By Budd Schroeder

There will be changes in government because of the change of political power. We should know by now that politics is all about power and money and those with the most power and money get to call the shots on what will happen on the national and local scenes. In Washington, DC the Congress went to the Democrats, but the Republicans managed to increase their majority in the Senate.

Many think this arrangement will cause confusion and more internal battles that will involve getting or maintaining power. It will be difficult to get legislation passed and there will be more distractions, especially in the house. It is almost certain that what President Trump will be mangled by the Democrat majority. The citizens will be the ones to pay the price for the dissension.

The Democrats in the house have already stated or at least, hinted what their agenda will be. The prime directive is to distract from any legislation Trump wants. There will be the cries from the Waters’ group for impeachment. What the charges will be have not been invented yet. The fact that after two years of Mueller’s attempts to charge the president with collusion involving Russia, and coming up with nothing, that investigation will continue to be on the agenda.

The liberal leftists have made significant inroads into the process and since positions are traditionally based on seniority, the committee chairmanships will go to people like Maxine Waters and Gerald Nadler for key positions. Knowledgeable people are skeptical about the results that will come based on their past performances and reputation.

Ideology is going to be tested as well. From the direction the left has taken during the past two years, it is probable that there will be attacks on the Constitution. Nancy Pelosi has already stated that weakening the rights stated in the Second Amendment is high on her hit list. It is obvious that the liberal left is determined to strip rights from the citizens and increase the power of the government.

The Founding Fathers placed the right of the people to keep and bear arms high on their list of important rights. Only the freedom of speech, press, right of religion, and to peaceably petition the government were placed before the right to be armed. They stated that the right to own a gun was not to hunt or even for self-defense, but as protection against a government that became a threat against a republic. Since the Civil War, politicians and bureaucrats have been infringing on that right.

It is difficult to find another constitutional right that requires governmental permission to enjoy. From the time of the Jim Crow Laws to restrict the right to keep and bear arms, to laws requiring permits to carry them, the power brokers keep passing laws that infringe on the right in spite of what the Second Amendment says. Requiring a permit to have and bear arms has turned a right into a privilege. This is not what the Founding Fathers said. Of course, power seeking politicians don’t care what the Constitution says.

Then, there is the hypocritical issue of the First Amendment right of free speech. The liberals speak of their support of free speech, but think nothing of banning conservative guest speakers in the liberal colleges. Some college students held violent riots to prevent conservative ideas from being spoken in THEIR college halls. This is becoming more ingrained in the educational process, some being evident in public schools.

Even words have to be “politically correct” if a person wants to avoid problems. Saying the politically incorrect word can cause a person to lose a job or be denigrated publicly. Books have been taken of shelves because they had parts or words that could hurt someone’s feelings. Words have great power and using certain ones or making statements could cause a law suit if said in the wrong way or environment. The term “racist” has become a weapon in the mouths of the liberals.

What would happen if those who are conservative or on the right insisted that it is a denigrating word that is hurtful and would have to be referred to as the “r” word? Of course with the liberal media and educational institutions that would be unacceptable because it doesn’t offend them. Calling a person a racist is one of their best weapons.

The states take part of these methods to advance their agenda and New York and California are high on the list of the liberal states with more joining the blue tide. However, to a logical mind they are hardly a standard for rational living. California is high on the list of a haven for illegal immigrants and homeless people and it is getting worse. New York just became a totally blue state with the Assembly and Senate run by Democrats.

The major problem is geography. The power is all in New York City and the voting shows it. The upstate counties are much more conservative and invariably the counties with a high percentage of people getting public assistance vote Democrat. It is obvious that upstate New York will be run by the whims of the New York City politicians. They now have to power to do that. Some are saying that corruption will increase along with taxes and a loss of freedoms.

Governor Cuomo will no longer have to sneak in his pet projects with “a message of necessity” to dominate the state. He will be able to have the power of a dictator and push his agenda whenever and wherever he wishes. This will be a very tough year for conservatives and others who value freedom.