America Won on November 7

Today the office closed early due to tonight’s ballet performance. I wish I had known about the early office closing before today – I arrived decked out in my concert blacks and with violin in tow. I considered staying anyway (actually, I am staying to tend to some matters, including this blog post), but I’m tired and want to catch a catnap to be fresh for tonight. Also, grab some sushi on my way home. Phoebe, my funny little black cat, will doubtless be pleased she gets some lap time!

I’ve also just e-mailed vestry members a list of my concerns about the direction of worship at Trinity. To make a long story short, I am concerned about the move away from a high church liturgy, and apparent efforts to move away from our Anglican heritage to some generic Protestant muddle. Of course, the Episcopal Church is not Protestant – but that’s another blog post.

So … I’ll just comment briefly on the November 7 midterm elections. To grossly oversimplify my thoughts: The People of America won. I have renewed faith in our democracy now that the Republicans no longer have a stranglehold in Washington. I was very happy to see Gov. Rod Blagojevich was re-elected in my home state of Illinois. Melissa Bean managed to prove that she was better than the smears of her opponent, David McSweeney (why did he have to be from Barrington Hills, anyway?) and win re-election. I wasn’t always happy with her votes (particularly in support of CAFTA and that dreadful bankruptcy package for the mega banks), but as a whole she’s been good for District 8. I was also happy to see Todd Stroger elected as President of the Cook County Board. I hope he’ll be able to prove his worth to the skeptics and emerge in his own right.

I’m sorry that Tammy Duckworth wasn’t able to prevail in District 6. She’s a remarkable woman and would have been an asset to the House of Representatives. She came very close to capturing the seat held by Henry Hyde – but, as they say, no cigar. I can only hope she pulls a Melissa Bean in the 6th. Melissa first ran in 2002, and came the closest anyone ever had to unseating Philip Crane. Well, she spent the next two years building her war chest and walking the district, getting to know citizens. All while Phil Crane was on one lobbyist-funded junket after another. Here’s hoping Tammy will do the same.

Here in Oklahoma, it was more bittersweet. We didn’t take back the State House, and came to a tie in the State Senate. Good news is we elected Jeri Askins as Lieutenant Governor, so she’ll be the tie-breaker. No suspense whatsoever in the Governor’s race – Brad Henry was re-elected in a rout of Ernest MisTook. I haven’t always agreed with Gov. Henry, but he’s been a very competent governor (to say the least). Drew Edmondson won re-election as Attorney General handily, much to the dismay of the corporate poultry processors who think Oklahoma is a toilet for their chickens. I was thrilled to see Lloyd Fields unseat the anti-worker Brenda Reneau. In addition, Kim Holland was elected Insurance Commissioner in her own right. Despite the smearing of her opponent in ads and robo-calls, Kim maintained the high road through out – and won handily.

I hope to see our Congress take the following steps in their first 100 days:

1. Raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour.
   
2. Repeal legislation that inhibits the ability of workers to unionize and collectively bargain.
   
3. Start inquiries into the Bush administration’s lies to start the Iraq war, and their abuses of power. If criminal activity is noted, start impeachment proceedings. After all, if President Clinton was impeached for a blow job, President Bush should be impeached for lies and abuses of constitutions powers.
   
4. Repeal the Patriot Act, National Security Act, and the other onerous Bush provisions rubber-stamped by the previous congress.
   
5. Review the “No Child Left Behind” act. Consider whether certain provisions are realistic. Reconsider the onerous testing requirements. Fully fund the mandates, so no state is unable to comply with requirements.
   
6. Start real, meaningful health care reform so every American has access to quality, affordable health care.

Have a great weekend!