by Mark Browning

Created on: January 07, 2007   Last Updated: April 19, 2007

A new day has dawned as Democrats have taken over the Congress! Nancy Pelosi is in charge on one side of the Capital, while Harry Reid runs the show on the other. Oh Brave New World! What marvels do we have in store for us.
1. Immigration reform. For years now, Republicans have talked tough about illegal immigration and done nothing about it. In the future, we can expect the Democrat-controlled Congress to talk calmly about illegal immigration and do nothing about it. Why? People on both sides of the aisle employ Guatamalan groundskeepers and the like. They all take donations from organizations that profit directly or indirectly from illegal workers. Oh yeah, at least for now any withholding tax or Social Security payments made by illegal workers is a windfall for the government coffers. They might throw up some fences here or round up a few dozen roofers there, but don't look for any meaningful reform.

2. Minimum wage. Yes, the Democrats will almost certainly pass a minimum wage increase. Of course many traditional minimum-wage businesses already have to pay more than the future minimum in order to attract employees, so it won't affect them. Some small businesses will find that the profit margin-already razor thin-becomes simply insufficient to stay in business. Who will profit? Wal-Mart and Target and the like. They'll be able to absorb the cost more easily and will benefit when the smaller-scale competition either evaporates or has to raise prices.
3. Iraq War. Democrats have been squawking about the war for several years. "Bush lied. He bungled the war plan. He bungled the after-war plan. He didn't send enough troops. He sent too many troops." We've heard it all before, but now they'll be able to call Congressional hearings to squawk even louder and for a bigger audience because we all pay a lot of attention to Congressional hearings, don't we? And for all their posturing, do you think that Barak Obama or Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden or any of the other presidential wannabes will put their political capital where their mouth is? Right. Don't look for a lot of change there.
4. Ethics reform. Just in case you were unclear, propositioning Congressional pages has always been unethical. Bribes and shady business deals have always been a problem. The leadership can pass all the ethics laws they want to, but in the end a small segment of these esteemed officials will behave boorishly. No change there.
5. Global warming. Here's a difference. Democrats will talk openly about global warming. They'll wring their hands a lot over it. They'll complain about how we should consider possibly reviewing the efficacy of looking into the ideas espoused in the Kyoto Protocol. What they won't do, I predict, is take any meaningful action. Do you really think that Nancy Pelosi is going to tell Barbara Streisand to turn in her SUV for a Prius?
6. Taxes. I guarantee that some tax "reform" will be passed. Some people's taxes will go up and some will go down. The poor will still get a negative tax, the Earned Income Tax Credit. The rich will still find ways to avoid taxes. The vast middle class will still wind up paying the lion's share of the taxes.

I could go on, but I'm sure you get the picture. There are simply too many political and economic interests in the way for the Dems to shake things up in Washington.

Learn more about this author, Mark Browning.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.