had i world enough and time i would strut, gloat, and possibly get in people's faces and proclaim this the day reactionary conservative 'ideas' -- nice oxymoron -- were struck down.
i have neither.
but i DO go to bed tonight knowing that, in the end, i'm proud of my country. i'm proud of my party. i may not agree with everyone in it -- i wish quite dearly that senator-elect casey in pennsylvania were pro-choice, or that senator lieberman weren't a crazy war monger. and, to be honest, i feel bad that true conservatives like lincoln chaffee are no longer around to moderate some of their more rigidly conservative colleagues, but let's be honest: the republican party is no longer the party of principled conservatives. it's the socially conservative and activist party of deranged evangelical believers.
what of the democrats, now that we may have both houses of congress under our control? let's be agressive on iraq (withdrawal), minimum wage (i say $9 an hour, plus $2 for benefits), gays (no marriage amendment and strengthening of civil unions federally while supporting state initiatives for legalizing gay marriage), student loan interest rates (cut drastically), education (merit pay and more money for teachers, no NCLB), health care (coverage for everyone), meds (generic prescriptions at very low cost), ethanol and other alternative fuels (subsidize production of hybrid and alternative cars domestically)...
i could -- and should -- go on. there is a lot of work to do,
but for now i'm going to close my eyes and think about what it feels like to mesh with a strong majority of people in my country. i don't think it will last, obviously -- i'm admittedly a liberal peacenik -- but, for now, i'm going to savor it.
1 comment:
interesting take/agenda. I'm not so sure that congress can slash student loan interest rates. As far as i know, those are tied to the fed funds rate, and Students are essentially given the lowest rates available on the open market at that time. Current interest rates being what they are, student borrowing rates are quite reasonable.
As for meshing with most of the country, i'm not sure i could agree on that. I feel as though this election was about Iraq, and iraq alone, with people just voting for a change on that issue. I'm not so sure the other stuff resonated as deeply.
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