Cultural Gadfly

As Americans, we all love a good revolution against perceived oppressors. It’s even better when everybody agrees that the oppressors really are such, but we take what we can.

There’s a new CNN Poll out (H/T HotAir) that says the blame for our economic woes is shifting away from the GOP and towards the Dems.

Nearly two years into the recession, opinion about which political party is responsible for the severe economic downturn is shifting, according to a new national poll.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Friday morning indicates that 38 percent of the public blames Republicans for the country’s current economic problems. That’s down 15 points from May, when 53 percent blamed the GOP. According to the poll 27 percent now blame the Democrats for the recession, up 6 points from May. Twenty-seven percent now say both parties are responsible for the economic mess.

“The bad news for the Democrats is that the number of Americans who hold the GOP exclusively responsible for the recession has been steadily falling by about two to three points per month,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. “At that rate, only a handful of voters will blame the economy on the Republicans by the time next year’s midterm elections roll around.”

Of course we all want to read that and start writing about the coming resurgence of the GOP; the more enthusiastic fans of Glenn Beck will likely have visions of tea parties and w(h)igs. Some of you may even pump up Muse’s new song Uprising.

And this is good news. As Ed Morrissey notes in the HotAir post (linked above),

The evolving polling on this shows the big danger for Democrats as they push big-spending agenda items through Congress. They could do that as long as they didn’t have to worry about getting blamed for a stalled economy. The undiminished upward trajectory in unemployment has made that impossible. Democrats got what they wanted in the $787 billion Porkulus plan after shutting Republicans out of the picture, and they now own the results.

If unemployment continues to rise, and if the administration continues to offer fraudulent numbers from its Porkulus project, Democrats will completely own this recession and the unemployment it causes by the time the midterms arrive.

But here’s the problem: Republicans do still share some of the blame. The 2000-2006 Republican Congress and the Neo-Con George W. Bush greatly increased the size of government and government spending. That’s the kind of thing that we, as conservatives, have to fight against.

Let me explain another problem; I’m sure you’ve all heard or been a part of a conversation like this one: “As the gross human rights violations in Soviet Russia, Cuba, Venezuela, and China demonstrate, communism fails in implementation to be a viable structure for society.” “No, man, those places all just got it wrong. We’ll get it right this next time, though!”

It’s not the ideology, it’s the implementation. Under other circumstances, I’m willing to listen to that argument. For example, look at the French Revolution: the idea of revolution can be implemented well and with good fruits (Greece, 1820′s, anybody?). But the French did it all wrong. But in the case of communism, I won’t believe that it’s not the ideology, because it’s never worked. If there had been one example of it working in history, it would be different.

Anyway, the shift in the blame for the economy doesn’t necessarily mean these people will vote GOP. Just like Obama’s big take on Iraq in ’07 was “I wasn’t a Senator when it went down!” primaries challengers are going to say “I’m not the guy who voted for Porkulus.” I predict that a lot of dissatisfied dems are going to vote for a different democrat rather than a republican.

But why am I darkening this beam of light? Enjoy the news. I’m going to go listen to Muse’s Uprising now. Because I like the song, dammit. And it’s appropriate.

Categories: Congress, Economy, Politics \\ Tags: 2010 Elections, Blame Democrats, CNN Poll, Economy