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Dear democrats on my flist:
STOP BLOODY COMPLAINING! Thanks.
We took the House, we took the Senate, we managed to get through the President's stubborn head far enough that Rummy is gone, YOU SHOULD NOT BE COMPLAINING.
Yeah, the Senate's going to be stalemate as much as control, but we'll have the leadership, which means we'll control all the dirty bureaucratic tricks the Republicans have been using on *us* for twelve years. Yeah, the election two years from now will be even tougher than this one, because all of the crap that the previous leadership dumped on us will be coming due just about then, and the Republicans will blame it on us, because blaming their crap on the Democrats is what Republicans are *good* at. We'll just have to not let them. This party needed to step up and shape up anyway.
Yeah, we lost some races that any rational electorate wouldn't've let us lose. (Bachmann. Just for example. And Lieberman.) But we won a lot more than any of us truly expected to win, I think. And I know it sucks if one of the races that was lost was in your district. My county council is now majority Republican again because the Democrats were to busy with national races to bother fielding opponents. But you know what? WE TOOK BACK THE HOUSE AND THE SENATE.
If anybody seriously thought the gay marriage amendments wouldn't pass, especially in Virginia, they're a lot less cynical than I. On the other hand, not all of them did pass! And some other amendments made surprise victories. But really, gay marriage will never come about through legislation. That kind of deep-seated prejudice is all about fear of change, and the only way to end it is to force change on people whether they want it or not, and then let them get used to it. That's what we have the third branch of government for, remember it? The one that will realize (and I firmly believe they will, before I'm too old to have children of my own; judges, being people rather than populaces, are slightly more susceptible to logic,) that these amendments *are* deeply, inherently, discriminatory and unconstitutional. It's started already in the lower courts. Then the only way out will be a national constitutional amendment, and they won't be able to manage that. It's how we got interracial marriage, after all.
And also? WE WON! HOORAY! HOORAY! I wore my patriotic hat with the wild turkey feather in it today. Celebrate, people, don't gripe! I fully expected to spend the day despairing for humanity instead, just like two years ago. Except this year it's raining.
So what should the Democrats do, now that they're in power? First priority is do find all the lies and dark secrets of the past six years, and drag them into the light, before the court of public opinion. Bipartisanly; it's not like our party doesn't need a good dose of the river Alpheus, too, by this point. Drag it out kicking and screaming, if necessary. It shouldn't be too hard, these people operate under the assumption that they will always be on top. You know what would be *awesome*? If we could hound the President and VP into resigning without even having to start impeachment proceedings. Not that I think it'll go that far, but it could. It actually could. Even without that, though, we need to make sure that *nobody* is still willing to trust these guys come the next election, in two years. And don't ever, ever, *ever* let them frame the story. Also? Let us voters trust, once more, that our votes will actually get counted. Please.
Next priority is to do something about Iraq. If I were tyrant, I would say get out as fast as possible, then close the borders and let the Iraqis fight it out for themselves. At least that way, unlike under Saddam, they'll have a dictator of their own choosing and not one put in power by ham-handed meddling of outsiders. I doubt that would sell, though. Alternatively: a slow, controlled, withdrawal, starting *now*, which kills more Americans and ends up with the same result but salvages as much as possible along the way. And will be *Slightly* less of a PR nightmare.
Or if you want a sort of tertium quid: How's about instead of occupying it ourselves, or giving it to Iraqi guerrillas, we give it to our allies, hope-to-be-allies, and hope-they-don't-nuke-us-allies in the Middle East? Split it up between them, get us a few favors owed in the process and some goodwill, and let the Saudis take the fall when it finished collapsing. Whatever. The only way to really salvage it would be to declare a draft and get enough soldiers to really occupy the place properly, which we'll never do, though I would support that too, mind you. But at this point it doesn't really matter what you do, so long as it's something at least vaguely reality-based.
Third, fix the economy. And by that I mean, give us back our middle class! Raise the minimum wage, fix the tax policies designed to make the rich get richer and create real corporate oversight, lay to rest for good and all that calumny about the failure of Social Security, institute health care policies that revolve around people actually getting health care rather than administrators making money, stop hemorrhaging a deficit, accept the fact that the economy must depend on foreign workers and let them have a stake in it, and fix globalization.
... if you even make a good down-home try at all those things, you'll have done more good than the Republicans managed the whole time they were in power.
Also, it's be nice if you saved the environment and solved the energy crisis and fixed the schools and gave us back our Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment, but let's face it, that's not what got you elected. Those can wait 'till we've got the Presidency, too.
But for now? Celebrate! WE WON! WE'RE IN POWER NOW! Get used to it! Get used to it *fast*; the other guys certainly do. For now though, I still have half a jar of rum left from last night...
