(cross-published in todays Daily Campus)
UCONN WINS ELECTION FOR JOE COURTNEY... DEMOCRATIC PARTY TAKES HOUSE AND SENATE.... AMERICA REJECTS FAILED CONSERVATIVE IDEOLOGY.... REPUBLICAN REIGN OF TERROR TO END IN JANUARY.... RECORD SETTING YOUTH TURNOUT.... BUSH COWERS IN FEAR OF A MOBILIZED PROGRESSIVE AMERICA
This is a great day to be young, progressive and an American. Our six year national nightmare is finally over. The theocrats and war pigs have been resoundingly ridiculed and refused re-election. And the election was a total shut-out, we didn't lose one seat, not one. It's good to win, winning makes our progressive movement stronger. America hates losers, and today the biggest loser of all is George W. Bush.
In district after district America cast Bush's Congress to the curb. A realignment has taken place in the political consciousness of America. Conservatism as we know it is dead. The only way Republicans can ever win again is by coming over to our side on the issues.
When UConn alumni Mary Glassman, gubernatorial candidate John Destefeno's running mate, came here for Ned Lamont's final rally she said "it was here at UCONN that I learned the importance of being involved". Later in my life, I'll say the same thing. This semester I have been working on the campus get out the vote drive,. At first I was torn between the obligation I felt to help, and the strong desire to have few responsibilities. By election day I couldn't imagine not being involved.
I got to meet Ned Lamont, Wesley Clark, Joe Courtney, Mary Glassman and Tom Swan. I met people from all over the country who came to Connecticut to volunteer on election day. I met extremely intelligent politicos with interesting stories to tell. I met beautiful and creative women. I met older people with stories of elections before I was born. I met people who care, people working for change. Good people all of them.
It took a lot of work to organize this get out the vote effort. We all gave it everything we had, and it payed off. 926 on campus students voted, compared to 129 in the last congressional election. The Simmons-Courtney race came down to 167 votes. UConn overwhelmingly voted for Joe Courtney. We won it for Courtney. A College Republican, upset by Rob Simmons loss, said to me "Why did you guys have to do such a good job?"
We had many rallies, and brought celebrities. We registered almost 2,000 new voters, we had someone promise to swim Swan lake if 1,000 students voted. We got limos to drive people to the polls. We created a political environment that brought normally apathetic students to the polls.
When the College Democrats brought Wesley Clark to UConn for Ned's first rally, the General challenged us to make UConn not just an athletic powerhouse, but a political powerhouse as well. We answered the General's challenge, and by doing so we positioned UConn as a crucial voting bloc. This means candidates will try to impress us, and our political power has increased substantially. Expect more and more celebrities like Ben Affleck and national political leaders to come to campus to woo us because of what we did here this year.
The Democratic Party did better than any sober analyst could have predicted. Only the most exuberant lefties, people like me, predicted a win this big. I predicted 40 seats in the House and 7 in the Senate. The final house count isn't in but it will be between 36-39 and we got 6 Senate seats. We walloped the Republicans. The people have given the Democrats a mandate to kick ass. Bush has been digging America into a hole, and the right thing for the democrats to do now is obstruct Bush's shovel.
The Democratic Party leadership won't do this for us. Their role is to be centrist. Progressives need to create pressure from the bottom to get our new majority to do the right thing and impeach Bush & Cheney for abuses of power graver than Nixon. Read Nixon impeachment insider John Dean's book Worse Than Watergate to dig what I mean here. Bush & Cheney can spare themselves impeachment by resigning, but I believe publicly airing this administration out will be good for the nation. We didn't leave Rowland in office after we found out he was a crook.
All the terribly Un-American legislation the GOP passed in the last six years must be undone. The PATRIOT ACT and the Military Commissions Act (the torture and disappearances bill) that take away rights we've had since the Magna Carta was signed in 1215 need to be repealed. We can call the one sweeping bill that returns freedom to America "The 'status quo ante bushum' Act".
After Bush is impeached and civil liberties restored, immediate action on climate change is required. We are running out of time to avert catastrophic global warming, and switching to a clean economy will supercharge our economy.
John Murtha will be running to become Majority Leader against Steny Hoyer, and progressives need to support Murtha. Even though Murtha is a conservative Democrat, he understands what's happening in Iraq and knows how to fix it. As a former Marine, Murtha knows we are fueling the civil war in Iraq. Murtha will fight to declare victory in Iraq, end our military operations against Iraqis and begin peaceful reconstruction assistance from outside the country.
Enjoy this great victory. Savor it. The Reagan Revolution is over, Conservatism is dead. If the Republican party ever wants to win again they will have to change. America is just not going continue to be a country with 50 million people without health insurance. America is just not going to continue with a minimum wage of 5 dollars and fifteen cents. America is just not going to continue to derail efforts to curb global warming pollution. America has spoken, and Republicans will have to concede that their party platform is an absolute unmitigated failure. America is mobilized, and the Republicans are terrified.
Remember that the Democrats are just a conduit for change. Politicians won't do the right thing, they only respond to pressure from the bottom. The new Democratic Congress will be sworn in in January. Now is the time for me to rest, because in 2007 it'll be time to agitate for impeachment.
Tuesday November 7th 2006 was a very special day, a day I will remember forever. It was a day where the hard work of a small group of passionate college students overcame the Republican smear machine and sent one war pig into early retirement. Many people say to me that impeachment is the right thing to do Constitutionally, but politically unrealistic. After my experience on this election I will never doubt the ability of a small group of passionate people to accomplish anything.