Election Results

What does victory for Democrats mean for America and for the world?

The fact is that there will be tangible changes that will affect the lives of the American people. Among the first bills that will be passed and presented to the President is included a bill to support embryonic stem-cell research. Whereas the hold of the far-right on the Republicans led them to destroy unused embryonic stem-cells, Democrats will demand expanded research for new cures. Similarly, in the first 100 hours Democrats plan to raise the minimum wage. Republicans repeatedly refused to accept such a raise even though the real value minimum wage had been at its lowest in several decades, all while the salaries of congressmen had gone up $33,000 in the same period. The party will take serious the threat of global warming by immediately holding hearings on what steps can be taken to alleviate the problem. Now compare this to the Republicans who gave oil execs a free pass when they came to testify in Congress. While they demanded that baseball players testify under oath in regards to the question of steroids, they didn't require the same of the oil executives who came to testify in regards to record gas prices. A Democratic Congress will mean more respect towards diplomatic processes. This will be seen immediately by the rejection of John Bolton to the post of ambassador to the United Nations. For those who don't know, Bolton is the person who had mocked the U.N. by saying that one could lop off ten floors of the building without any difference being made to the world. Democrats will save Social Security. The funding for this will come in part by rescinding the tax-cuts George Bush gave to the richest 2%. Democrats will respect our civil liberties and allow a special secret court to be used for gaining warrants for wire-tapping purposes. Democrats will reject torture and they will demand that our judges be respectful of a women's right to choose. I can go on.

Having said that, I write this post in light of recent events in Palestine whereby Israeli aggression is again taking place with the use of American weapons and dollars. The fact is, Democrats and Republicans are both fiercely anti-Palestinian--a term I prefer to the euphemism pro-Israeli, which implies that criticizing the illegal Israeli occupation is somehow anti-Israeli--as a result of series of things which include the enormous influence of AIPAC and a grave American ignorance in regards to Islam and Arabs. So, with full acknowledgment that Democrats fail to understand the importance of fair dealings with the Palestinians and what that represents to defenders of human rights and to the Arab world, I will admit that I am still elated by the election results. I made calls and donated money because however much I disagree with certain parts of the Democratic Party, I do believe there is a difference.