We took the House, we took the Senate, we managed to get through the President's stubborn head far enough that Rummy is gone, YOU SHOULD NOT BE COMPLAINING.
Yeah, the Senate's going to be stalemate as much as control, but we'll have the leadership, which means we'll control all the dirty bureaucratic tricks the Republicans have been using on *us* for twelve years. Yeah, the election two years from now will be even tougher than this one, because all of the crap that the previous leadership dumped on us will be coming due just about then, and the Republicans will blame it on us, because blaming their crap on the Democrats is what Republicans are *good* at. We'll just have to not let them. This party needed to step up and shape up anyway.
Yeah, we lost some races that any rational electorate wouldn't've let us lose. (Bachmann. Just for example. And Lieberman.) But we won a lot more than any of us truly expected to win, I think. And I know it sucks if one of the races that was lost was in your district. My county council is now majority Republican again because the Democrats were to busy with national races to bother fielding opponents. But you know what? WE TOOK BACK THE HOUSE AND THE SENATE.
If anybody seriously thought the gay marriage amendments wouldn't pass, especially in Virginia, they're a lot less cynical than I. On the other hand, not all of them did pass! And some other amendments made surprise victories. But really, gay marriage will never come about through legislation. That kind of deep-seated prejudice is all about fear of change, and the only way to end it is to force change on people whether they want it or not, and then let them get used to it. That's what we have the third branch of government for, remember it? The one that will realize (and I firmly believe they will, before I'm too old to have children of my own; judges, being people rather than populaces, are slightly more susceptible to logic,) that these amendments *are* deeply, inherently, discriminatory and unconstitutional. It's started already in the lower courts. Then the only way out will be a national constitutional amendment, and they won't be able to manage that. It's how we got interracial marriage, after all.
And also? WE WON! HOORAY! HOORAY! I wore my patriotic hat with the wild turkey feather in it today. Celebrate, people, don't gripe! I fully expected to spend the day despairing for humanity instead, just like two years ago. Except this year it's raining.
So what should the Democrats do, now that they're in power? First priority is do find all the lies and dark secrets of the past six years, and drag them into the light, before the court of public opinion. Bipartisanly; it's not like our party doesn't need a good dose of the river Alpheus, too, by this point. Drag it out kicking and screaming, if necessary. It shouldn't be too hard, these people operate under the assumption that they will always be on top. You know what would be *awesome*? If we could hound the President and VP into resigning without even having to start impeachment proceedings. Not that I think it'll go that far, but it could. It actually could. Even without that, though, we need to make sure that *nobody* is still willing to trust these guys come the next election, in two years. And don't ever, ever, *ever* let them frame the story. Also? Let us voters trust, once more, that our votes will actually get counted. Please.
Next priority is to do something about Iraq. If I were tyrant, I would say get out as fast as possible, then close the borders and let the Iraqis fight it out for themselves. At least that way, unlike under Saddam, they'll have a dictator of their own choosing and not one put in power by ham-handed meddling of outsiders. I doubt that would sell, though. Alternatively: a slow, controlled, withdrawal, starting *now*, which kills more Americans and ends up with the same result but salvages as much as possible along the way. And will be *Slightly* less of a PR nightmare.
Or if you want a sort of tertium quid: How's about instead of occupying it ourselves, or giving it to Iraqi guerrillas, we give it to our allies, hope-to-be-allies, and hope-they-don't-nuke-us-allies in the Middle East? Split it up between them, get us a few favors owed in the process and some goodwill, and let the Saudis take the fall when it finished collapsing. Whatever. The only way to really salvage it would be to declare a draft and get enough soldiers to really occupy the place properly, which we'll never do, though I would support that too, mind you. But at this point it doesn't really matter what you do, so long as it's something at least vaguely reality-based.
Third, fix the economy. And by that I mean, give us back our middle class! Raise the minimum wage, fix the tax policies designed to make the rich get richer and create real corporate oversight, lay to rest for good and all that calumny about the failure of Social Security, institute health care policies that revolve around people actually getting health care rather than administrators making money, stop hemorrhaging a deficit, accept the fact that the economy must depend on foreign workers and let them have a stake in it, and fix globalization.
... if you even make a good down-home try at all those things, you'll have done more good than the Republicans managed the whole time they were in power.
Also, it's be nice if you saved the environment and solved the energy crisis and fixed the schools and gave us back our Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment, but let's face it, that's not what got you elected. Those can wait 'till we've got the Presidency, too.
But for now? Celebrate! WE WON! WE'RE IN POWER NOW! Get used to it! Get used to it *fast*; the other guys certainly do. For now though, I still have half a jar of rum left from last night...