THE HOPE IN AVALANCHES
The one remaining card is a massive, landslide defeat of GOP candidates in the House and/or the Senate. If the Democrats were to take over one or both of those chambers, they could throw a giant monkey wrench into the policy momentum of the CheneyBush juggernaut, begin to initiate honest investigations of corrupt and dangerous CheneyBush policies and programs, subpoena witnesses, require them to testify under oath, indict them for possible perjury, etc. etc.
At the very least, a Democratic victory in November would offer some hope that the dire situation could be addressed and steps taken to turn this country around and back to political sanity. The courts likewise would read the election returns and begin to act more circumspectly. Similarly, the mass media would feel more empowered to dig deeper into Administration crimes and misdemeanors.
Alternative point of view: Even if the Democrats were to win big, the Bush bunker crew might well try to ram all their policies through, by executive fiat if necessary, while they still control the military apparatus, the Justice Department, FEMA, etc. -- and dare anybody to stop them. That's been their M.O. to date, so why would they want to, or feel the need to, change?
If the GOP can be decisively defeated on Nov. 7, there won't be an immediate turnaround, of course, but there will be hope for major changes down the road. If the GOP, through dirty tricks or otherwise, sqeaks through the midterm election not too badly hurt, all those extreme reactions I mentioned at the start of my talk will begin to look more and more necessary to many in order to save our country.
As Tiny Tim might have said: "God help us, everyone."#
Bernard Weiner, Ph.D. in government & international relations, has taught at universities in California and Washington, worked as a writer-editor for the San Francisco Chronicle, and currently co-edits The Crisis Papers. For comment: crisispapers@comcast.net
First published by The Crisis Papers and Democratic Underground 10/17/06.
www.crisispapers.org/essays6w/democrats-abroad.htm
Copyright 2006 by Bernard Weiner.
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