"In a Democracy you get the government you deserve."
~unknown
Am I dissapointed in the election? Naturally. But I appreciate what Tom Brokaw had to say before he went off the air after covering the returns. He reminded us that Kerry isn't going to jail, and there are no tanks in the streets. No matter how emotional this campaign was, America remains stable.
One good thing about this election is that if America isn't perfect in 2008, Republicans won't be able to blame anyone but themselves.
"There are two tragedies in life: one is not to get your heart's desire.
The other is to get it."
~George Bernard Shaw
It was awesome to see what high turn outs there were on both sides. Bush spin-doctors are quick to point out that he received more votes than any President in history, of course what they don't tell you is that so did Kerry!
So, we'll see, won't we? I suspect that there are more "moral issues" than just abortion and homosexuality that will begin to wear away at America's patience, like poverty and corporate corruption. Oh yeah, and war.
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch."
~Benjamin Franklin
"A government that robs Peter to pay Paul
can always depend on the support of Paul."
~George Bernard Shaw
SO, believe it or not, I have hope. Hope because you always have to hit bottom before you get help. Hope because Democracy is all about dynamic tension. Our political system, like God's universe, seeks equilibrium, balance of interests. Because America is always changing.
Hope that just because a majority of Americans thought that we shouldn't switch horses in mid stream, you also can never step in the same stream twice.
"Remember, Democracy never lasts long. It soon
wastes, exhausts and murders itself! There was never
a Democracy that did not commit suicide."
~Samuel Adams
That doesn't mean I'll shut up and crawl into a corner and wait for my countrymen to wake up to our need for change.
A member of the minority owes it to his country to be a member of the opposition, otherwise there would be no dynamic tension.
George W Bush once said, ""If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm dictator." It's easy to blow that off as a joke, but fascism is no joke.
"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
~Abraham Lincoln
We have three distinct branches of Federal Government to offer a system of checks and balances. We have layers of municipal, county, state, regional, and federal government to do the same thing. Now that Bush's party has control of all three branches and a majority of state houses and governorships, it is more important than ever that Democrats not just roll over and alow America to become a one-party system.
Yes, the Democrats need to listen to and respond to the values of the majority in spite of always having been the party who protected the rights of the minorities. But, my dear Republican friends and families, please, PLEASE, you also need to not turn a blind eye to abuses of our leaders just because they claim to share so many of your values.
"But you must remember, my fellow-citizens, that eternal vigilance by the people is the price of liberty, and that you must pay the price if you wish to secure the blessing. It behooves you, therefore, to be watchful in your States as well as in the Federal Government."
~Andrew Jackson, Farewell Address, March 4, 1837
"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."
~Wendell Phillips, (1811-1884), abolitionist, orator and columnist for The Liberator, in a speech before the Massachusetts Antislavery Society in 1852
~unknown
Am I dissapointed in the election? Naturally. But I appreciate what Tom Brokaw had to say before he went off the air after covering the returns. He reminded us that Kerry isn't going to jail, and there are no tanks in the streets. No matter how emotional this campaign was, America remains stable.
One good thing about this election is that if America isn't perfect in 2008, Republicans won't be able to blame anyone but themselves.
"There are two tragedies in life: one is not to get your heart's desire.
The other is to get it."
~George Bernard Shaw
It was awesome to see what high turn outs there were on both sides. Bush spin-doctors are quick to point out that he received more votes than any President in history, of course what they don't tell you is that so did Kerry!
So, we'll see, won't we? I suspect that there are more "moral issues" than just abortion and homosexuality that will begin to wear away at America's patience, like poverty and corporate corruption. Oh yeah, and war.
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch."
~Benjamin Franklin
"A government that robs Peter to pay Paul
can always depend on the support of Paul."
~George Bernard Shaw
SO, believe it or not, I have hope. Hope because you always have to hit bottom before you get help. Hope because Democracy is all about dynamic tension. Our political system, like God's universe, seeks equilibrium, balance of interests. Because America is always changing.
Hope that just because a majority of Americans thought that we shouldn't switch horses in mid stream, you also can never step in the same stream twice.
"Remember, Democracy never lasts long. It soon
wastes, exhausts and murders itself! There was never
a Democracy that did not commit suicide."
~Samuel Adams
That doesn't mean I'll shut up and crawl into a corner and wait for my countrymen to wake up to our need for change.
A member of the minority owes it to his country to be a member of the opposition, otherwise there would be no dynamic tension.
George W Bush once said, ""If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm dictator." It's easy to blow that off as a joke, but fascism is no joke.
"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
~Abraham Lincoln
We have three distinct branches of Federal Government to offer a system of checks and balances. We have layers of municipal, county, state, regional, and federal government to do the same thing. Now that Bush's party has control of all three branches and a majority of state houses and governorships, it is more important than ever that Democrats not just roll over and alow America to become a one-party system.
Yes, the Democrats need to listen to and respond to the values of the majority in spite of always having been the party who protected the rights of the minorities. But, my dear Republican friends and families, please, PLEASE, you also need to not turn a blind eye to abuses of our leaders just because they claim to share so many of your values.
"But you must remember, my fellow-citizens, that eternal vigilance by the people is the price of liberty, and that you must pay the price if you wish to secure the blessing. It behooves you, therefore, to be watchful in your States as well as in the Federal Government."
~Andrew Jackson, Farewell Address, March 4, 1837
"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."
~Wendell Phillips, (1811-1884), abolitionist, orator and columnist for The Liberator, in a speech before the Massachusetts Antislavery Society in 1852
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