I'm Outta Here

By Alan Caruba

Those who follow politics more intently than I will no doubt be able to identify why, specifically, various incumbent Senators and Representatives have decided not to run for office in the 2012 elections, but as of this writing 43 incumbents have made it known they will not seek reelection.

Among the one hundred members of the Senate, five Democrats, three Republicans, and one Independent have made it known they will not seek office again thus far. In the House, thirty-four members have decided not to run; twenty are Democrats and fourteen are Republicans.

The Senate is composed of one hundred members, two from each State, while the House, based on population distribution, has 435 members, subject to districting that often favors one party over another. There are “safe” seats in districts that have a preponderance of one party’s registered voters.

The 112th Congress has 51 Democrats in the Senate, 47 Republicans and two independents that presumably vote with either party, but tend to favor one over the other. The slight majority of Senate Democrats cedes control to that party while, in the House, the Republicans control its agenda. The House has 240 Republicans, 192 Democrats, and three vacancies.

President Obama is running against a “do-nothing” Congress and it is worth remembering that, for the first two years of his term, Democrats controlled both chambers. More than 1,000 days have passed without a published budget. This is because Democrats do not want the public to know how much money is being spent or, to be more accurate, wasted.

The 2010 elections shifted power in the House to the Republican majority, largely due to the Tea Party movement that in time may be the next generation of Republican Party leadership. There used to be a Republican “establishment” but that is now largely a thing of the past.

Nor can it be said to have been a “do-nothing” Congress if one considers that it passed Obamacare, his signature piece of legislation. Its constitutionality will be decided when, in March, it comes before the Supreme Court in a case brought by 28 State attorneys general who deem it unconstitutional for its mandate that Americans must buy health insurance whether they want to or not. A federal government that can require you to buy anything is one with far too much power.

The Constitution exists to limit the power of the federal government.

In the Senate, Ben Nelson (D) of Nebraska whose vote was deemed critical to the passage of Obamacare has announced he will not seek reelection. Several other powerful members such as Jon Kyl of Arizona (R), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R) of Texas, and Kent Conrad (D) of North Dakota will leave. The independent, Joe Lieberman, is not seek reelection in Connecticut, nor the fiery Jim Webb (D) of Virginia, Jeff Bingaman—generally regarded as non-partisan, though a Democrat—joins Herb Kohl (D) and Daniel Akaka (D) of Hawaii who has served in both Houses since 1975.

Many factors play in such decisions. Sometimes it is simply age, the recognition that it is time to retire. Other times it is the change in the political climate from liberal to conservative that would favor an opponent. An unpopular President whose defeat might take down many of his party’s members is a significant factor in the 2012 elections.

The role of the Tea Party in the 2010 elections is certainly on the minds of many Democrat incumbents in the House who will not run for reelection. One of the most powerful members of the House, Barney Frank (D-MA) has announced he will not run for reelection and his role in protecting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the years leading up to the 2008 financial collapse is no doubt a factor.

Ron Paul (R-TX), currently running for the GOP nomination, will not seek reelection and his candidacy is more of a last hurrah for his Libertarian views than a serious bid for the office of President. Keeping politics in the family, his son Rand (R) serves as a Senator from Kentucky.

Six Democrat House members from California are not seeking reelection. Given its size and population—California has 53 districts—there is not much to be made of those deciding not to run again.

Power in Congress is a numbers game of how many members are from the two main political parties, but it is also a question of longevity which lifts members into the chairmanship of powerful congressional committees when they remain there for many years.

I think the system would be vastly improved if there were term limits for members of Congress just as there is for the presidency.

Presently, Congress is held in such low esteem according to the polls, the President’s decision to run against it would appear to be a wise—very political--decision, but while his personal popularity remains intact, polls indicate a significant dissatisfaction with his performance in office.

It will be interesting to see how many Democrat incumbents conclude they cannot win with Obama at the top of the ticket and bail out—no pun intended. It is an indicator, but hardly the only one.

© Alan Caruba, 2012

Kristallnacht

By Alan Caruba

An interesting thing happened in Prague last November. There was, so far as I can determine, virtually no news of the event except in a few newspapers that might be expected to cover it.

The place was Prague, but what precipitated the event had occurred in 1938 in Nazi Germany and had come to be called “Kristallnacht”, the night of broken glass when synagogues and other places associated with Jews were attacked and destroyed.

By the time it ended, Nazi stormtroopers had killed 91 Jews and 30,000 others had been rounded up and sent to concentration camps. It marked the beginning of what was to be known as “the final solution”, the deliberate murder of millions of European Jews that has since been called the Holocaust.

In Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, the word went out that several hundred neo-Nazis were preparing to march on the city’s Jewish quarter on the 69th anniversary of Kristallnacht.

They found themselves confronted by thousands of Czechs who filled the streets that Sabbath Saturday to show their solidarity with their nation’s Jews. Masses of non-Jews showed up wearing yellow Stars of David inscribed with the word “Jude”, the same symbol the Nazis had required Jews to wear.

There were some bloody street fights, but the 1,400 police who had been mobilized, along with the sheer numbers of the anti-Nazi protesters were sufficient to maintain the peace. It was the first time in recent memory that residents of a former Eastern bloc capital had taken to the streets to protest anti-Semitism.

Only about 1,500 Jews live in Prague, but an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 protesters were on hand for the day’s events that included prayer, musical performances, and presentations by Holocaust survivors that were projected on a large outdoor screen.

While there are probably less than 1,000 active neo-Nazis in the Czech Republic, there are others throughout Europe and anti-Semitism, though muted, remains a part of European culture.

Prague Mayor, Pavel Bern, addressed thousands during a ceremony sponsored by the Jewish Liberal Union. “We need to cultivate the national memory to avoid what happened in the past.” The Nazis murdered 80,000 of Czechoslovakia’s 120,000 Jews during World War II.

The Czechs remembered. They came together to protest the evil of anti-Semitism, but we all have to remember and we all have to protest whenever some group, any group, is singled out from the family of man for murder.

When the Iranian leaders say the Holocaust is a myth, the truth cries out from six million graves. We must not be silent. When they threaten tiny Israel with nuclear death, we must not be silent. We must say to ourselves, “Never again.”

We must all become Jews in the face of evil. Silence is the ally of those who would perpetrate such horrors.