What Now?

All right.

We did it.

We got Barack Obama elected president.

Now what?

Well, the first thing is addressed to my democrat brothers and sisters. You must not… MUST NOT… behave like the republicans did when they had all they toys. Unless you want to find yourselves exiled like you did in 1996 and 2000, and like the republicans are now, you MUST remember who you are. Remember who our president is. A perfect example of how NOT to behave is the partisan rant that Nancy Pelosi delivered after the first financial rescue package failed. You also must not allow yourself to become corrupted. I know – it’s difficult. Do you imagine that so many republicans have fallen to corruption because they’re bad people? I remind you that the rain falls on the just and the unjust alike. In other words, they aren’t bad people – they simply were tempted and surrendered to the temptation. I hate to break it to you, democrats, but YOU’RE the ones who are going to be tempted now because you’re the ones with the power to do stuff. Do not give into it.

Another thing that we can do is to END the federal contract with Diebold. Also use whatever leverage you have in other states to get them to end THEIR contracts with Diebold. We don’t need voting computers. We can keep the ballot tabulators, because as long as we continue to print ballots with the candidates and propositions arranged in different orders on each ballot, these cannot be corrupted. And for voters with disabilities, who cannot use a paper ballot? Maybe contract with another company… a company that will actually allow the congress to look inside their machines, understand how they work, and play with them to make another voting computer to be used ONLY by people with disabilities. I mean, in theory, voting computers are a great idea, but oversight on them has to be STRICT. Not non-existent like it was with Diebold. And if they try to claim that their work has to remain “secret” from the congress like Diebold did, then no contract. Escort them from the building.

Which reminds me – can we, while you guys have power, eliminate the electoral college? It served a purpose once upon a time, when it was impossible to count every single vote by hand in a timely fashion. It is now possible to do that. You don’t continue to use training wheels on a bike once you’ve learned to ride. Let’s take those training wheels off.

Hopefully this goes without saying, but let’s also either severely modify or eliminate the USA PATRIOT act. This thing is an unconstitutional mess with too little oversight and too much of a possibility of abuse.

I think that president-elect Obama is already planning this for his staff and cabinet, but invite the republicans to play with the toys, too, okay? Again, think of how it felt for you when the republicans were destroying everything that you tried to build. And when you think of that, instead of giving in to the baser urge for revenge, try to be the better person, okay? Maybe while they are (as Ari Fleisher put it) in the wilderness, we can encourage them to be a kinder, gentler party. Oh, and republicans? It might help matters somewhat if you try to broaden your base a little. The snake-handlers, rednecks and robber barons that you have narrowed your base to over the last couple of decades no longer serves you. This might also discourage you from trying to nominate Sarah Palin for president in 2012. Frankly, I think that if you try that, she’ll get her ass handed to her by president Obama anyway.

Hand in hand with that, I think, is to change the discourse in American politics. When the republicans go all Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter on you, remain calm and continue intelligent discourse. I am reminded of Whoopi Goldberg’s much too short lived talk show. One time she had the founder of WAR (the White Aryan Movement) on her show. She said that she knew that if he started to rant and rave the only way that she could keep any kind of dialogue going was by remaining calm. Don’t question their patriotism. Don’t call them names. Stay cool.

Work with the republicans to get civil recognition for homosexuals and stem cell research going. Having you guys in charge will encourage the moderate republicans to come out of the shell that Bush and his cronies have forced them into.

The last thing that I can think of for tonight is a biggie. IMPEACH BUSH AND CHENEY. Or at least try. I kind of suspect that you guys were hoping for a super-majority so that you could do this, but you didn’t get it. Frankly, I’m kind of glad that you didn’t. But try anyway. But make it clear if you do that it isn’t the kind of partisan witch hunt that they pulled on Clinton, but only an attempt to make these men pay for the crimes that they’ve committed. Yes, Hillary Clinton, that will make Nancy Pelosi the first female president for however long from the end of the impeachment process until president Obama is sworn in on the twentieth of January. Deal with it.

Okay, that’s all that I can think of for tonight, except for maybe the most important one. Do your best, while you have power, to bring something to America that we haven’t had in a long while, in the world and between the parties. And that is…

…peace.

Randal