The GOP has apparently finally accepted that they have no new ideas. After two years of doing nothing but repeating "NO" and "Tax cuts for the rich," the GOP went all the way back to 1994 and resurrected their "Contract With America." The Contract on America is fondly remembered by Republicans as the reason they won back the House and Senate after decades of being out of power. So, the 2010 GOP created a "Pledge to America" to fire up their base to recapture Congress this November.
The GOP's 1994 Contract With America contained a lot of changes the Republicans swore they would implement if elected. The document contains a number of procedural changes, but the provision that caught the attention of disgruntled voters was the promise to enact term limits. From now on, no more career politicians! The Contract promised to limit Congress members to no more than two terms (12 years for Senators, 4 years for Representatives).
At the time, many of us thought this was foolish. If the American people really wanted to change Congress, they could simply vote out the incumbents. Elected GOP members could always choose to not run for re-election after two terms, if they thought turn-over was beneficial to the country. However, the American people, frustrated by the continued re-election of other people's (not their own) Senators and Representatives, elected 75 GOP members of Congress, and the Republicans had control of Congress for most of the period between 1994 and 2006, and from 2001 to 2008 they also had the Presidency. At any point between 1994 and 2008 they could have passed legislation limiting Congress members to two terms, and between 2001 and 2006 they could have passed such legislation with the assurance that then-President Bush would sign it into law. Any of the 75 members of the GOP who were newly elected in 1994 could refuse to run for re-election after two terms, enforcing term limits on themselves. So, how did the 1994 Contract With America work out for America?
Today, 16 years after the 1994 election, of the 75 freshman members of the GOP, 23 are still in Congress. Nearly one-third are still in Congress, including 16 Representatives who are completing their 8th term! The Republican-controlled Congress never passed legislation requiring term limits, much less signing it into law. Clearly, the 1994 Contract With America was an election year gimmick designed to get the GOP elected, only to be abandoned when they achieved power.
So, what does this mean for the GOP's 2010 Pledge To America? The Pledge promises to reign in spending. Does anyone really think Republicans will reign in spending if given control of Congress? This is the party that inherited a budget surplus in 2001 and turned it into the biggest deficit ever. They spent $3 Trillion on wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and kept them "off budget" to try to fool people into not realizing how bad the budget deficit was. In 2003, when they controlled both houses of Congress and the Presidency, they passed and enacted Medicare Part D. One of the provisions of that law was a requirement that the Federal Government not negotiate prescription drug prices, and pay pharmaceutical companies whatever they asked, rather than use the bulk purchasing power of the Government to get taxpayers the best deal possible.
Does anyone really think that the GOP will suddenly become the party of fiscal responsibility if they take back Congress in 2010? No, the Pledge To America is just another gimmick designed to dupe their base into voting for them.