Wha hoppa.

[prog]

Well, that's it, then; the AP's called the Virginia race. The entire legislature is now Democratic-controlled.

I kind of can't believe it, to be quite honest.

I also note that, while lots of attention was given to voting "glitches" on Tuesday, there are no roaring accusations of mass fraud from any notable quarter. Everyone is actually being civil about it, and the executive branch immediately acknowledged the change with its own concession, giving Rumsfeld a long-overdue boot.

All this, too, runs against my predictions.

What just happened? Holy smokes. I am shaking a little, and I have a terrible headache, as the tension breaks ker-twanngggg. It's going to take a while for me to digest all of this.

I'll reiterate an earlier statement, mostly to help me stay focused: This doesn't so much accomplish anything as clear the path for real accomplishment. The Democrats might have a lot of the same problems as the Republicans, or any other class of deep-dish politicians, but their... polarization is so very different from the other party's. They less pass through messages that the others would block. No more anti-intellectualism or anti-science thinking, at least not at the party level. This is tremendous.

I have only lately, like in the last five years, started to learn to become politically active. Suddenly I no longer need to be stuck in resist, resist, resist mode, the only one I've ever known; suddenly, I can instead join a movement to get things done. If I'm not terribly convinced that the shiny new Democratic legislature actually knows what it wants to do with itself, maybe I can join with other people and start signaling some good suggestions at it.

Comments

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

What just happened?

I hear you. It's like, OMG, it looks like the system actually works.

As you say, it basically clears the path, or gives a better footing, or something for real accomplishment.

I've been scared, and I still am, but I admit to feeling at least a little hopeful now.

[dictator555.livejournal.com]

People were high-fiving and respect-knuckling at work over Rumsfeld.

[prog.livejournal.com]

This is pretty excellent, considering where you work.

(Also not too shocking, considering recent Army Times editorials and such.)

[aspartaimee.livejournal.com]

i am in virginia RIGHT NOW, and i am anxious to see the feeling in richmond tomorrow.

[radtea.livejournal.com]

It's extremely encouraging, and the rest of us are happy to see that American democracy is still capable of working. It was not looking good there for a while.

It doesn't look like the Democrats are going to do the things they really need to do, which are:

1) Impeach Bush

2) Do something about signing statements, like making them absolutely illegal (this is the usual cycle: leave a loophole for sane people, have it abused by insane people, have it removed altogether by fed up people.)

3) Put another 250,000 troops into Iraq. Now that Rumsfeld has cut and run it might be possible to give the military the resources they said they needed at the beginning.

4) Repeal the Military Commissions Act of 2006. I really would like to be able to travel in the U.S. again.

[prog.livejournal.com]

I hope I'll be able to travel outside of the U.S. again!!

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

Overall I feel guardedly optimistic, though I still have a lingering sense that Something Bad is going to happen to turn things backwards the second I turn away. Old habits die hard, I suppose.

[prog.livejournal.com]

I'm assuming that, if We the People do nothing, so will this congress, and eventually it will revert back into Duh. So your habits are not obsolete!

[cortezopossum.livejournal.com]

One thing I want to see from my elected officials is that they're trying to do what's best for the country (or state or city on the smaller scale) -- and frankly, I wasn't seeing a whole lot of that from much of the republican administration. All I saw were people using political power for personal gain and for supporting their own crony buddies.

I know this sort of thing happens all the time in politics but at least most politicians try to give a public perception that they're doing what's best for the people -- often these guys didn't even LOOK like they were trying.

That's what I think lost the elections for many of these republicans. They lost the public trust. All the scandals of the democrats and the Clinton administration seem petty by today's standards.