Election/direction comments?

["shazbat"]

As stated, Do you have any comments on the elections and the possible directions the government may go?
And Please only your own personal comments and insights only, no links to other political commentaries.

In addition, if you feel so inclined, please please explain your reasons and what you think you can do as an individual to change or support your position with your representative.

And please, this thread is intended as a sounding board only and not as an arena to openly bash another members opinion.

Thanks.

[nelson]

Thanks for asking shazbat. It appears we have a normal 6th year election - the incumbent president's party typically loses a few seats in congress during his 6th year. Be glad to give my commentary...

Locally our elected representatives in SE Virginia have not changed. Next door where I grew up, district 2 (Virginia Beach) Republican Thelma Drake votes conservatively and won another term over Democratic challenger Phil Kellam. In Norfolk, where I live for now, district 3 Democrat Bobby Scott (D) ran unchallenged and will return to Congress. 8 of 11 total representatives in Virginia remain Republican.

All the votes have not yet been tallied in the one Senate seat currently up for grabs in Virginia. It's very tight between George Allen (R) and Jim Webb (D) but appears as though Webb will take it by a few thousand votes. This would give conservative Virginia one Democratic Senator and one Republic Senator (Warner).

Overall, the Dems will take power by a slight margin in the House of Representatives and will appoint San Francisco liberal Nancy Pelosi to serve as Speaker of the House. Democrats may also gain a very slight margin in the US Senate - or the Republicans may keep their very slight margin - at the moment this remains to be seen.

Congress was already pretty divided, the only difference now is that Democrats will have the slight majority. The major gain for the Dems is that this gives them the ability to posture by introducing legislation - often in the media it does not matter whether legislation passes and gets signed by the President, but simply how it looks (and how its backers look) when introduced. This is the game played by the press to sway public opinion.

I'd expect some fringe representatives in the House to feel emboldened enough by their new majority to call for investigations and possibly even introduce impeachment proceedings - the venom on the Democrat side has been strong enough (although that may change now that they've reclaimed a portion of their power). Without a Democrat president to sign bills into law, the Dems may not succeed in any radical changes just yet. But President Bush is fair-minded and conciliatory, and he may agree to some of the Democrat agenda. And with the new President coming in 2008 - and a new congressional election taking place at the same time - the current scenario may change again soon, or it may tilt further to the left. We will see.

It was an exciting election but I'm glad it's over. I usually work the polls because they're always short-handed, but declined this time around because I'm too busy posting on this forum. :p

["shazbat"]

Nelson, I was just ready to put my toe in the waters to start this off and was happy to see your post. Thanks.

Georgia has consolidated itself as a Red state by electing Reps. to all of the states constitutional positions previously held by Dems. These include Lt Gov. and Sec. State.
Though results are not final in all districts due to a couple of very close races but it appears that all US House and Senate seats will remain as was.
I too am glad for the election to be over as some of the races were pretty ugly. The tendancy for smear campaigns in politics is a sad commentary on the process.

On the national scene a numerical majority in either house can mean alot or a little depending on how much grid lock they create with hardline partisonship.
I will expect some posturing and jockeying for position in the coming weeks but hope that the more radical elements can be kept in check.

["shazbat"]

In general my own personal leanings are
Liberal on social issues
Moderate on fiscal issues
Conservative on law enforcement and Nat. Security issues.
It appears to me that many of the Dems elected to the "minimal" majorities in House and Senate are of a conservative (for a Dem) or at least moderate leaning.
I expect alot of discussion, posturing, jockeying etc. in the short term but don't expect sweeping changes.

[nelson]

I don't expect any sweeping changes either, shazbat. Though fewer of their flaws will now be pursued and exposed by the media, under the Democrats Congress will continue to compromise American values and security.

Unfortunately these days the only direction consistently sought by both parties is the direction the wind happens to be blowing. In my opinion that absence of principle has infected both parties and much of the public - I think it is our chief political (and societal) problem. Which is why I appreciate conservatism on nearly every issue, and try to vote that way. Too bad in my eyes the choices on the ballot usually look like:

- bad
- even worse

:eek:

["shazbat"]

Damn Nelson, don't sound so positive.
You almost sound like the Dems I know have for the past 6 years.

[nelson]

LOL, not quite, I won't say our troops are dumb or call terrorists freedom fighters. But I am certainly disappointed that Congress has failed to act on several critical issues like border protection and I don't see much hope that they will in the near term. Apparently they're just too concerned with not offending anyone so that they can maintain power.