Time for the Voice of the
People to be Heard
Sun Jan 15, 2006 13:34
IN A NUTSHELL
by Norla Antinoro
2006
Time for the Voice of the People to be Heard
14 January 2006
http://www.mytown.ca/nutshell/
In 2006, every seat in the House of Representatives is being contested. Of these 231 incumbents are Republican, 202 are Democrats, 1 is independent, and there is 1 vacancy that will be filled before election day. The house has been under Republican control since 1995. To regain control, the Democrats will need to pick up 16 additional seats. This involves not just gaining 16 new seats, but losing none of the ones they already have.
The Senate has been dominated by the Republican Party since 2003. This year there are 33 seats being contested. The Senate is currently made up of 55 Republicans, 44 Democrats, and one impendent who has been voting with the Democrats since 2001. In order to have a majority in the Senate, the Democratic Party would have to hold 51 seats, since the Vice President, currently a Republican, has a voting position. The Republicans, on the other hand, merely have to retain 50 seats in order to retain the majority, as long as the Vice President remains a Republican.
No matter who is elected in 2008 to the office of president, this year’s elections will have a significant impact. A president with the support of the congress can make sweeping significant changes in the country. Opposed by Congress, a president does well to hold onto a break even stance. This was made evident in the last two Democratic administrations. It is therefore these congressional contests that are the most important ones. It is crucial that the Republican Party lose its strangle hold on all three branches of the United States government. By taking control once again of the House and the Senate, the Democratic Party would be in a position to strongly support a Democratic president if one is elected, or to stymie a Republican’s efforts to continue the downward spiral the Bushes have started.
Not being a specialist in political science, I can only speak as a concerned voter.
While I would suggest that progressives start working to support the progressive and Democratic candidates in every race, it is especially important that they do this in the most effective way possible. There are races where the Republican is a shoo-in -- red states where incumbents are running against unknown Democratic opponents. In those districts, now is the right time to work to build the so-called third parties. As the current make-up of both House and Senate demonstrate, the two major parties have essentially all of the power, with only two independents currently serving [one in the House and one in the Senate]. If the Republican is a foregone conclusion, then it is a good opportunity to give the second string some experience, if you will excuse the sports metaphor. There are two times when you put in the second string – when you are way ahead and sure to win and when you are so far behind you can only lose. Both situations offer an opportunity without risk to work on other candidates.
It seems to me that in races where there is a possibility of ousting the Republican, it is to the advantage of the progressives and liberals to support the candidate most likely to get that job done. Once the Republican majority in both houses has been broken, we can work without risk toward developing the alternative parties. Until then, I think it risks too much to support third party candidates in races where there is a good chance that the republican can be defeated.
There are a number of state and local elections this year as well, with 35 governors being elected and a variety of state senate and house seats being filled. This would be the place for strong development efforts by the various third parties. As they begin to gain seats in the various states, they will gain strength on the national stage as well, situating them better for long term development as viable forces in national politics.
Has there ever been an election year like this one, with so many local, state, and federal positions being contested? It is a year filled with opportunity and challenge.
If we remove one conservative Republican, if we gain one seat, it will be an improvement. But we have an opportunity to do much more than that in 2006. We have the opportunity to break the Republican hold on the congress. We have the opportunity to strengthen the non-Republican positions in 35 or more states, in gubernatorial and state legislature elections. If we can swing the votes to do this, whatever the outcome in 2008, we stand a better chance of preventing the conservative right wing Republicans and their corporate supporters from continuing to treat this country like their own fiefdom.
With the campaigns being run on Party money and money collected from donations instead of public funds, campaign finance will once again be a major determiner of results. The money would be most effectively used in the races where we stand a chance of removing a republican or retaining a Democrat. Like running triage at the emergency room, we need to concentrate our strongest efforts where they have a potential impact.
All of us have a stake in this election. This is not a year when anyone can afford to sit things out. Every single seat in the House of Representatives is being contested, along with 33 Senators, and 35 governors. Every state has a critical contest being decided. We all need to work on this set of campaigns.
What ever your beliefs about the two party system, I believe we cannot afford to let the Republicans retain their hold on the government of the US. We can work on the other issues along the way but right now we need to concentrate hard on ousting the Republicans.
A lot of reasonable people will argue this point with me. Democrats, liberals, independents, and progressives have all recently told me that it is most important to vote for the candidate and not the party. At this point I believe that has never been farther from the case. The Republican grip on this country is what has allowed the Bush administration to roll back environmental protections, worker protections, and civil rights. All three branches of the federal government are currently Republican dominated. As long as that is true, we stand very little chance of stopping the juggernaut that is the Bush League short of civil war. Once we have taken back the congress, we have a bit of breathing room and can work in a measured and balanced way toward other goals.
Fortunately, polls show that public opinion is beginning to swing back in the direction of support for the Democratic Party. Once again, there will be many who object to supporting the major parties, but since they are the only two parties that have any power in the federal arena at this time, and the Republicans have shown themselves to be unacceptable, it is time to weigh in on the side of the people’s party, the democratic Party. It may not be as much the people’s party as it once was, but it stands a chance of being that once again if we work at it.
So let’s all do whatever we can to see to it that this is the last year that the Republican Party holds all the reins of power in the United States. Let’s all come out to vote this year. We out number them. Let’s all go vote and scare the bejeebers out of them for the first time in a long time.
Norla Antinoro is a life long Democrat. Born in California she spent the last 40 years in and around Tucson, Arizona. Currently a New Yorker she commutes regularly to Guelph, Ontario where she is the voluntary curator of the Rosalie Bertell Resource Centre.
