The last day I was in Michigan, I woke up very early to spend a few hours with my Mom before she went to bed at noon', she is a nurse at Foote and works the overnight shift. I don't remember how it came up, but at one point she said something along the lines of: "the Democrats will win [the mid-term elections], Bush has ruined it for us Republicans."

Now - I didn't really respond to this, I started to say that Bush was neither Republican nor Conservative, but knowing that I only had a another two hours to hang out, I left it alone. But it's been on my mind, off and on, the last week, and knowing that my Mom does read this blog - I think I'll finish my thoughts here.

When I started to say that Bush is neither Republican nor Conservative I was getting to a point that Bush is the last person who ruined it for the right. And here is why, Bush could have tried to do everything he has done in his last 6 years - he could have tried to stonewall the 9/11 intelligence failures... he could have tried to operate secret & highly illegal torture prisons that would hold "enemy combatants" without charge for undisclosed periods of time, he could have tried to tap and sift through thousands upon thousands of American's phone records without a court order... he could have tried to cut taxes for the richest two-tenths of one percent and dump the bill on the growing poor and shrinking middle-class... he could have tried to gut this countries' health care system and in doing so giving a massive, massive handout to the pharmaceutical industry... he could have tried to claim that in a time of war (or in this case, illegal occupation) he has unlimited and unrestricted power... he could have tried to destroy FEMA and privatize it out to the highest bidder...

Obviously the point I'm getting to is this - if the Republican-controlled Congress had done it's job, which is oversight, then they would have stopped Bush from doing the above - and in doing so, avoided the disaster that is now our Country.


But I want to make two closing points: 1) I don't think it's a given that the Democrats will win back a majority in the house and senate... mostly this is because I don't have any faith in the voting structure for this Country. It doesn't help that 80% of all votes are counted by two corporations, each owned by brothers, of one of which has gone on record as saying he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to [Bush] next year."

And 2) I'm not arguing that the Democrats will fix everything up for us in a jiffy - mostly because where our Country is at now is the result of a 30 year effort to dismantle the middle class, something that started with Reagan when he began busting up unions and trashing tariffs. It will take a long time to get us on a sustainable track again, hopefully I'll see it happen in my life time. But there is hope in the Democrats for the very basic reason that the left believes Government is a tool for good... that it is there to help the people it is made up of, that it is a safety net for society... not, as these Republicans obviously feel, a tool to enrich their already rich friends.