Sunday, October 31, 2004

Good Riddance, Mr. Bush!

I cast my absentee vote at the City Hall today. Yep, Wisconsin is one of those states where people can vote early. I wish I could have the whole election Tuesday off, so I can volunteer at the polling station; but alas, I have classes till 4pm, plus an exam to boot. So, I decided to drag myself up to the 5th floor of the architecturally-gorgeous Milwaukee City Hall building and waited in line for over two hours just to exercise my citizen's right to kick Bush's lily-white ass out of the White House. This election is arguably the most important one in recent American history since the stakes are tremendously high and the whole world is watching with bated breath. Hopefully it will not take another 36 days of acrimonious legal battles and media frenzy and the ruling of the Supreme Court to decide on the winner.

The first rule of watching the election results unfold on TV is not to be alone by yourself. A person needs to be with other people, preferably friends and family--to function as a support group if one's candidate loses or as a celebratory group if one's candidate wins. I still haven't decided where I'll be spending my election night; so far, there are at least a couple of election night parties that I am invited to but I already promised Brad that I'll be joining him, Nicki and others at his apartment for the party.

My anxiety level is at an all-time high right now and it's not just due to the anticipation of the Bush-Kerry final showdown but also from the suspense of following other Congressional elections around the country at the same time. There are a lot of hotly-contested Congressional races, especially the Senate races, and there is a fairly good chance that the Democrats can regain the majority in the US Senate again.

Here's my prediction for next Tuesday, November 2nd: Kerry will defeat Bush with a comfortable margin, 53 to 46 percent, with Nader and the rest getting less than 1 percent. The current make-up of the US Senate is 51 Republicans, 48 Democrats and 1 Independent (who caucuses with the Democrats.) The whole Senate power structure will be shaken up once again in the aftermath of this election with 50 Democrats, 49 Republicans and 1 Independent. The least would be an evenly divided Senate but with John Kerry as the President, John Edwards in his capacity as the Vice President, will get to cast the tie-breaking vote in the US Senate. As for the House, nothing changes--the Republicans will still retain control of the chamber. The Democrats might somewhat close the gap but with wacky re-districting schemes that overwhelmingly favor the incumbents, it's impossible for the Democrats to regain the House, at least not in the foreseeable future. My only wish is to have the most despicable and abhorrent character in the House, by the name of Tom DeLay aka The Hammer, defeated in his re-election; though the odds are very low for this to happen but strange things do happen in politics all the time. And yes, before I forget, Wisconsin will most likely send its first black woman to the US Congress after the election, and that happens to be my super-lovely and vivacious future Congresswoman, Gwen Moore. What's really inspiring is her journey from a life in welfare to the halls of Congress. You go, Gwen!

What happens if Bush wins? The world, in next four years, will be an inescapable hell on earth and there will also be a mass migration of Americans into Canada. Well, I do know a few people who seriously consider moving to Canada if Bush wins. Let's all just cross our fingers and hope that it doesn't have to come to that.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Are you serious about people moving to Canada? Wow if Bush found out about this he must be really depressed hahaha. It must have been interesting for you over there! - rocket queen machine.

Fido Dido said...

Yes, Bush is already shaking in his boots right now. Look at what his minions and foot soldiers are doing now trying to suppress the minority votes i.e. votes from the blacks, hispanics etc that would traditionally go to the Democrat. The rule of thumb is the higher the voter turnout is, the better chance the Democrats will have of winning, and the opposite goes for the Republican. Isn't it ironic how Bush is trying to promote "democracy" in the Middle East when his people here at home is trying to stop people from exercising their rights to participate in the democratic system.

Fido Dido said...

As to the mass migration to Canada, I was partly kidding. However, I do know a few people who would temporarily move to Canada for the next four years though. I don't think Bush is going to be depressed about this at all; I'm sure he'll be glad that these America-hating, weed-smoking liberal pansies are out of the country.It means less votes for the Democrats, if these people are not too stoned to vote.