Good Riddance

So Arlen Specter is a Democrat again - big deal. For 28 years the man has had it both ways by getting huge support from the GOP during election season (like when the RNC supported him against conservative Pat Toomey in 2004 even when Specter had opposed President Bush's tax cuts) but voting whith the Democrats on stuff like the Obama stimulus package, illegal immigration and check-card voting for union elections. He's pro-abortion, pro-affirmative action and he joined John McCain's Gang of 14 four years ago that hijacked the review process for President Bush's judicial nominees. With friends like him, who needs enemies?

Sen. Specter admits that the political situation in Pennsylvania had the greatest influence on his decision. Mr. Toomey is mounting a serious challenge for Specter's seat and the senator believed that he would lose the GOP primary next Spring and, if he declared as an Independent like Joe Leiberman, the general election. Given that he doesn't want to retire, the only option left was to switch back to the Democrats he abandoned in 1965 and count on massive support from President Obama and the DNC next year which he's sure to get. So at least Senator Specter is honest enough to say that craven political survival drove his announcement and not some highfalutin philosophical reason like the tax policies of the Club for Growth.

The Democrats are exultant, of course. With Al Franken near to closing the deal in Minnesota, Specter's defection brings them a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate (at least on paper) and no real threat to their agenda through next year. They can run through every wild-eyed piece of legislation they've dreamed of submitting for the past forty years but which was simply too dangerous to consider until now: passage of the Kyoto Protocols, cap-in-trade limits on industry, mandatory union membership for every job, citizenship for illegal immigration, Federal legalization of gay marriage and euthanasia, outright government ownership of every major industry from airlines to real estate. The future is bright if you're a socialist now that Arlen Specter is on your side.

For the Republicans, Specter's betrayal is both a kick in the groin and an opportunity. They are weaker in the Senate than at any time since 1976 and have virtually no chance of even slowing down the radical agenda I described above, yet are closer to their conservative core. The country club Republicans who chafed at Ronald Reagan and who sneer at the NASCAR dads who voted for them have pushed the Party to the left for years, away from the principles that brought them victory after victory and toward bigger government, higher taxes and spending, acceptance of abortion, euthanasia, stem cell research, illegal immigration and so on, blurring the distinction between Republicans and the Democrats they ostensibly opposed. These misguided blue bloods thought by emulating the liberals and differing in policy only by degree, they could avoid the bitter debates that are at the heart of American democracy, get along with their enemies and keep their jobs longer. However, as was demonstrated in the past two elections, becoming more like the Democrats only gave more power to the real Democrats, and as Dr. Phil is fond of saying, "How's that workin' for you?" The answer, of course, is disastrously. The American people want and deserve a real choice when they go to the polls, not two shades of gray. By abandoning the Republicans, Arlen Specter gives them a chance to rediscover the power of conservative ideas: Let's hope they take it.