Nov. 7 election most critical in modern times

It’s less than two weeks before America’s electorate will cast its most critical vote in modern times. Voter selections for the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate will determine the foreseeable future of both the domestic and foreign relations courses of the nation.
What are America’s most urgent problems today? They are, in order: Energy, especially imported oil; uncontrolled illegal immigration; terrorism and the Iraq war; and appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court.
First: Imported oil resources in the hands of our enemies are America’s Achilles’ heel. A sudden cut-off of Middle Eastern oil would throw the U.S. economy and its ability to wage war into a tailspin.
Second, uncontrolled illegal immigration gives nearly unlimited access for the purpose of supplying personnel and weapons to world terrorist groups, here at home, bent on destroying American lives and property.
Third, abandoning Iraq will be interpreted by world terrorist groups as weakness or outright cowardice on the part of the United States. Millions of lives will be sacrificed.
America’s failure in Iraq would ignite world terrorism to new heights and bring attacks to our shores.
With no U.S. presence in the Middle East, Iran would advance its nuclear program. The oil fields of the Middle East could fall into terrorist hands. However, the rest of the world might be supplied. Just try to get an ally out of that situation!
The combination of Iran, Hezbollah, Hamaas and, no doubt, Syria, would, in all probability, lead to the destruction of the nation of Israel.
The likelihood of the United States re-entering a conflict in the Middle East would be doubtful.
Fourth, both of President George W. Bush’s recent appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court have added balance to strict constructionist values to interpretations of the U.S. Constitution. One more such appointment would balance the U.S. Supreme Court to a point not seen for half a century.
According to the latest polls, the approval rating of Congress is at a low point of 16 percent.
Therefore, America’s lackluster political parties, Republican and Democrat, do not deserve accolades or honors.
What is important is where they stand on the critical political issues America faces today. Do they stand for issues that would protect the American people and its robust economy or not?
No. 1 — Energy.
Republicans favor developing all energy resources, ANWAR, offshore drilling and construction of atomic energy plants as proposed by President Bush.
Democrats consistently voted down all President Bush’s energy proposals in the past six years.
No. 2 — Illegal Immigration.
Both political parties have done little to completely shutdown illegal immigration. Congress approved 700 miles of fencing on the Mexican border with no appropriation for construction.
Republicans in the House voted for stricter border control and opposition to amnesty.
Democrats in the Senate led by Teddy Kennedy and other liberals support “comprehensive” immigration control with amnesty.
No. 3 — Terrorism and war in Iraq.
Republicans have set a goal of maintaining democracy in Iraq and remaining in Iraq until the new democracy can handle its own domestic problems.
Democrats, outspokenly, want to abandon Iraq at a set time regardless of Iraq’s new government’s ability to defend itself. Again this week, former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, a prominent Democrat, said, “Liberals have no stomach for a fight.”
No. 4 — Supreme Court appointments.
Republicans will continue to confirm U.S. Supreme Court Justices in the mold of President Bush’s first two nominations.
Democrats will continue to oppose nominations of Supreme Court Justices who are strict constructionists of the U.S. Constitution.
The choices are clear.
The vision of Republican leadership is to the future of the nation and solving problems as they arise. A Republican majority returned to the U.S. Congress would continue to work for energy independence against liberal obstructionists; for lower taxes, maintaining the strongest U.S. economy in 40 years; to protect U.S. interests and not abandon the Middle East and Iraq to the terrorists; and to continue on the course of denying amnesty to illegal immigrants.
The avowed vision of a Democrat majority in the Congress will be the reliving of the past. The Democrats have committed themselves to congressional investigations into the areas of U.S. entry into the Iraq war, managing the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the House handling of Rep. Foley’s homosexual activities, the exposure of Valerie Plame and the Abramoff lobbying scandals that deposed House Majority Leader Tom Delay, as well as the re-opening of the 9-11 hearings. And in the end, the vociferous far-left leadership of a Democrat majority would be calling for the impeachment of President George W. Bush.
The result of these Democrat party policies will effectively lead to another Watergate, which brought about interest rates rising to 22 percent, inflation to 18 percent, double-digit unemployment and a drastic sell-off in the U.S. stock market.
Worse yet, Americans’ personal debt is at an all-time high. Many home mortgages and home equity loans (without fixed rates) would be subject to these drastic increases in interest rates. Foreclosures, as occurred after Watergate, would be rampant, possibly threatening the U.S. banking system, reminiscent of the savings and loan collapse that cost American taxpayers half a trillion dollars.
These are the choices open to the American voter: a party with a vision for the future, with a homeland security program, energy independence and low taxes, or a party that dwells in the past, weak on homeland security, devoid of an energy program and promising high taxes.
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Mr. Hostetter welcomes comments at admin@americanfarm.com.