what the Republican house means for the world

I thought we were better than this, America. The results of this year’s election are in, and America has spoken: throw the bums out! Or, more specifically our nation’s voters have decided that they want less taxes and government spending. The House is now dominated by Republicans, and the Democratic majority in the Senate is slipping.
So what does this mean for our nation? The most obvious impact of this new decision is that Obama won’t be able to get many of his campaign promises through Congress. Don’t expect another healthcare bill or stimulus package for a long, long time. What this means for Obama is obvious: his popularity will plummet even further, and he may end up being only a one-term president. But for America? Our nation will collapse even further, unless we throw these new Republican bums out.
Most think-tanks and professors will agree that there are two issues that outweigh all other issues in politics: the economy and foreign policy. These two issues are endlessly intertwined, and have been the most important issues in American elections since 1776.
First comes the economy. This was the main reason the Republicans captured the House: frustration over Obama’s shortcomings in the economic sector. These aren’t totally unwarranted. The unemployment rate has continued to skyrocket, and the market is barely stable. This, however, fails to recognize the fact that Obama and his despicable bailouts, now the symbols of big government, brought Wall Street and Detroit back from the brink and have significantly slowed the pace of economic decline.
It’s no secret that the Republicans want to repeal the bailouts, slash spending and cut taxes. Shrinking government, after all, is practically the definition of conservatism. The results of this will be disastrous. It was Bush’s deregulation that allowed banks to get away with the shady subprime loans that caused this mess in the first place. Tax cuts have also failed. The New York Times pointed out that Obama slipped a $116 billion tax slipped into his stimulus package, but consumer spending has remained level. Sure Obama’s big government tactics haven’t fixed the economy, but that’s simply because they haven’t fixed the economy yet.
So what happens if we let the Republicans derail Obama’s next bailout and deregulate the economy? The simple answer is that this recession becomes the “Great Recession”, featuring more unemployment and long recovery times, as well as all of the associated harms.
But that’s just the simple answer. The long answer involves something called a trade war. A trade was involves a great number of sanctions, tariffs, economic legislation and other governmental action to ensure that another country’s exports don’t undercut one’s own economy. In today’s modern, globalized economy, the trade war is becoming the most common form of combat, coming before war or even diplomacy.
The United States has been engaged in a trade war before, fighting the Japanese and their minions Toyota and Mitsubishi in the 70s and 80s. Needless to say, we won, but not because of lasseiz-faire capitalism, as the Republican party likes to announce. Rather, we won that war through increased governmental regulations, such as a law mandating that a certain percentage of all automobiles purchased in this country be made in this country.
These days, the Internet is aflame with talk of a new trade war, this time with China. The panic started after an incident a few weeks ago in which China cut off its supply of rare-earth metals (neither rare nor earths, this group of 17 elements is essential in everything from earbuds to smart bombs) to Japan after the two nations had a scuffle over some disputed islands.
Many experts contend that China and the United States are on course to have another such trade war of epic proportions, “Trade War I” if you will. They also agree that if we let the market run its course (the Republican advocacy) we will almost certainly lose.
The effects of such a loss would be disastrous. Not only will our economy tank, but our foreign relations will decline. We will be delegated from a “hyperpower” to a mere superpower, one that has to do battle with China, which will emerge from Trade War I as the world’s other superpower. America’s ties with the world’s other rising power, India, will be cut once India realizes it can gain nothing from the weakened United States, and progress in the War on Terror will become impossible. But it won’t just be India who will lose respect for us. Much of the rest of the world, from Brazil to Djibouti will stop caring about what the United States wants, and many 3rd world countries will abandon American aid for Chinese aid.
Clearly the effects of a Republican Congress are to be disastrous. When the 2012 election rolls around, be sure to remember to throw these Republican bums out too.