After GOP victories, what changes do you see for the state and the country?

I see us spending a lot of money on Congress and Senate salaries for those representatives hell-bent on making sure Obama doesn’t get re-elected. Talk about wasteful spending. I can’t believe we elected representation that has no plan to work for us but only the Republican Party.

I haven’t personally been affected significantly by the economy, but look around people. Look outside of your $500,000 house and see what is happening. Just think how many lives Michelle Bachman could have changed with her millions of dollars of campaign funds. Where have our values gone?

Naturally, the State and Federal Governments will take a step back in protecting the publics interest. Property is the essential plank of the GOP. The People is the essential plank of the DFL. It is truelly that simple.

At the Federal level- Defense will get more funding, Wall Street and the Banks will be further deregulated, Reproductive Choice will be more regulated, Business will have more to say, Healthcare will be more profitable, Education Funding will be slashed, Energy will prosper with more deregulation, the Infrastructure will further decline, the Quality of Life will suffer with more economic consequences.

At the State level the bills are due. Slashing State spending will occure in Infrastructure, Healthcare, Education, Local Governments, Recreation, Pensions, etc.

More debt will be pushed to the future, when possible.

More bridges will fall. MnDOT will kill more people. The Quality of Life will spiral downward.

As soon as the House of Representatives is sworn in with it’s Republican majority, I expect House investigative committees to be formed, subpeonas issued, and a steady stream of administration personnel to wear a path to the Capitol. These committees will of course be looking to find any perceived malfeasance in Obama’s administration. As the Democrats did with Bush and the Republicans with Clinton, our representatives will waste millions of dollars and valuable time to simply grandstand and be self-righteous when more pressing issues are at hand, like governing a nation.

– Pelosi will let the Bush era tax cuts expire; it will be a circus to watch.

– The Health Care Bill will be improved; it will not be repealed.

– We will start hearing about all those irrelevant social issues again.

– Spending will drop, but not materially, and the national debt will continue to grow.

– Dayton’s tax increases won’t happen. There will be all kinds of amazing accounting tricks coming out of St Paul.

– Our current economic challenges will stick to the newly elected Republicans like glue and they will have a real problem on their hands in 2012.

– Obama will become a better president. He will pay more attention to the deficit and will communicate his successes more thoroughly.

– The economy will do whatever it’s going to do. Unless someone proposes a “currency adjustment surcharge” of about 50% on Chinese imorts, jobs will continue to head offshore.

– It will all-in-all be better than people think it will be, as balance helps the quality of thinking and legislation.

I think this country is about to learn that cutting spending doesn’t revive the economy. More to the country issue, there’s a lot of hate right now, for gays, for immigrants, for minorities, for the poor, for the elderly, for government that I think we’ve started a civil war here today, certainly one that hasn’t been officially declared, but one that is taking shape nonetheless. Minnesota mirrors that same hate, and long term, that’s going to mean more Minnesotans are going to have go with substandard schools, substandard roads and bridges, substandard care for their parents and grandparents, and all that substandard care comes at a personal cost, so while taxes won’t be raised, Minnesota families are going to have to pay extra from their own pockets to take care of these needs. Having taxes taken out, which are fairly small and invisible, is nothing like having to pay a monthly bill that is large and is going towards a business that can raise its prices whenever it wants to, and sue you or disconnect your service if you don’t pay your bill on time. Small business also thinks they won’t be hurt by a Republican Congress, but historically Republicans have allowed large sections of main street to be run OUT OF BUSINESS by large corporations. They haven’t historically helped main street.

I see the continued denial of a civil right to some Minnesota couples. Namely, civil marriage will likely continue to be denied to gay couples. Despite the separation of church and state, some allegedly-Christian denominations will continue to insist that their religious rules be codified into civil law.

Clark, do you actually believe that you have earned every bit of wealth you have, that you deserve to be allowed to keep every penny, and that you have no responsibility to support the common good or help provide for those who can’t provide for themselves? What did you do to deserve being born into an affluent society, or to have the social support in your childhood to achieve what you did in your education? Did you create the economic system in which you’ve found a way to prosper, or did you merely exploit what others had already built? What did you do to merit being born with the traits that have enabled you to succeed? Did you benefit from having wealthy parents? If so, how did you earn that privilege? Are you a white male? How did you come to deserve the privileges that go with that? If you’ ve given your kids the advantages of growing up in an affluent home, how did they earn that?

