One of the key talking points on the right is that Democrats are the party of no ideas. I must agree. Democratic congressmen have no ideas . . . that can survive in the cold airless climate of the House or Senate. Seems that congressional Republicans forgot to pressurize the working chambers of those that sit to the left of the aisle, and in the vacuum the gasping members silently expire. It’s true – in space, no one can hear you scream.

Meanwhile, Republican members of Congress awash in the thick airy stench of their own corruption, and energized by political strategist Karl Rove, have fashioned an astonishing rallying cry to muster their base in preparation for the 2006 election. It goes as follows: Vote for us, or the Democrats will finally have the power to investigate all the crimes we have committed, indict us, and impeach the President. If this scenario isn’t frightening enough, then it is time to raise that terror alert again: Democrats would be so busy trying to unravel the massive extent of our corruption and the depth of our betrayal to the American people, that they will put terrorism “on the back burner” and then “our worst fears” will be realized.

Now this may be picky, but I find a couple of contradictions in this strategy. Aren’t Republicans supposed to be tough on crime? It almost seems that they are advocating a position where they wish to permit lawbreakers to get away with their misdeeds. Wouldn’t that be equivalent to letting a murderer go free, because the process of trying him would be too time-consuming and take too many cops off the streets? This argument also presumes that if Congress is actively investigating government wrongdoing, then they will have no energy left to do anything else. But are not Republicans the same party that insists the war in Iraq does not distract from the war on terrorism. What did they call it – multitasking?

If I recall, Senator Pat Roberts (Rep), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, promised that there would be a phase II investigation into how President Bush used or abused pre-war intelligence on WMD in Iraq. This was to begin in earnest following the 2004 election, so as not to disrupt the election process. I might be naďve, but to this day I believe that if President Bush did indeed misrepresent prewar intelligence to make the case for waging war, this knowledge should damn well have influenced the election. In any case, phase II of this investigation still has not begun, despite the Republican’s promise. Now they claim that if Democrats become the majority party in 2006, their insistence on performing this investigation would paralyze Congress. A cynical observer might conclude that the Republican-controlled Congress had no intention of ever performing the phase II investigation, at least while George W. Bush was still in office.

So there you have it. The November elections indeed represent a choice between two grand political philosophies. One is summarized by the slogan “Had Enough” - had enough of corruption, cronyism, corporatism, ineptness, irresponsibility, arrogance, Big Brother, aggression, torture, religiosity, fundamentalism, intolerance, and yes, fascism. The other is summarized by the slogan “If you let them prosecute us for our crimes, the boogeyman will get you.” Take your pick.