The Recent Election

It doesn't matter that the Democrats won this time. There simply needs to be significant steps taken on creating a national standard on ballots and polling practices. It needs to be the same everywhere, every time, in every election. The democratic process is too important to be left up to local rules and standards. It is time to create and require a national traceable standard for the process at all levels. This is not an issue of overstepping boundaries where the Feds are concerned; it is a vital national security and public policy stance that is necessary to promote public trust in the process and set a standard by which the rest of the world can follow. It is vital to the very essence of being an American that our elections be fair and open and without any sense of being anything other than above board.

It was embarrassing to see that some polling places in parts of the country didn't have working machines, that there is not always a paper trail, and that the public trusts the government so little to simply count "one for him, one for him" and get it right that there were groups there to monitor our elections like this was a banana republic. This is something that is painfully simple to do. Unfortunately, we hold Nicaragua to a higher standard than we do Ohio.

Given how many close elections there are the totals need to be perfect and trusted every time. Recounts should never be anything other than the exact same total that was counted the first time.

What will Bush Do?

Well ... he talked a good talk for a day, then decided to screw it and is pushing to get legislation through that will stand no chance in a few weeks. The true colors have shown again. The President of the United States simply does not have the temperament to govern and compromise, he only wants to rule ... get used to the sound of quacks from the West Wing ...

In 94 our previous president faced a similar hurdle and in 95 we learned that Clinton had the ability to govern from the middle. After all, governing is his job, and it is not selling out. Part of the job is that one doesn’t always get one's way. It is about doing what one needs to do. Bill was criticized for it, but I would argue it was his strength.

Bush made the same mistake in office that Clinton did of assuming he had a mandate … he doesn’t and never really did, tried to, and got slapped down for it ... and despite some initial words to the contrary ... he really doesn't get it. He and his admin by extension simply do not have the understanding that they are there to govern and solve problems, and are not just there to checklist an agenda.

For years Bush got a free pass from the so-called liberal media. When the media and liberals politically finally got a back bone to stand up to him, his administration and guys on the right like Hannity lashed out like McCarthy. Liberals who had the audacity to question George were traitors, cowards, evil, and had mental disorders.

In recent history, Democrats have only lacked the courage of their convictions, but not this time. It was a lot of angry voters on issues like Iraq and corruption, but it was also core ideals like economics and fairness that helped give an actual option for the voting public.

This is not the time for Democrats to jump in like they have a vendetta. They were not given this opportunity to govern to just turn it into a witch hunt. The public wants there to be a balance and that was not happening. Democrats need to remember that they are in control of Congress as much because people want there to be a balance as for some of the other reasons. What is really needed is a period of moving forward and not backward. So many of the corrupt ones have been kicked out of office already, let’s move on.