Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Let us be humble in victory, and gracious in defeat.

With my party no longer in power in Congress (I don’t think anyone really expects for the GOP to pull a victory out of Virginia), I find myself in an interesting situation. This is the first time since I started to pay attention to politics that I can remember the Democrats controlling Congress (I didn’t pay attention to politics until ’95). While I do not have previous personal experience in the matter, here are a few thoughts of mine on the situation.

First, I don’t think that this is really going to change much in our country. While taxes may fluctuate, student loans and minimum wage may increase, and gun control may again rear its head, I really don’t think things will be drastically different. I have heard members of my party lamenting of the stupidity of people in voting the Democrats into office, and of the impending doom that it will bring to America. That seems silly to me, much of my childhood (’84 until ’94) was spent under a Democratic Congress’, and it really wasn’t that bad. I don’t expect this one to be any worse.

Second, I think that this could be a very good thing for both parties. I say that with two reasons in mind. I think that this will give the Democratic Party the leadership experience they need if they are going to take the White House in ’08. Regardless of whether one wants them to, I think we can all agree that it is better to have people leading and running for office who actually have leadership experience.

Further, I hope that Democratic control over Congress will spark change in the Republican Party. The Republican Party has wandered far from the ideals of small government, responsible spending, and states rights that it championed not so long ago. I hope that this will act as a catalyst for a back to basics conservatism, and party leadership reform.

Finally, I hope that both sides realize the situation they are now in. If the Republicans do not work with the Democrats and vice versa, there will be gridlock. Neither party can now enact legislation without some measure of cooperation from the other. This means that either nothing will get done, or they will be forced to compromise. While I don’t expect the rhetoric to lessen, or for both sides to go on back packing retreats and hot dog roasts together; I do hope that some of the bridges that have been burned by partisan politics might be rebuilt.

Really, we will just have to wait and see, but I faith in what this country can accomplish if we really want to.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey,

Take a gander at this Limbaugh transcript:
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_110806/content/rush_on_a_roll.guest.html

I thought the most interesting part was his "tongue and cheek" acknowledgement of the exit polls which say that voters believe the Republican party is the party of "big government."

Blake Roberts said...

Yeah, typical Rush. Everything about everything was always said first by him, and if people had only listened to him then there wouldn't be any of the problems that we face today. Just ask him, he'll confirm all I just said.

I blame you Peter for directing me to the first Rush article I have ever read! Can you sleep with that burden hanging over your head?