And what did children born into poor families do to deserve being disadvantaged throughout their lives so that it’s much harder for them to prosper and much more likely that they will grow up to be poor themselves?

“From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.”

~~ Jesus of Nazareth

Oh Gawd! I don’t know what the legislature should do first, now that it has changed hands, but, based on some of the posts I’ve read here, perhaps the first thing they should do is re-legalise dueling. I can’t see any other way some of these arguments will come to an end!

I don’t know what will happen next. Politics have a way of changing so rapidly that the sort of predictions were being asked to make tend to become irrelevent pretty quickly. One thing I am pretty sure of is that the earth is not going to shift in its orbit–so calm down!

Right. Left.

Left. Right.

Short Memory.

Little Patience.

Business As Usual.

None I think I’m going to like.

I didn’t follow at all. But, here’s what I’ll have to say. The term ‘victory’ is wrong. I see the campaign and the dabate, as a platform and a catalyzer, where all the cards are set open on the Table, and everyone and even those who don’t enquire and participate, have a chance to turn each plan and each proposed venue, from all directions and all sides, test each one as completely and throughly as possible, to select the one that meets the common cause. Not only no one is adversary, and no one registers win, on the contrary, they both right from the start try to serve the same cause, and by firm but candid debate, spot the flaws, as well as those which promise the most efficient way to get where one set as the goal. The only Ballot I took part, was vote for officers of my Professional Societies, and there is no winners there. That’s one of the reasons, why we, as Professional Societies, prosper, and get better and better. Checks and balances. As a matter of fact it’s an going process, everyday. We only wrap it up at Elections, where we have already all that we need to make a choice.That is at least one good thing about Professional Society, dry and objective and impartial, at least striving to, which is hard to come by elsewhere.

Midas: “I’m expecting a return to the prosperity of the Bush years. And I can’t wait!”

Midas: I think you are very confused: You are remembering the Clinton years, not the Bush years! The Bush years: when we had the jobless recovery, two new wars, record deficits (yes, including when the GOP held all the branches), and policies that created the current recession.

Goodness, your comment surely makes it easy for me to see how that GOP has convinced the electorate to vote against their own economic interests!

The military is licking its chops, expecting big funding again. Isn’t it about time for a third Iraq War? Or did it never end?

Stomping on enfeebled the middle class will accelerate.

National health care will be eviscerated. You’ll have to work into your 70’s to keep shrinking employer-supplied health benefits, as the eligibility age for Medicare will be raised.

You can expect to be downsized several times due to “business-friendly” policies.

I think that yesterdays election is the end of the Republican party; that is to say, the Republican party as we’ve know it for generations is dead. It is no longer the party of fiscal conservatism, it is that party of CEO’s. If you ever wondered what the U.S. House of Representative should be insured for, it’s $350 million, at least that is what was paid for it last night by the likes of The Chamber of Commerce and Karl Rove. In the senate, millions of dollars flooded into specific races like WI and like a drone attack, they took out members of the Senate who have served this country for years. It looks like there will be a party with the same name as The Republicans, but it does not, and will not look like any Republicans we’ve seen.

At both the state and federal levels, I expect to see the Republicans continue their non-compromising ways. Our way or the highway.

We will see the same trends continue that stated under Reagan: the wealthy will continue to get wealthier, the middle class will continue to shrink, and the percentage of Americans living in poverty increase.

Reagan seemed to have had two primary goals for domestic policy: destroy the labor movement, and use tax policy and every other means possible to transfer the public’s wealth to the already wealthy. By eliminating the progressive income tax (or dismantling it as much as possible) and by destroying (at least partially) the labor movement, he dealt an almost fatal blow to the middle class.

The current version of the Republican party is pursing Reagan’s goals with a vengeance. Listen to Emmer talk about the teacher’s union: he absolutely froths at the mouth.

