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by Jennifer Bowman
I was disappointed, but not surprised, by the results of the last election. I had suspected for some while that the Republicans would not hold majority in the house, but I really didn't think that Democrats would get the Senate as well. Looking at the big picture, I decided that the Democrats having control of Congress isn't that bad - it's what democracy is made of, after all, and transitions of power are ultimately healthy for the American people. On a more short-term basis, however, I wanted to curl up and cry like a little baby.
What gets me, however, is the split of the Democratic Party in general. There's a huge difference between the Democrats of Polk County and the Democrats of San Francisco. While Republicans are split, as well, between the grassroots community leaders and the corrupt political figurehead officials, they generally agree on the issues, at least. I'm not sure how this is going to hold together a united Democratic party who is trying so hard to use (or misuse) their newly-found power to the best of their advantage. So from now on at this point, I will be referring to the liberal Democratic Party and the moderate Democratic Party, because I sincerely believe that there is a rather large distinction between the two.
The Republican Party has hurt itself, concentrating on the Iraq War, and surrounding itself with corruptness. At the heart of the Republican Party, there really is nothing but concern for the American individual and the American family. But all the scandals with these idiotic money-laundering Congressmen and the blame of the failing Iraq War lie on the shoulders of a single man, George W. Bush. Now it's absolutely idiotic to assume that all of the above is completely true, because it can't be. However, that seems to be the way things have turned out.
Here is what I believe will happen in the next two years. The liberal Democrats will constantly be butting heads with the moderate Democrats, but trying to do so quietly, in order to maintain this sense of elite power to the public. They are trying to show up the Republicans. But I don't believe the American people are stupid - I think they will see right through to the Congressmen who have agendas, to the ones who are trying to push liberal ideals onto a moderate America.
And this, of course, is what I'm secretly hoping for. If the Democrats screw up enough, and if the Republicans can show that they can be led by civilized human beings, then they will gain the trust of the American people back. And we will have a victory in 2008.
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