January 5, 2007

The new congress is in place and we are being asked to believe that the democrats will be more ethical and fair than the republicans or, for that matter, than the democrats, who ran the House and much of the Senate for decades before the Republican Revolution of 1994. Maybe they will, but politics being what it is, I doubt it.

Democrats are more divided with more wings and special interests than a centipede has feet. Someone once compared organizing democrats to herding cats. Will Rogers once said: “I belong to no organized political party; I’m a democrat.” He knew what he was talking about then and his humorous remark remains true today.

Democrats, under Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, say they will reform House and Senate ethics, limit congressional travel paid for by outsiders; reform pork barrel spending and do everything but cure tooth decay. Again, maybe they will, but the new guys always say they’ll be better than the previous guys. They rarely are.

But let’s give democrats the benefit of the doubt until they cause us to doubt. Anyone like to bet how long that will take?

Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C.