Taking Sides

For those that could care less about politics they would say that a democrat should side with a democrat and a republican with a republican. However, those that know a little about politics know that isn't always the case. People seem to get irate when politicians side with the opposite party. For example, recently, Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE) stated where he stands on the issue of social security. To put it straight, he sides with President Bush. No matter what Bush's plan is concerning social security he'll likely go with it. He was the only Senate Democrat that didn't sign a letter to President Bush saying that Bush's Social Security plan would increase national debt. What's odd is that he votes strongly conservative. Now, I have no clue why he chooses to do such things like these but I can theorize. Maybe he has a strong commitment to solving the social security dilemma and he is teaming up with Bush because he believes in it. There is also the power issue. Everyone wants power in the political arena, and if he wants power he sides with the powerful. One way to get power is by garnering votes from the other side, and if he wants to get higher up, he needs all the votes he can get. Remember he was Govenor of Nebraska before becoming a Senator, it wasn't all democrat votes that got him there. Also, Nebraska is a Red state, Nelson can't afford to lose Red votes; they are the majority, so maybe he does have to side with Bush on Social Security to keep the red a likeing. What I'm trying to get at is people who blow up at politicians for certain reasons need to take a step back and think. Yes, Nelson is a Democrat, but in order to stay in power and help his party and his democrat constituents it sometimes takes votes from the other party. Sometimes politicians don't do what they want to do, but know they have to because they need it in the end. In spite of all this, I believe Senator Nelson will be for the best plan possible. He said that he can't be for or against a plan that doesn't exist. He also wants the plan to deal with insolvency first. So, if Bush's plan plain out sucks and doesn't deal with insolvency Democrats don't need to worry about him joining the Red, Nelson will go with the democrats, or so he says.

~demgem