As 2009 draws to a close, many folks are beginning to ponder what 2010 will bring. Some are concentrting on the micro…”will I get married this year?” Some, like myself, are into macro thought…”will I be better off in 2010 than I was in 2009?” Not that 2009 was any kind of picnic, mind you.

I am a political junkie. I thrive on watching what our elected officials do to us (or occassionally for us). Based on the fact that all legislative power is now vested in the Democrats, I will look at their agenda for the new year. This agenda is safe, as Republicans can do nothing to stop it, and they don’t need Republicans to pass it. Let’s start with the Obama agenda as it has played out so far.

Americans elected Barack Ohbama by having a huge turnout by people who rarely participate in voting. He inspired tens of thousands of young, college-age voters to go to the polls, a group not especially politically active. Along with them came record numbers of blacks, gays, Hispanics, liberals, and the poor. Unfortunately for Obama, they all came with their own agendas. They heard him during the campaign saying that their issues could no longer wait for action. Change had come, and they expected to be on top of his list of priorities. These groups have now become “disgruntled,” because they have been told by the Democrats that they must wait. “The timing isn’t right.” “The economy is not recovering fast enough.” the truth is that 2010 is an election year, and for all their joy and expectation, the tide has turned against their aggressive plan to socialize much of the U.S. economy. They know that they must be quiet about the bulk of their agenda in order to be re-elected and continue controlling Congress.

Just as a reminder, the Democrats have complete control of the Congress, and can do whatever they want. The whole attempt to bring in Republican votes on legislation like the Health Care Act is a ply to say “see, it wasn’t just us,” when the program ends up costing voters more in insurance premiums, medical costs go up, and adds to our national debt. When I think of all the things that the Democrats have pushed through this year, “Cash for Clunkers,” bank bailouts, insurance bailouts, auto industry bailouts, and the bailouts of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, I wonder why they aren’t parading around the country tooting their own horn. These were all good for the country, right?

The Democrats agenda for 2010 has been set. Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are revving the engines and working to keep wavering moderates in line. If you want support of party money for re-election, you better get ready to play ball. But I believe this will be the year of Gomer Pyle’s “surprise, surprise, surprise!” The Dems will pass the Health Care Act, and then all those secrets that we cannot see will come into the light of day. As the bill is gone over with a fine tooth comb, the public gets to see what’s in it. Regardless of Obama’s promise of transparency in his government, the Democrats have written this bill behind closed doors, keeping the public out of it. And regardless of the promise of bi-partisanship, none of the Republican amendments were allowed…and there were scores of them. Shutting the public and the opposition out seems to have worked, and they will forge ahead with the bill in 2010, crying all along that Republicans are the party of “no.”  And all this in the face of voter opposition to the bill.

CAP AND TRADE

Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer (Calif), has steadfastly refused to back down from pushing this garbage down Americans throats. IT has been shown to be nothing more than a tax increase on all of us. Theis happens because all power generators will be given expensive new regulations and hefty taxes that they will pass on to you and me. The whole “cap and trade” program has been tried in Europe for the past decade and has been a miserable failure. It didn’t make a dent in carbon reduction, but cost Europeans a lot in higher utility bills. Democrats should tread lightly here, but hey won’t. Al Gore and Boxer will see to that.

TAX CUTS

Democrats have been chomping at the bit to repeal the Bush tax cuts that they say only benefit the rich. Let me remind you that this group already pays the vast majority of America’s taxes. They also are the group that creates most of the private sector jobs in the economy. But that doesn’t matter to liberals. They plan to increse their taxes by cancelling the tax cuts, rasie them more to hepl pay for their health care bill, and yet again by taxing their “cadillac” health insurance policies. All this during an economic downturn. Their cries of “soak the rich” will only prolong the recovery and slow job creation as less money goes into the economy and more goes into government coffers.

IMMIGRATION REFORM

Harry Reid has said that this is his #3 priority, following health care and climate change. With the election of Obama, there has been a huge push by liberals to bring the 15 million or so illegal aliens “out of the shadows,” and into US citizenship. While I agree that we can’t ship them all back to wehre they came from, there are things we can do to deter others. A Republican plan would deport any illegal who has been convicted of a felony. You would think this is common sense legislation. But, no. Liberals cry that his would split families apart and mean certain poverty conditions for those left behind. But I say not necessarily. The whole family can be deported! Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see how this issue plays out. With powerful immigrant rights groups demanding action, and a majority of voters against the assumption of millions of illegals, will Democrats cave on the issue and punt? I think so. Should be fun to watch, though.

BUDGET

Obama has promised to get the deficit under control. He also promised to get rid of earmarks. Both of these are ridiculous. Just today he approved a Defense Department appropriations bill loaded with pork and special earmarks for special Democrats. Included were weapons systems that the Pentagon did not request, but that are built in a Democrats district. The Edward Kennedy Visitors Center in Massachusetts? Teddy would be embarrassed. Altogether around $4 billion  in pork. Another broken promise on top of the fact that he ignored earmarks in his budget bill, saying “wait til next year.” Don’t hold your breath. In order to balance the budget, he promised not to raise taxes on the middle class…”not one dime!” This will be another “surprise, surprise, surprise” moment. Get thyself ready.

JOBS

This will be the Democrats war cry in 2010. The will tell us about the hundreds of thousands of “green” jobs that will be generated by the “green” agenda. But, as I mentioned before, we can look to Europe to see what this promise has in store for us. They are way ahead of us in green technology and laws, but have no meaningful job base to shwo for it. The billions of dollars that Obama wants to spend on jobs will be another rabbit hole. The stimulus bill was supposed to create thousands of jobs, but ended up “saving” the jobs of government workers who belong to unions that Obama owes for electing him. Yes, that includes teachers, firefighters, police and many other government jobs. These are all vital services, but should be paid for at the local level, not byu the federal government. These do not help grow the economy. We need private sector jobs, they only keep the unions humming. Payback? Ya think?

Then there are the other problems facing the Democrats. Problems like terrorism, a nuclear Iran, an increasingly aggressive Russia, and how to beat Al Quiada. These will take a backseat to the Democrats domestic agenda, which is more important to the vote seekers. But watch what happens when one of these issues explodes.

2010 will either be quiet, allowing Democrats to be re-elected and keep their grip on Congress, or it will be as loud as a bulldozer ramming through legislation that Americans don’t want. I don’t know which is worse. But one of them guarentees that in 2010, there will be change the White House can believe in.