Loud And Clear
It is interesting to note that al Quadea interpreted our upset election as a sign of weakness. In reality it is a tremendous victory for democracy, a sign of the strength of our system of government. It is the voice of the people, loud and clear, telling government “we don’t like what you are doing.� We do not use that voice often enough or loudly enough but this time we did.
We had 6 years of one party controlling both the Executive and Legislative branches of our government and hopefully, it taught us something we already knew but apparently forgot: A concentration of power in one party is a danger to the checks and balances built into our government to preserve our democratic way of life.
The 2004 election might have changed things. Despite the lingering fear from 9/11 fed by the frequent raising of the terror levels, there was growing dissent about what was happening here at home and in our relations abroad. People wanted change but unfortunately the Democrats gave them a poor choice in Kerry. In spite of that, the closeness of the election was proof of the growing unease with the status quo. Many cast votes, not for Kerry, but against the incumbent administration. Still, fear prevailed and the incumbents retained power.
Interestingly, the Republicans didn’t get the message of the closeness of that election. If they had, they might have recognized the need for change. Instead they read it as a “mandate� and just continued on with more of the same proving the axiom that power corrupts. The 2006 mid-term election sent the message again, this time with a loud roar the people said, “Out damn spot!�
Let us hope that the Democrats got the real message of this election and recognize that it was as much, if not more, a vote against the Republicans as it was for the Democrats. The Democratic Party doesn’t have a great track record for making the most of opportunities. Perhaps this time they will put the good of our country and the return of balance to our democracy before anything else. If they can do that, they will have a grateful nation that actually votes for them next time around.