Working together or consolidating power?

Democrats and Republicans want to work together. No controversy, all moderation. This is because both sides like power.

Voters sent Washington the unambiguous message that Americans are sick of big government, lack of freedom, and all the associated corruption. Republicans were spanked for abandoning their small government principles and acting like Democrats, yet Trent Lott claims just the opposite, that Republicans should be more liberal and work with Democrats.

Whatever you want to say about Washington politicians, they aren't dumb. They know damn good and well that Americans voted against big government, but the politicians don't like that message. Bigger government means more power for our representatives, whether in the majority or minority, and that's what matters in Washington. So Republicans elect the same anti-American leaders and Trent Lott claims a different message.

Republicans could easily recapture the majority in Congress and recapture the Whitehouse if they would adopt the small government platform they pretended to support for the last century, but they won't. They won't because adopting a small government platform threatens the two party - accomplice press hegemony on power. That platform was forced on Republicans by Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich, and Republicans won't risk the two party hegemony by adopting it again.

This election scared both Democrats and Republicans because libertarians came out in record numbers and slapped the Republicans for betraying them. If libertarians continue to vote in large numbers, they could break the two party system. Both parties are scared of the libertarian mainstream of America that could bounce them from power, so Republicans are content to stay a minority party to secure the two party system. Better to have almost half a pie than no pie at all.

To that end Republican and Democrat leaders will play as nice as they can, pass each other's anti-American legislation like amnesty for illegal aliens, increasing the minimum wage, increasing government destruction of health care, and increasing government destruction of schools. They'll also pass more voting restrictions to silence third parties, but the accomplice press won't make a peep about that.

The liberal accomplice press will coo and complement the Democrats, hide their corruption, and blame Bush for anything unpopular. The Republican accomplice press will demonize Democrats, blame them and Bush for anything unpopular (Bush is a lame duck, and he's being blamed for Republican losses), and lionize Republican congressmen despite their continuing corruption, pork barrel spending, and movement to work with Democrats on even bigger government.

The two parties will play to the tiny middle they both overlap in order to quietly turn off the libertarian mainstream so they don't vote in 2008. Both Republicans and Democrats will work to exclude everybody but the 40% of the potential voters who are locked into the two party system.