Political Crap--It's Over! GOP booted out!

What a relief! My wife will no longer receive any calls from Robert Redford or Bill Clinton touting California's prop 87 (Gas tax increase supporting alternate energy sources). She was always thrilled when she got one of those calls, and made sure that she let me know who was calling her, "Bob" or "Bill".

The Democrats, of which I am one, think that they scored a coup by sweeping the GOP out of both houses of congress. This change of power came about not because of a perception by voters that one party had a superior agenda than the other, but because the GOP had been so incompetent, corrupt, and destructive that voters would not support them again. It is not so much that the Democrats won, but moreso that the GOP got booted by a disgusted electorate.

Now it is up to Congress to actually do the work that the framers of the Constitution expected, i.e. be a check and balance on the powers of a Presidency that has run amok!

I was playing golf the other day with two other golfers in their late sixties/early seventies, and overheard one of them say something like, "Can you imagine being married to someone like Nancy Pelosi?" With the great division between Conservatives and Liberals that has developed since the Reagan years, I have learned to be "mum" when it comes to talking politics with anyone who has opposite views. But, I thought to myself, I doubted that Nancy would have any strong desire to marry or pay much attention at all to either of them, nor did I think that either of them would be able to match her intellect and accomplishment in any way. I cannot feel comfortable playing golf with either of them again, knowing that they would probably feel the same about me if they knew I was a liberal Democrat.

Are the American people, who are so diverse in their origins, becoming tribal based on their political parties?

It used to be that Conservatives and Liberals had many of the same notions about living in this country. There was disagreement, but also common ground for compromise, and actual accomplishment. Most often, government swung back and forth between the moderate left to the moderate right. The far right and far left wings of each party always were around and usually had their say, but stayed on the fringe of party platform and policy. I voted for George "I" for president because I thought he had the superior experience and ability to lead our country. When I saw how the Republicans in Congress acted when they took over in the mid 1990's, I vowed to myself that I would never vote for a Republican for any office again. I would have voted for Arnold for governor this time around, because I think he has seen the light, and is no longer catering to the right wing of his party, but to the needs of the State of California. I think that Maria probably hit him aside the head a few times after his fiasco with his special election propositions of over a year ago. But, I stuck with my vow. I voted a straight Democatic ticket.

I do not want to support any Republican who might contribute to the ability of the current GOP to control any part of government. That will be the case as long as they are driven by their right wing policies regarding God, gays, and gats!

But, this election is over and nationally the electorate voted with one voice against Bush and the Republican Congress which said, "We don't like it, we don't like it at all"! If we were a parlimentary system like England, Bush would be gone too! We have to live with him for two more years. I hope he got the message and starts acting in concert with the new Congress to respond with positive actions to the message sent!

It is interesting that on the first day after the election, Sec'y Rumsfeld resigned. I would have thought that if he had done that a week before the election, it would have been a positive sign that Bush was changing direction on Iraq. It might have made a difference with some voters and been a plus for the GOP. There is not much doubt that the resignation was in the works prior to election day. Was it another misjudgement as to timing?

I wonder what Bush will accomplish as a result of that move in the next few months. One thing I do know, more people will die every day until we are able to staunch the bleeding wound we opened in Iraq!