Well, the votes are mostly in, and the results are unmistakable: politicians win, the American people lose.
I think this is the first time I’ve been happy about a Democratic victory. Not that I was ever ecstatic over a Republican victory either. Nor am I optimistic about what this means for the future. I’m just enjoying the transient pleasure of a nice rich slice of schadenfreude pie at the Republicans getting spanked.
My advice to our new Democratic overlords, if they want to make the best of their victory:
- “Accidentally misplace” Nancy Pelosi on the next congressional goodwill junket to Patagonia. Make no mistake, this election was about what the Republicans got wrong, not what the Democrats got right. The Dems who took over Republican seats did it by running to the center. Joe Lieberman, centrist par excellence, comfortably kept his seat even after losing the Democratic nomination to blog darling Ned Lamont. Pelosi’s reputation is that of a tone-deaf hardline progressive – a reminder of the partisan shrillness which turned off many moderates in the last couple elections. Having her as the party’s mouthpiece is the wrong foot to start off on.
- Take your own advice and MoveOn. Yeah, a lot of people are justifiably angry with the Bush administration and it’s cohorts in congress. And it would be very satisfying to see the lies and corruption exposed and prosecuted. But the last thing you need is to get bogged down by obsession with the opposition the way the Gingrich Republicans did during the Clinton administration, an unhealthy fixation that persisted even after Clinton was gone. I’m going to go out on a limb and say the American people are more concerned about making Washington more ethical in future, than in seeing last years evildoers punished. On this note it’s heartening to hear that Pelosi is dismissing calls to impeach Bush as expensive and a waste of time.
I am available for policy consultation, for a modest fee payable in MacBooks.
Oh yeah: folks, don’t forget to thank your friendly neighborhood swing voter.
UPDATE: As anecdotal confirmation of the above link, here’s some conservative lamentation over congressional seats stolen away from the GOP by libertarians. You’re welcome 😉
UPDATE 2: If Fox News says it, it must be true.
I couldn’t agree more. except for the macBooks and consultation part.
:>)
Everyone has their price. Perhaps cases of Leinenkugel…?
Frankly, I’m bummed….mainly with regards to Joe Lieberman. He’s going to caucus with the Democrats as is the socialist from Vermont.
I really think Joe has the potential to form a viable third party. I think if he approached John McCain and a few other moderates on both sides of the aisle. And if he could get two senators from each side of the aisle to drop their affiliation we’d have a viable new 3rd party.
Not only that, they’d be viewed as an extremely powerful third party because with neither the Democrats or Republicans having a solid majority, they would be the party deciding the final outcome of most legislation.
There is the potential for it. I do wish Joe would stay “Independent”. And use his win over the Democrats to draw other middle-of-the-road candidates by attesting that a strong popular candidate can indeed win independent of the two parties.
We could see the block broken. And from my observation, the Libertarian party seemed to have stronger results than in past. A few candidates breaking the 3% and a handful doing even better.
I think if as 3rd party with Lieberman could be established, it’d would reduce the lock of the two-parties. Make people believe they can vote outside the two boxes. And perhaps we’d see stronger results with a few of the 3rd party groups out there.
Sadly, I think the Libertarian party keeps loading the shotgun, pointing it to their face, and pulling the trigger.
Look, I don’t give a damn about marijuana. Frankly, I’ve got a LOT more concerns than pot. And I don’t think it’s all that beneficial in most cases either. I just wish every encounter I had with Libertarians candidates did not involve “hemp”. I know that’s not the whole party, nor their top platform issues. But it’s the one that keeps being the face of the party.
– Saj
AND WE HAVE A CONSTITUTIONALLY PROTECTED RIGHT TO DO SO!!!
😉
Yup….but just because the Constitution allows you to keep a loaded shotgun doesn’t mean you should put to your face.
That said, I really like in premise the Libertarian party. But I feel as if those issues I consider “serious” are placed secondary. Hemp pretzels taste good. But, I really need a party with a better platform than the freedom to grow herb.
*lol*
I just feel the Libertarian party has allowed themselves and their ideals to be railroaded in it’s presentation.
I have felt similar frustration myself, but in their defense, I think you may be judging the party on a vocal minority. Most of the libertarians I’ve met and/or know of don’t make drug legalization their top priority.
I know it’s a vocal minority. But it’s what becomes the image. And I feel it really hurts the viability of the party.
The pretzels are good though!
*lol*
Only thing I would say…
Is that neither Lieberman or McCain are particularly close politically or ideologically to the LIbertarians.. and neither of them is really all that “moderate” when you get down to it…
For Example, McCain has been trying his best to insinuate himself with the Religious Right lately–Vocally supporting the attempt at a civil union ban in Arizona (which failed! Woot!)–and being a huge supporter of the War in Iraq no matter what (something the Libertarian party is actually against)… so he really is not all that much of a maverick as he claims to be…
And Lieberman… he’s just a politician on the right side of middle… he may once have been a reformer.. but he really hasn’t done much important work recently…
In terms of new parties.. I think that it is much more likely that this loss will help break the unhealthy relationship between the two wings (capitalist/libertarian and fundamentalist christian) of the Republican parties… Then, we can hopefully see the same thing happen amongst the Dems.. (into much more Lefty/progressive and a more moderate/economic liberal branches…)
In any case.. I actually support the pot stuff a lot–even though I’m not a smoker.. I’ve just seen it do way more good than harm… and compared with the other drugs that are out there.. (such as nicotine).. I don’t see why it’s banned whereas other ones aren’t..
Re: Only thing I would say…
I’m sorry, you seem to have misunderstood my point.
Not giving a darn about the Libertarian party. I don’t believe it to be viable. And I believe it suffers from a negative image because most of what people see of the Libertarian Party seems mainly focused on pot.
