On Tuesday, Republicans retained control of the House of Representatives and gained the majority in the Senate, which will lead to some changes in policy, according to some Boston University professors.
The biggest issues that will be affected by the new Republican majority will be tax cuts, war and a change in the makeup of the judicial system, said Cathi Jo Martin, a BU political science professor.
BU Political Science Professor Betty Zisk mentioned corporate issues and the Alaskan oil reserve as issues that might be affected but added she doubted foreign policy would be greatly changed by the new shift of powers.
‘American political history tends to be cyclical, with one party being dominant at any one point in time.’ Martin said. ‘The Democrats have defined themselves largely in terms of their Republican opponents. At some point this will change, and the Democrats will re-invent themselves, but we’re not there yet.’
It might take 20 or 30 years before there is realignment of the Democratic Party, Zisk predicted.
However, the judicial branch is prone for changes that favor Republicans, according to Zisk. Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and William Rehnquist will soon be retiring, which opens two positions for conservative appointments. ‘Clearly, Bush will see [election results] as a mandate,’ Zisk said, to appoint not only more Republicans to the Supreme Court but also to the numerous federal district seats that will be opening soon.
Democrats controlled the Senate by a slim 50-49 majority prior to Tuesday’s election and also held a greater, but still minority, proportion of seats in the House of Representatives. Across the nation, Democrats have expressed their dissatisfaction with the new balance in government and offered explanations for the election results.
Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, who was re-elected on Tuesday, partially blamed campaign priorities for the major loss.
‘People don’t want a war of empty words they want a contest of ideas, with action and results and I’m going to use every ounce of energy I have to fight for that,’ he said during his victory speech at the Boston Sheraton Tuesday night.
‘We Democrats must have the courage of our convictions. We must be ready to refuse the course of least resistance, confront the seemingly popular and offer a vision that looks beyond the next poll to the next decade and the next generation,’ Kerry continued
The senator criticized Democratic Party leadership, saying, ‘I came out of this campaign season more convinced than ever that we have to change politics in this country and in our party itself.’
Zisk agreed with Kerry’s assessment of the Democratic Party, saying, ‘If the Democrats had anything to offer, I think they would have won the election.’
The Democratic Party offered different explanations.
‘They had a war-time president with the highest sustained approval ratings in history, who made these elections his number-one domestic priority,’ said Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe on the DNC website.
‘Republicans also had tens of millions of dollars of special-interest money on their side money that helped them blur the very real differences between our parties on key issues like prescription drugs and Social Security,’ McAuliffe continued.
However, Republican National Committee refutes that statement. According to the RNC Advisor Matthew David, Democrats spent just as much if not more money during these elections.
‘Democrats and their allies equaled or outspent Republicans in a large number of races that Republicans won,’ David said on the RNC website. ‘The incumbent Democratic governor of Georgia outspent his GOP opponent nearly seven-to-one and yet lost.’
Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.), a Democrat re-elected on Tuesday, called on the Republicans to use their new power for good use.
‘Our Republican president and Republican-controlled Congress now must make good on the promises they made to fix the problems that confront us. If not, they will have no one to blame but themselves,’ he said.
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