had been appointed as US Secretary of Commerce by
Coolidge. Hoover was nominated on the first ballot.
The
Democrats held their first national nominating convention in a Southern
state since the Civil War and they selected Alfred E. Smith, Governor
of New York. Smith was a
product of the Tammany Hall machine, a Roman Catholic, and backed repeal
of the Prohibition amendment to the US Constitution. Meeting
in Houston, Texas, the convention chose as Smith’s running mate a
Southerner, Senator Joseph T. Robinson of Arkansas, a “dry.”
The 1928 election marked the first extensive use of the medium of radio by national political candidates. Hoover was elected in an overwhelming landslide, receiving more than 58% of the popular vote.
In 1929, the Stock Market crashed and the economy spun downward. The situation was exacerbated when Hoover signed the strong protectionist Smoot-Hawley tariff bill in June 1930. With
the economy struggling, the Democrats made strong gains in the 1930
off-year elections, but failed to take control of either the US House of
Representatives or the US Senate.
With
the economy in a tailspin by 1932, the Democratic Party nominated New
York Governor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, as their presidential nominee to
run against Herbert Hoover. In a dramatic turnaround, Roosevelt received 57.8% of the popular vote. His victory was both wide and deep.
The
Democrats not only won the White House and both houses of Congress, but
also captured control of a majority of state houses and state
legislatures for the first time in several decades. They won city council races, mayor races, county government races—almost everything from coast to coast and border to border. It was a wipe out.
History is about to repeat itself next Tuesday.
In
the most dramatic turnaround in political sweepstakes since 1928 to
1932, the Republicans, with the critical help of the Tea Party, are
about to achieve the most dramatic election victory of the last 75
years. It will be both broad and deep, reaching from the Congress to counties to city councils across the nation. The Republicans will end the day in control of more state houses and state legislatures than they have had since 1928.
Barack Obama came into office winning nearly 53% of the national vote and was buttressed by enormous good will. All America celebrated the election of its first African American President.
The race itself was lackluster on the Republican side. Vietnam War hero John McCain appeared old and unimaginative. His policies were Democrat light. In
the mold of Willkie, Dewey, Ford and other losing “moderate”
Republicans, the outcome of the election was a foregone conclusion.
Unfortunately
for the Democrats, Obama, together with Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi,
decided to govern against the wishes of the American people. Obamacare
was rammed through the Congress, trillions of dollars were spent, and
political shenanigans abounded as the Democrats drove the nation to the
brink of bankruptcy.
Predictably, the American people revolted. A
spontaneous Tea Party erupted nationwide in a hundred different
variations but with a simple theme—stop the spending, repeal Obamacare,
shrink government. Instead of listening, the Democrats plowed forward with the most radical agenda in American history. They ignored polls showing that the electorate as a whole was much more conservative than liberal. They
even ignored the election of a Republican governor in New Jersey and
incredibly the election of Republican Scott Brown to fill the US Senate
seat formerly held by Edward Kennedy.
Today, just a few days before the election, they face the wrath of the voters. Sure,
they may win the New York Governor’s race (just as FDR did in 1928) and
the Senate races in Connecticut and Delaware, but it’s going to be slim
pickings for the Democrats on election night.
It
looks fairly certain that the Democrats will lose at least 60 seats in
the US House of Representatives and possibly as many as 75 or even 90
seats depending on how the undecided vote falls. While
the GOP may not win control of the US Senate, it’s likely that they
will not only pick up nine seats, but equally important, elect a number
of principled conservatives to replace establishment Republican
candidates. New Republican
stars will emerge such as Rubio in Florida, Paul in Kentucky, Lee in
Utah, Johnson in Wisconsin, Buck in Colorado, Raese in West Virginia,
Toomey in Pennsylvania, and Rossi in Washington State. The GOP will also pick up other US Senate seats in Illinois and California.
It’s going to be a great night for America and for the ideals of America’s Founders. Obama has taken the nation to the brink of disaster but Americans are rising on November 2nd to say, “No more!”
Now get out and vote and make sure it happens. It’s a critical first step in restoring America to greatness. Let’s
make sure that 2010 was the high water mark of American liberalism,
progressivism or whatever would be American socialists call themselves
today. The name changes, but their game is the same—more government, less freedom.
