President Romney

Let us say, for the sake of argument, that Mitt Romney wins the presidential election on November 6. I  don't think it will happen, but I'm not nearly as sure about it as I was a month ago. President Obama might well have kicked away his re-election chances during that first debate on October 3.

But suppose there will be a Romney presidency. Let us also suppose that the Democrats will keep their present majority in the Senate. (GOP gains in North Dakota and Nebraska offset by Democratic wins in Maine and Massachusetts. There might be some other changes, but those appear to be the most likely.)  Further, let us say that despite Democratic gains in the House of Representatives, Republicans maintain a small majority there.

Romney  is  pledged to repeal Obamacare and replace it with "something common sense that works." Republicans in the House quickly will pass a repeal bill when the new Congress meets in January. It's possible that a couple of Democrats in the Senate would vote to repeal, so the Democrats will threaten a filibuster to prevent a vote. Republicans might let that happen, and we'd be treated to weeks of senators talking about their dear old mothers and reading recipes into the Congressional Record. The Senate rules are frankly ludicrous, allowing a minority to stop anything they don't like, and the Democrats have learned from past masters - the senate Republicans - how to thwart the majority.

Perhaps the Senate will vote to enforce cloture after weeks of acrimony and the repeal bill passes, to be signed immediately and gleefully by the new president. In truth, Romney has nothing to replace Obamacare, and we revert to the status quo of 2009. Insurance companies can once again refuse to cover illnesses because of pre-existing conditions, both real and bogus, young people must buy their own coverage beginning at age twenty-two, and women can be charged higher premiums than men. Millions of people lose their chance to buy insurance at all because of cost or prior poor health. Lifetime maximums will once again be written into policies.

Romney will ask the Congress to extend the "Bush era" tax cuts permanently, and Congress, with their eyes on future elections, will do so right speedily. Whatever Romney said about closing tax loopholes for wealthy taxpayers during his campaign, he will do nothing once in office and neither will Congress. Money made by money will continue to be taxed at a much  lower rate than money made by work. And despite what Romney promised, the annual deficit will get much larger.

Congress will move to cut federal spending to keep things from getting out of hand completely, but Republicans have never been averse to spending, whatever they say about it, so expect some very large construction projects to be approved, most especially the Keystone pipeline. Big construction projects mean big contracts, after all, with big profits for construction firms.

What will be on their chopping block, aside from Big Bird? The National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities come to mind. These barely  make a dent in federal spending, so what else? Since President Romney wants to buy more warships and other weapons, he and Congress will need to cut almost every other federal discretionary spending program, and make a huge reduction in force of the civilian government employees to even come close to balancing the budget. So, those of you who like to visit public lands, for example, don't expect to receive any interpretive walks or talks, or any rescue services for that matter. Don't expect that the medicines, food and water you use will be inspected adequately. Don't think the states will get any federal money for relief of indigent people. Say good-bye to any public funding for Planned Parenthood.

Do expect an attempt to weaken the Clean Air and Clean Water acts, and the Endangered Species Act could itself become endangered. Do expect an attempt to criminalize some or all abortions. (Republicans have promised that before, and haven't delivered on it. If I was more cynical, I'd say they deliberately don't want to pass such a law because then they wouldn't be able to use it as an issue, election after election.) Do expect them to  end any tax laws favorable to the development of renewable energy in favor  of new give-aways to the petroleum industry. Do expect President Romney to threaten Iran. Romney will meet the Obama timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan, despite having criticized Obama for setting a calendar date for doing so.

Expect the rich to get richer and the poor  to get poorer. Ain't we got fun.