In a Nutshell, Series 1
http://www.mytown.ca/nutshell/
by Norla Antinoro
2006
Time for the Voice of the People to be Heard
14 January 2006
http://www.mytown.ca/nutshell/
In 2006, every seat in the House of Representatives is being contested. Of these 231 incumbents are Republican, 202 are Democrats, 1 is independent, and there is 1 vacancy that will be filled before election day. The house has been under Republican control since 1995. To regain control, the Democrats will need to pick up 16 additional seats. This involves not just gaining 16 new seats, but losing none of the ones they already have.
The Senate has been dominated by the Republican Party since 2003. This year there are 33 seats being contested. The Senate is currently made up of 55 Republicans, 44 Democrats, and one impendent who has been voting with the Democrats since 2001. In order to have a majority in the Senate, the Democratic Party would have to hold 51 seats, since the Vice President, currently a Republican, has a voting position. The Republicans, on the other hand, merely have to retain 50 seats in order to retain the majority, as long as the Vice President remains a Republican.
No matter who is elected in 2008 to the office of president, this year’s elections will have a significant impact. A president with the support of the congress can make sweeping significant changes in the country. Opposed by Congress, a president does well to hold onto a break even stance. This was made evident in the last two Democratic administrations. It is therefore these congressional contests that are the most important ones. It is crucial that the Republican Party lose its strangle hold on all three branches of the United States government. By taking control once again of the House and the Senate, the Democratic Party would be in a position to strongly support a Democratic president if one is elected, or to stymie a Republican’s efforts to continue the downward spiral the Bushes have started.
Not being a specialist in political science, I can only speak as a concerned voter.
While I would suggest that progressives start working to support the progressive and Democratic candidates in every race, it is especially important that they do this in the most effective way possible. There are races where the Republican is a shoo-in -- red states where incumbents are running against unknown Democratic opponents. In those districts, now is the right time to work to build the so-called third parties. As the current make-up of both House and Senate demonstrate, the two major parties have essentially all of the power, with only two independents currently serving [one in the House and one in the Senate]. If the Republican is a foregone conclusion, then it is a good opportunity to give the second string some experience, if you will excuse the sports metaphor. There are two times when you put in the second string – when you are way ahead and sure to win and when you are so far behind you can only lose. Both situations offer an opportunity without risk to work on other candidates.
It seems to me that in races where there is a possibility of ousting the Republican, it is to the advantage of the progressives and liberals to support the candidate most likely to get that job done. Once the Republican majority in both houses has been broken, we can work without risk toward developing the alternative parties. Until then, I think it risks too much to support third party candidates in races where there is a good chance that the republican can be defeated.
There are a number of state and local elections this year as well, with 35 governors being elected and a variety of state senate and house seats being filled. This would be the place for strong development efforts by the various third parties. As they begin to gain seats in the various states, they will gain strength on the national stage as well, situating them better for long term development as viable forces in national politics.
Has there ever been an election year like this one, with so many local, state, and federal positions being contested? It is a year filled with opportunity and challenge.
If we remove one conservative Republican, if we gain one seat, it will be an improvement. But we have an opportunity to do much more than that in 2006. We have the opportunity to break the Republican hold on the congress. We have the opportunity to strengthen the non-Republican positions in 35 or more states, in gubernatorial and state legislature elections. If we can swing the votes to do this, whatever the outcome in 2008, we stand a better chance of preventing the conservative right wing Republicans and their corporate supporters from continuing to treat this country like their own fiefdom.
With the campaigns being run on Party money and money collected from donations instead of public funds, campaign finance will once again be a major determiner of results. The money would be most effectively used in the races where we stand a chance of removing a republican or retaining a Democrat. Like running triage at the emergency room, we need to concentrate our strongest efforts where they have a potential impact.
All of us have a stake in this election. This is not a year when anyone can afford to sit things out. Every single seat in the House of Representatives is being contested, along with 33 Senators, and 35 governors. Every state has a critical contest being decided. We all need to work on this set of campaigns.
What ever your beliefs about the two party system, I believe we cannot afford to let the Republicans retain their hold on the government of the US. We can work on the other issues along the way but right now we need to concentrate hard on ousting the Republicans.
A lot of reasonable people will argue this point with me. Democrats, liberals, independents, and progressives have all recently told me that it is most important to vote for the candidate and not the party. At this point I believe that has never been farther from the case. The Republican grip on this country is what has allowed the Bush administration to roll back environmental protections, worker protections, and civil rights. All three branches of the federal government are currently Republican dominated. As long as that is true, we stand very little chance of stopping the juggernaut that is the Bush League short of civil war. Once we have taken back the congress, we have a bit of breathing room and can work in a measured and balanced way toward other goals.
Fortunately, polls show that public opinion is beginning to swing back in the direction of support for the Democratic Party. Once again, there will be many who object to supporting the major parties, but since they are the only two parties that have any power in the federal arena at this time, and the Republicans have shown themselves to be unacceptable, it is time to weigh in on the side of the people’s party, the democratic Party. It may not be as much the people’s party as it once was, but it stands a chance of being that once again if we work at it.
So let’s all do whatever we can to see to it that this is the last year that the Republican Party holds all the reins of power in the United States. Let’s all come out to vote this year. We out number them. Let’s all go vote and scare the bejeebers out of them for the first time in a long time.
Norla Antinoro is a life long Democrat. Born in California she spent the last 40 years in and around Tucson, Arizona. Currently a New Yorker she commutes regularly to Guelph, Ontario where she is the voluntary curator of the Rosalie Bertell Resource Centre.
In a Nutshell, Series 1
http://www.mytown.ca/nutshell/
