2006 Prairie Journal Index

The Year in Review

January
First Causes - January 8
Faith and Reason - January 10
Sixty-Eight Dollar Oil - January 20
Sabotage is not Terrorism - January 21
Temporal Statutory Decay - January 28

March
Making Our Own Rules - March 7
Dear Senator Roberts - March 23

April
Fiscal Conservatives: Rejoice - April 8
Seventy-One Dollar Oil (And a Hot April) - April 18
Seventy-Five Dollar Oil - April 22
Energy Insanity: Taxing "Windfall Profits" and Other Stupidity - April 28

May
America the (Over-?) Populated - May 20

June
Closing in on 300 Million - June 27
Carbon Con? - June 27

August
Sharing My World With Snakes - August 7

September
Logically Challenged - September 28

November
Sixty-One Dollar Oil - November 28

December
The Plan is Oversight - December 3

Previous Years
2005 Prairie Journal Index - December 28, 2005

Copyright (C) 2006 James Michael Brennan, All Rights Reserved

The Plan is Oversight

Certain snooty pundits and pre-election Republicans have accused the Democrats of not having a plan for governing were they to regain power in Congress. While that criticism has certainly been exaggerated, I can't help but ask: Why do they need a plan? Their not having one would surely cause less harm to the national interest than has six years of almost absolute Republican rule.

Indeed, the Republican Congress has been as negligent as the Bush administration has been incompetent. More than anything else, what is sorely needed is that which has been grievously lacking: oversight. That is something the Democrats can provide in refreshing abundance.

Let's not be too unfair to the new Democratic majority. They've been largely locked out of the process of governing by a divisive Republican administration and congressional leadership that have been all too happy to exercise raw partisan power and eschew Democratic participation. Consensus was not a priority. It was not even a goal. Under such conditions, why would we expect the Democrats to have a mature, fully formulated plan to remedy all the nation's woes? Of necessity, their role in government these past several years has been not construction but opposition. They'll get turned around soon enough.

In the meantime, a healthy dose of oversight will go a long way.

Copyright (C) 2006 James Michael Brennan, All Rights Reserved