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November 04, 2004
What do we do now
The shock is wearing off now and I've recovered my lost sleep and the 'post-mortems' are rolling in. One great comment so far from the Christian Science Monitor http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1104/p09s01-codc.html about the "mandate". One thing is for sure, Bush will act fast. He's a kind of lame duck from the start (Cheney won't be running in 2008) so he has virtual political impunity. So next year should be the worst of it. Yeah right.
Even with the terrible national defeat, we have a tremendous local victory as Cate Hartzell is re-elected to Ashland City Council, and John Morrison, Russ Silbiger, Jack Hardesty all win city seats. Peter Buckley will serve in Salem and Alan Bates is our state Senator. Teresa Keane had a great race winning 38,893 votes. Awesome and congrats to all involved!
The statewide turnout was fantastic with just a hair over 80% turnout. I'd say the Oregon Bus Project, ACT, OSPRIG, and MoveOn are all forces to be reckoned with now! Each of these (and all the other organizations involved) have served two purposes. Besides getting out the vote, they have been training organizers and leaders. If you want to run for office and need an experienced campaign organizer, canvassing coordinator, and precinct data? Call ACT. Need an email list of local progressives? Call MoveOn. Need to raise some money? We have an incredible political machine available now.
So, where do we go from here?
Locally, we can look forward to a strong progressive city council. They will continue to need our support and our positive encouragement. The forces of development will be barking loud and strong.
Statewide, we lost measure 34, 36 and 37.
For the Tillimok Forest, we'll have to take that to the streets and the trees.
For the Constitutional amendment limiting marriage's definition to "one man and one woman" I believe there are two ways to go. First, a court challenge on the grounds that the purpose and intent of the state Constitution is to preserve the rights of minorities, not to restrict them. We can not legislate discrimination, even by majority act. Remember how 4 years ago "Equal Protection" was used. Well it really means something strong and this is a case where people are not experiencing equal protection.
Second, it might be interesting if gay couples paired up with lesbian couples and started getting marriage certificates.
For Measure 37, I can't imagine that this will hold up in court for very long. I hope there are a few well funded and knowledge lawyers available. Looks like the majority has been hood winked and I'm sure that after a few large development projects occur, there will be many that regret their Yes vote on it.
Nationally, it's clear that the Democratic Leadership Council, Terry McCauliffe, Matt McClure, James Carville and the dominant Democratic wonks are finished. Clearly, they can not win an election with their current strategy of running to the middle, acting like a Republican and trying to attract cross over votes. So far, it looks to me like more Democrats voted for Bush than the other way around. (I'm still stunned by this actually - perhaps a complete accounting and a statistical analysis of exit polls will reveal some discrepancies in particular states and dare I say, foul play.) What the Democrats need is an ideology of progress and positivity from the likes of Dennis Kucinich, Howard Dean, Joe Trippi, David Cobb, Michael Badnarik and yes, Ralph Nader. Now more than ever the truth of Ralph Nader's critique and analysis of contemporary politics is clearly true. The Democrats can't win on so-called centrist strategies. They can win with visionary optimism and progressive reform. Well, that's my opinion. They certainly can't do more than lose and they've got that down.
Nationally, I believe the time for protest is over. The oppositional strategy of the anti-war movement can be replaced with a strategy of positive coalition building and a reform movement. We need to stop saying "NO!" and starting offering the alternatives we believe in. We need to write legislation, write initiatives, and organize our next group of candidates. We must continue to pressure the media to participate in truth, to question authority and to expose the corruption at all levels of government. We need to build a national progressive caucus to bridge between the Kucinich Democrats and the national Greens. We only have 2 years until the next national election and with the lessons learned, we can win.
Finally, there will be change in the Bush administration. It's likely that Rudy Guilliani will take a prominent role, perhaps heading Homeland Security or the Justice Department (rumors fly). No doubt this will be his grooming for 2008. It's also likely that Powell will step down and we can only hope that Rumsfeld will also. It's rare for cabinets to carry over. I'm also curious as to how John McCain will be rewarded for his support. Perhaps 2008 will see a Guilliani/McCain ticket from the Republicans.
Well that's about all for now. I'm curious to hear what you think.
--John
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"[expletive deleted]" - John F. Kerry
Posted by John at November 4, 2004 08:32 PM