And frankly, most of us don’t give a crap about pot, and a great many of us when we think on that issue find ourselves not leaning all that favorably.
What I am saying is that there is a group of congressmen who have repeatedly found themselves at odds with their party affiliation be it Democrat or Republican.
My point is that if Lieberman decided to not join the Democratic Party caucus, and appealed to such as John McCain and others. They could establish a small third party which would hold a handful of seats and be viable to voters.
Now, that is not to say that I support Lieberman and John McCain’s views on everything or even anything. Just that I think those two could spear head a multi-party split and provide us with our first viable new party in near a century.
At that point, other smaller parties might become more viable as well.
As for your support of pot and comments regarding – you’ve just proved to be the unviable nature of the Libertarian Party. And why I’ve never voted. And it has nothing to do with the legalization or not of pot. It has to deal with a party which has IMHO no frickin clue about what is important. And therefore I do not feel that I can trust my vote to the Libertarian Party. Sadly, because there is a lot that I have in common.
But if so much energy is going to be vested into pot for an image, when we have a great many crisis. Then I have to go elsewhere…
my bad…
I misinterpreted you…
in any case.. I don’t really associate the libertarian party with pot all that much… I associate it more with the destruction of public schools… which irks me more… but I’m sure there is big variance locally..
Re: my bad…
Muwahaha, down with public schools!
On that note, one the most unexpected outcomes of the elections is that families might start getting more choice in where their kids are educated… a number of the democrats who were elected are apparently open to some form of school choice.
😛
I had excellent public schools–in fact, where I grew up, the public schools’ math and science (and art and music and practical arts) programs all kicked the shit out the private schools that were around there…
and our public schools were highly racially mixed–50% white, 40% black and 10% latino/Asian…
In any case.. I’m all for more choice in schools–as long as the playing field is equal. It’s not fair to say “okay, students can go wherever they want with this voucher money, but, look, none of the private schools say they will take learning disabled kids or handicapped kids.. they have to stay at the public schools where funds are being cut….. oh, and we have no problems giving government money to schools that have as part of their rules, that gay students can be discriminated against…” or other such things…
If the playing field is truly made level–and all the schools have to follow all the same standards–then certainly I’m for school choice… but otherwise, school choice can just become government welfare for private interests…
>thank your friendly neighborhood swing voter
Can I just spank my friendly neighborhood swinger and call it a day?
Whatever hangs your chad.
Very good post. Pelosi is bad news.
I stumbled into you through darthcrank, i like your thoughs, so I am adding you as a friend.
From your comments over there, I gather we have similar views. Welcome 🙂
new macs!
i agree with you on your main points, and wanted to point out that Apple just rolled out new MacBooks with the Core 2 Duo chip today…!!!
Re: new macs!
I know, I had to go out and buy a new pack of drool rags today…
Accountability is never a waste of time. Nor is restoring our democracy.
In personal affairs, perhaps. I’m not saying all should be forgiven. But there is a vocal minority in the democratic party which would happily obsess over every possible impropriety of the current administration to the same degree that Republicans obsess over Bill Clinton’s penis. Whether this is “right” or “just” is beside the point; I can guarantee it will rapidly exhaust the electorate’s patience.
I’m not sure I understand.
I agree…
I think that an eventual look into various improprieties would be a good thing… maybe finally looking into Cheney’s energy dealings–something that has cost the consumers of this country billions–and also trying to restore some sense of accountability over the hundreds of billions of dollars being spent on Iraq…
Those things need doing…
But a straight off witch hunt helps no one.
First things that need to be done are for the democrats to show what they stand for..–they should pass the bills that they think are good–try to get bi-partisan support if possible and make Bush pass or veto them…
Just merely going after Bush seems vindictive and it is stupid.. Let Bush (and those cronyesque Republican Sycophants around him.. i.e. not all Repub’s..) prove how out of touch he is with everyone…
If the Dems want to govern.. then they should GOVERN first and attack third or fourth..
I’ll post more about this soon.. I’m still working on a project right now..
Well, he’s been ripping up our Constitution.
http://impeachforpeace.org/evidence/
Ah. I was confused by your terminology. As far as I can tell, Democracy is still with us (unless Tuesday’s election results are just an elaborate Karl Rove plot). Liberty, however, has suffered under Bush; as your link aptly points out.
I question the title of the site though… I doubt impeachment will do one jot for world peace, one way or another. Impeach for justice, perhaps; or to restore the dignity of the office. But peace? There are better ways to work for peace.
Agree for the most part…
Only thing I would say is that let’s give Pelosi 100 days to prove herself before shipping her off…
Remember.. politicians don’t always live up to their own rhetoric… and for the past 6 years, any democrat who tried to be bipartisan was exploited to the n-th degree–and then targeted by the Republicans for removal because every time they tried to be accomodating with the Republicans–and therefore usually pissed off their base–the Republicans would attack them as mercilessly as before as a super-commie-tax-crazy-homo-butt-pirate…
Thus.. the only coherent strategy against this for many dems was to be verbally partisan…
In any case, I’ve read that Pelosi’s already begun to make bi-partisan overtures… which is more than Gingrinch did…How long it lasts.. we’ll see.. but being bi-partisan takes two sides.. and I’m willing to bet that it will be the Whitehouse that bolts first…
In which case.. you’ll have obtained your long sought after gridlock… 🙂
Re: Agree for the most part…
It’s true, some people change in positive ways when given the opportunity. Pelosi has been talking the talk; we’ll see how she walks the walk.
Indeed. I offered the above as what the Democrats should do for their own good; as far as I am concerned they can quibble and bicker and tussle all they want. It’s more entertaining than Grand Political Gestures, and it keeps the pols out of the rest of the country’s hair.