Yes, like many here I have been saying that I want us to take the house, even if some of the new members would be hard for me, personally, to swallow.
I am glad that am not faced with a hard decision to vote for anti-privacy Casey in Pennsylvania, pro-Ten Commandments Ford in TN, and others.
Some are former Republicans, like Jim Webb.
And now I see an ad by Coleen Rowley, she is the former FBI agent who warned about 9/11 and who was one of the three whistle blowers of the Year on TIME.
She is running as a Democrat for MN-2 and is having a big ad responding to her opponent nasty accusations. One of them:
"Rowley embraces wacky, extremely liberal positions"
her response:
"I voted Republican most of my life. I voted for Bush in 2000 because I thought he would govern in a conservative manner like his father."
(Her chances to win, by the way, are slim)
But I have to wonder about these former Republicans. Many switched because they are disgusted with the way the Gingrich revolution disappeared into mid air once they got control. They are disgusted with the betrayal of promoting a small government. And guess where they would cut government spending.. And, of course, they are disgusted with the Iraqi quagmire.
In general, Emanuel and Schumer purposeful went in search of conservative people in red states to run for office as Democrats - see more here
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2930157All are white, many will be anti-privacy for women.
I am not complaining. Yet. But as DU in general is more left of center than, say, most Democrats, not to mention the Democratic "leadership," this is just a heads up that some of us are going to be disappointed once the new Congress gets down to business.
This may be the end of the Democratic Party of the New Deal and of the Great Society. In part, it is a reflection of the change in our society. Until the 80s (more or less) we were a manufacturing based economy where unions and working people were facing government, and business. We appreciated the need for unity, for watching over our communities.
Since then, we moved to a service based economy where each person is for himself. Many of us lost at least one job, we moved to the suburbs, we became self-employed as of last resort, and we started resenting government programs and taxes. We started resenting supporting people in the inner cities, homeless people, single mothers, immigrants... (not me personally, please don't flame; just a figure of speech).
I don't know what is the answer. I am not a sociologist but I am old enough to remember those days of shared responsibilities and I miss them, yet I can observe what is happening around the country.
Many who vote for Democrats do so when all of a sudden an issue - job loss, health problem, incurable disease, even loss of Enron stock - has become very personal issue. And if we are going to keep holding our majority, even take over the Senate and the White House, we will have to develop our own "contract" and it may not be what many of us wish and hope for.