At the risk of alienating those of us congratulating ourselves on establishing a permanent Democratic majority, I must remind you that this is only a small battle in the long war of taking back our country, and last week's epic victory will only prevail as long as protect it. THE REPUBLICAN REVOLUTION MIGHT NOT BE OVER. IT'S ALL UP TO US. As Winston Churchill, said in the middle of WWII: "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."
If we relax and let our guard down now, we've retaken the fort but allowed the enemy to slide out the back gate to regroup, gather more weapons and steal the fort again. Bush and the Rethugs will fight back in numerous ways, including but not limited to:
(1) Trying to convince Democratic Senators and Representatives to switch parties (or in Lieberman's case, maybe offering a cabinet post to create a vacancy to be filled by Republican Governor Jodi Rell);
(2) Ramming through whatever joke of legislation they can get through a lame-duck session;
(3) Acting as if the Rethugs and their leaders are reasonable and bipartisan while the Dems are unnecessarily partisan;
(4) All of a sudden taking or supporting some popularly (and initially Democratic) supported action and claiming it as their own;
(5) Taking or supporting some small measure of a popularly supported action and pretending it is the real McCoy(remember the Patients' Bill of Rights), while in reality, the action really benefits and protects the Rethugs whores and their corporate Johns (remember the Medicare Bill).
(6) Starting or escalating wars or foreign policy conflicts so Bush can try his poor imitation of John Wayne again, and the Rethugs can revive their fear and smear tactics;
(7) Taking actions behind the scene (Remember redistricting and unverified electronic voting machines?) that will allow the Rethugs to expand power even though they know their values and priorities are not shared by the majority of Americans; and
(8) Convincing the media that the Democratic victory was not really a Democratic victory by lying and saying that the new Democrats are conservatives, Democrats have no agenda, Democrats have a hidden agenda, Democrats are as corrupt as the Rethugs, etc.
Therefore, in response, we must continue to do what we did during this long and hard-fought campaign as well as:
(1) Pressuring the media to seek the Truth and do their job of being objective instead of neutral;
(2) Doing our own investigations because many jokesters in the MSM will be reluctant to do their jobs;
(3) Talking to and winning over Republicans, independents and politically-uninterested Americans who have not yet fully embraced us because of what they thought about Democrats 20 years ago, what they think about politics generally, etc.;
(4) Actually implementing and executing our platform on the national, state and local levels (helping the poor, expanding educational opportunity, protecting the environment, etc.);
(5) Writing/Calling/Pressuring Democratic politicians who might consider a switch to the Rethugs;
(6) Writing/Calling/ Pressuring all Democratic politicians who might vote against the best interests of the country by supporting the Rethug platform and talking points;
(7) Rewarding Democratic politicians (as well as a few Republican and independent politicians) when they make wise decisions and support the will of the people and the common good;
(8) Respecting all politicians who make decisions (even if we disagree with them) based on facts and arguments instead of corruption, deceit and greed;
(9) Working with Republicans and independents on the areas of common ground to ensure a respectful debate for the best interest of all the people of the United States. After all, unlike the Republicans, we must never forget that our representatives represent all Americans, not just our party members; and
(10) MOST IMPORTANTLY, working to recruit a new breed of Democratic politicians in the mold of Jon Tester and Jim Webb.
The fight to take back our government will likely last a generation--maybe longer. If we fall asleep at the post now, the power we fought so hard to obtain will slip right through our fingers---and deservedly so. Every election of this century appears to become more and more important. I don't want to win the battle and lose the war, do you?