Democrats hampered in Congress

Frank Feigert Charlottesville
Published: April 24, 2008

The ancients had four causes of everything — earth, air, fire and water.
They did not make what is widely known as “the one great cause fallacy,” assuming that one thing is responsible for everything.
Yet, one letter-writer (“Economy suffers under Democrats,” The Daily Progress, April 20) has regressed to one great cause and that is, surprise of surprises, the Democratic Party.
Hence, the Democrats are responsible for:
- The market decline, ignoring all other factors (trade deficits, weakening dollar, increased energy costs, venality in the marketplace, etc.).
- Unemployment, ignoring companies shipping their production overseas to avoid taxes and fair labor laws, etc.
- Gasoline prices, ignoring the law of supply and demand, and the fact that China and India are two major, and increasing, consumers of oil.
Public approval of Congress may be below that of the president (largely because the Iraq war continues,) but has the writer forgotten that the president’s veto power, real and threatened, is supported by knee-jerk Republicans in the Congress?
The Democrats are not responsible for the veto power and the extraordinary majority necessary to overcome it.
This is in the Constitution, like it or not.
Can the writer really believe that a Republican majority in Congress, passing lower capital gains taxes as presidential candidates John Mc-Cain wishes, would solve our problems?
In these dark times, fantasies provide comic relief, if not solid policy analysis.