Clark a word for you: I lived in France for several years. If I hadn’t been born and raised in the United States, and if my family didn’t live here, I’d probably choose to continue living in France. Their health care system is ranked first by the World Health Organization. That’s a little better than 37th, where ours was ranked when the health-care-reform legislation passed. The fact is most Western Europeans enjoy a much higher standard of living than most Americans do. We have to constantly worry about where we’re going to find enough money to send our kids to college (university education is virtually free in most Western European countries), and Americans constantly worry about how they’re going to afford health care, or what will happen to their health care if they lose their jobs, And of course those who do have jobs are finding they have to pay higher and higher deductibles and co-pays. I know several people who have health insurance, but don’t see a doctor when they’re sick, because they can’t afford the co-pays. My my, it just never ends. And how do Europeans pay for their fabulous health care systems? That’s what they get for their taxes. What do we get? Well, in addition to the big entitlement programs, Social Security and Medicare, we get a military budget that is roughly the equivalent of all of the military budgets of all of the countries in the world combined. Aren’t we lucky? And, of course, the Republicans in Congress want to cut funding for education and increase the military budget.

I would love to see Americans demand (and I mean really angrily, furiously demand) of their senators or representatives an answer to this question: Why do we need such a huge military budget? If we start addressing that question and looking at what’s behind the military budget–what the real purpose of our military is–then we might be able to really move forward as a country.

I hope I’m wrong, but I foresee more whining, blaming, poor leadership unable to work WITH others to resolve real issues. I see weak and unrealistic proposals or proposals that continue to hurt those of us who work hard, take care of our families, struggle to find health care, live on social security. Yet it will continue to benefit those have more than they need and fail to support those in need. In short, a continuation of the control of big business and greedy leaders who fail to understand what it means to be a part of a community. OUr only hope is Governor Dayton who, I am confident, will insist on legislators working together and will attempt to keep Minnesota focused on creative community centered problem solving.

I see another economic downturn coming, OR WORSE. The poor, middle class, and down-and-outers will be worse off while big business and the rich will get even more. Whiny people voted for a change because they haven’t recovered yet from the Great Recession after only 2 years. It took many more years than that to recover from the Great Depression. Why don’t you (who voted Republican) think about others for a change, instead of just your own pocketbook.

I’m not democrate or republican; but in my opinion today is a very sad day. When a party whose main objective is not to govern but to dismantel and disrupt, I fear we are in danger of civil unrest.

if the mantra is jobs and smaller government, doesn’t the opposition know that with smaller government there will be MORE unemployment. I think government is too big by at least 30%, but I’m not sure that now is the time for massive layoffs or spinoffs toward outsourcing already broken government processes.

During the next two years, if the party of filibuster and “no” continues with that campaign, they will not be voted in in 2012. This is not a time for the democrates to be humble about the progress that has been made or will be made as initiatives are fully implemented. That may mean altering any regulations that do not show significant progress. Please don’t take the short term view. Stay invested for the long term. Remember we will be paying off 8 years of prior Republican rule for more than the next 8 years. So legislate for the long term, ignore lobbyists and tune out those who want ot make politics a “reality show”.

My message to Obama, be bold, decisive, bring both sides together and hold them accountable. Consensus building is NOT a concept American people (as a whole) understand or appreciate.

I wonder what how much the outcomes would have differed if self serving “celebrities” and lobbyists were not so successful. When I see the result of their influence if in general, we are smart enough to elect our own representatives.

By the way, I’m very happy Terryl Clark lost, I was appaled by her negative campaign and me, me, me messages.

I think that in many respects the Minnesota governor’s outcome is a mirror to the nation. As a nation, I think we are split right down the middle.

Economic issues are certainly of primacy right now, but as a member of the gay community having endured the DOMA and “sanctity of marriage” rhetoric from the conservative side, the last decade has been demoralizing. On the local level, it was exciting to consider the likelihood of electing a governor here in MN who is in favor of marriage equality, and then deflating to see Republicans (who are not in favor of such action) take control of both houses. For social justice issues like that aren’t “priority” (compared to, say, health care or the national debt), it’s frustrating to feel that we don’t have a voice amidst the partisan wrangling and gridlock when this is an issue that directly impacts a sizable number of us.