Post-Election Joy?!

The election is thankfully over. The Democrats have won control of the US House and will take control of the US Senate when the Virginia recount is finished. When you play terribly, you deserve to lose (remember that Chicago Bears). The GOP hasn’t governed like they should and they deserved to lose. We did and I’m happy that we did.

Why am I happy? I’m happy because now, hopefully, the GOP can have its long-overdue conversation with itself. Now we can decide if we’re really going to be the party of Lincoln or the party of the religious right. People are saying, “Oh, look at the Democrats elected last night, they’re really conservative.” Others are saying, “Oh, well if it wasn’t for Iraq, we’d still be in charge.” Potentially correct on the first one, absolutely wrong on the second one.

I don’t have the first inkling of how conservative Heath Shuler is. All I know about him is that he played QB for Tennessee before Peyton Manning and then had a mediocre NFL career with the Redskins (was he the Redskin QB that head-butted the end zone wall or was that Gus Frerotte? I digress). I doubt any of the new Democratic House members from Connecticut or New York are conservative. I could be wrong.

You’re wrong on the second one because the GOP royally screwed up. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Many base voters were turned off by Abramoff and Foley. More were turned off by this incessant need to ramp up pork barrel spending and create bigger government. Do we need that bridge to nowhere Don Young? We abandoned our core beliefs, so we lost.

Democrats now have their moment in the sun. I wish them all the luck in the world because, quite frankly, they will need it. They have no real ideas, just anger over the war in Iraq. How they will react to being back in power will be telling. They now will have to share in the blame when things go wrong (economy, gas prices, Iraq, hurricanes). Can they handle that?

A couple of things baffle me about this election cycle:

Obama is one of them. He goes to Maryland and tells them not to vote for Michael Steele for Senate because he is African-American. “You shouldn’t vote for someone based on the way they look,” Obama told voters. The next day, he goes to Tennessee and says that he’s “lonely” in the Senate and people should vote for Harold Ford, Jr., the black Senate candidate. Which is it hypocrite?

I am baffled by the feminist who will tout women candidates for every position and claim women can do a better job than mean, but won’t support a woman if she isn’t a Democrat. Hypocrisy at it’s finest. Topinka ran for Governor, but these feminist weren’t out campaigning for her. Riddle me that Batman.

The election is over. I hope you voted. It’s now safe to watch television and answer your phones again. Until March, then it starts all over again for mayor, alderman, city clerk.....

Act Your Age Tuesday Night

It seems like this election cycle would never end, but it’s over tomorrow. Americans will go to the polls tomorrow to cast their votes for any number of candidates, initiatives and referenda. I hope that everyone takes a few moments out of their day tomorrow to perform your civic responsibility. Many people died to afford you the opportunity to cast your vote. Don’t let their sacrifice be in vain.

Be an adult when the election results are announced. If your candidate wins, don’t go out and verbally assault the opponent’s supporter. I suspect that many people I know will fire off nasty Facebook messages and call people of the other party laughing when his or her candidate loses. When you do, it shows that you lack an understanding of and a respect for our cherished democracy.

People win and people lose, that’s the nature of elections. If you exercise your right to vote for the person that you believe will do the best job, then you are a winner regardless of what the election returns say.