Yes it is true, I have actually decided to write a new article here at Soapblox. It has been a long time coming, and I have had many planned articles, yet somehow, a brief hiatus turned into near cancellation. Well I suppose in the long run it was for the best. I needed some time away from the whole political scene as looking down the tunnel of our future light seems very far from vision.
They thought the party would never end. 
Looking back on the 9 months of away time I’ve spent, a lot has changed in my own life, and in the hallowed halls of Washington D.C. President Bush’s rock star rise was met with the inevitable rock star fall, and ever since the great election of 2006, the pendulum of political momentum has begun a might swing in the opposite direction.
The Republicans in their late days of power had all the enthusiasm of the 2001 Detroit Lions and enough scandals to make Anna Nicole Smith look like Mother Teresa. There were accusations of racism (maccaca) convictions of bribery, numerous Congressmen in court, a high ranking Republican activist pastor accused of a gay love affair with generous use of amphetamine, even a congressmen who lured Congressional pages into gay love affairs. People joked the next Republican convention should be held in a giant closet. The jokes flew steady and fast from the late night talk show hosts. Could it be that the once mighty Republican party, bringers of integrity, family values and anti-gay marriage amendments were actually a bunch of corrupt bribe taking, self-hating, closet homosexual pedophile speed freaks?
What a story! It was such an exciting time. Could Goliath be bested by David? What other gay-bashing Republicans were actually closet homosexuals? And what the hell was REALLY going on in that little room behind the Senate chamber?
The election didn’t disappoint either. Between all the Maccaca campaign ads, Mark Foley press coverage and election recounts, I almost missed the corrupt Jack Abramoff associates being hauled away to jail. I remember taking a deep breath as the polls in Virginia, Missouri, Montana and Rhode Island all showed too close to call results. Could the weak and timid Democratic Party take back power from the hands of the corrupt and loud Republicans? Gathered around the idiot box and the internet that fateful evening with friends and family and kept my fingers crossed.
Would the Republicans fear tactics work… yet again?
Or was America finally going to kick a pack of corrupt politicians from the seat of power?
I must have stayed up till 4am that night, hoping for info from the front. When the smoke cleared on the field of battle, the Democrats had taken the House and nearly taken the Senate. The recount fiasco began again like a now familiar burden, not too different from “enjoying†the company of a distant family relative who has come to stay for an indefinite period of time. Only this time, ol’ Uncle Bob never unpacked his bags, as the disputes had been settled and the Democrats emerged victorious.
It was a sweet victory. It tasted like change and as each day passed the change tasted more and more sweet. First “Old Rummy†was sacked, then the Dems announced an ambitious agenda. Then the first 100 hours proved successful under new Speaker Pelosi.
The change left a stinging effect that began to break down the Republican Party. Old and bloated talking heads like Rush Limbaugh looked weak and hypocritical, as the era of complete Republican domination came to a close with nothing accomplished, nothing that is, but for a brutal and pointless war left squarely in the hands of our troops and has taken 3,000+ American lives and well over 100,000 Iraqi civilians. Indeed, victory may have tasted sweet, but only because we’ve been drinking castor oil for the past 6 years. The grim reality of the road ahead was daunting. Could the future of this country really be as bad as it appeared? I think we all swallowed our pride and hopped for the best.
The celebrations were short lived as the new bitter reality of politics in the Senate kicked in. If only former Majority Leader, Frist had pushed the Nuclear Option. Now the power of the filibuster lay in the hands of the enemy, and the closely divided Congress looked a lot like it did a few years back. Oh, and of course with the one Constitutional power Bush hasn’t learned how to abuse yet (or do I mean use), the Veto, Congress settled into a long hard battle of attrition. Congress with an ambitious agenda and a hostile President often produce very little, and this session seems to be no exception.
Then the battle over Iraq set in, with the Dems holding together a fragile coalition and Bush defiant as always, the war drags on, finger pointing continues and troops and Iraqi civilians die by the day.
Scandal after scandal now leaks its way out of the White House. With this new Gonzales deal to add to Plamegate, fraudulent documents that support the war and a host of other issues still nipping their way into that political capital once touted so loudly by the President. It is safe to say at this point the guy has a large political debt so large, the bank may foreclose soon. Poor fool! He thought he could come to Washington and be the next Lincoln, instead he turned into the next Warren Harding, and like Mr. Harding, who was voted the worst president in history by a panel of historians I might add, Bush better hope he has health complications that save him from the potential fate of impeachment. I think that if our glorious leader manages to survive impeachment, it will be by the mere fact that Americans are now more concerned with who will replace the incredible shrinking Bush, more than they are with the man himself.
After all, it is the economy stupid, and while our economy is supposedly doing well, the bottom 90% of the economic pyramid, basically anyone who is not a multi-millionaire, has not even enjoyed even the crumbs of success. In fact, productivity rose to the highest it’s been in decades, and all the while we are paid the same while inflation rises. So the American worker gets paid less to do more. You gotta love Republican economics! It sure works for them. The top 1% is enjoying the fruits of our labor. No wonder they keep us distracted with abortion, racial issues, school shootings, pornography, mass-media celebrity arrests, immigration and whether or not you support our troops.
So today, to wrap things up in a nice neat little bow, we are engulfed in a very tumultuous and interesting period in history. With the threat of global warming becoming more apparent every day, an economy on the brink as it faces foreclosure after foreclosure and an American public completely disillusioned with the institution of the U.S. government.
Where will it go? I suppose we’ll all find out. The only thing I know for sure, is that Soapblox will be here to make its wacky satirical writings through it all. Of this I give my utmost pledge.
