Them Dems

archived: 25 Nov - 2 Dec, 2007 Back Next

UPDATED: NOV 29, 2007

OF LIBERTY

Learned Hand perhaps said it best:

Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it....

The results from this survey suggest that much public education is needed if constitutional democracy is to be preserved in the United States. Students at New York University would give up their right to vote in the next election or permanently:

[Twenty] percent said they'd exchange their vote for an iPod touch. But 66 percent said they'd forfeit their vote for a free ride to NYU. And half said they'd give up the right to vote forever for $1 million.

But, they also overwhelmingly lauded the importance of voting. Ninety percent of the students who said they'd give up their vote for the money also said they consider voting "very important" or "somewhat important"; only 10 percent said it was "not important." Also, 70.5 percent said they believe that one vote can make a difference - including 70 percent of the students who said they'd give up their vote for free tuition.

The class - "Foundations of Journalism," taught by journalism department chairwoman Brooke Kroeger - polled more than 3,000 undergraduates between Oct. 24 and 26 to assess student attitudes toward voting.

"The part that I find amazing is that so many folks think one vote can make a difference," Dalton Conley, sociology department chairman, said. He added, "If we take them at their word, then perhaps they really think votes matter, and that's why someone might pay a year's tuition to buy theirs."

Sixty percent of the students who said they'd give up their vote for tuition also described their families' income as upper middle or high.

There are, indeed, serious issues facing America that Democrats must address. As for Republicans, see Dr. Steven Jonas’ excellent piece today, “The Great Republican Comedy Hours, II.”

A LIGHTER SIDE

TPJ receives hundreds of emails each week. Occasionally, one stands out; this one on the lighter side:

There's a show on C-SPAN about presidential libraries. Here's what the draft plans for the George W. Bush Library now call for:

The Alberto Gonzales Room - Where you can't remember any of the exhibits.

The Hurricane Katrina Room - It's still under construction.

The Texas Air National Guard Room - Where you don't have to even show up.

The Walter Reed Hospital Room - Where they don't let you in.

The Guantanamo Bay Room - Where they don't let you out.

The Weapons of Mass Destruction Room - Nobody has been able to find it.

The War in Iraq Room - After you complete your first tour, they can force you to go back for your second and third and fourth and fifth tours.

The K-Street Project Gift Shop - Where you can buy an election, or, if no one cares, steal one.

The Men's Room - Where you could meet a Republican Senator (or two).

To be fair, the President has done some good things, and so the museum will have an electron microscope to help you locate them.

When asked, President Bush said that he didn't care so much about the individual exhibits as long as his museum was better than his father's.

TPJ extends kudos to the anonymous author of this work.

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UPDATED: NOV 18, 2007

First, Democrats in both the US House and Senate passed reauthorization of FISA without giving telecommunication companies immunity against civil actions for assisting the Bush administration with warrantless wiretapping:

Democrats scored a pair of victories Thursday in the battle to hold accountable telecommunications companies that allegedly assisted the Bush administration in its efforts to warrantlessly wiretap Americans.

The House late Thursday passed an update to a foreign surveillance law that did not include a Bush-requested provision granting legal immunity to the powerful telecoms. A Senate committee scored a similar win against immunity when it unexpectedly sent to the full Senate a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act revision that did not include immunity.

Democrats, civil libertarians and liberal bloggers celebrated a rare and unexpected two-front victory, but they know that Bush and congressional Republicans have not given up in their efforts to intervene in about 40 lawsuits pending against phone and Internet providers such as AT&T and Verizon.

On a 227-189 vote, the House passed its FISA update, known as the RESTORE Act, which reinstates judicial oversight that was eliminated from a temporary update passed in August and pointedly does not include language granting immunity to telecommunications companies.

Second, Congress is scheduled to go into recess. However, Majority Leader Reid is going to keep the US Senate in session over the Thanksgiving holidays to stop Bush from making recess appointments to crucial government agencies without the Senate’s advice and consent:

Third, House Democrats pass another Iraq occupation funding bill that has timetables for troop withdrawals. Republicans in the US Senate filibuster to stop the bill. Majority Leader Reid simply tells the President that his request for funding will not be considered again until next year:

Republicans in the US Senate on Friday blocked a bid by majority Democrats to enforce the start of large-scale troop withdrawals from Iraq in exchange for 50 billion dollars in war funding.

The vote means the Democrats will likely stall on President George W. Bush's request for more war funding until next year, after repeatedly failing to force him this year, to end the US involvement in the four-year war.

The Senate voted 53-45 in favor of the bill, seven votes short of the 60 votes it needed to overcome Republican blocking tactics in the closely-divided 100-seat chamber.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned Thursday that if the money was not approved, funding for the war would run out by February.

The Pentagon now looks set to be forced to dip into its operating budget to pay for the war, a move Gates said would spark layoffs of thousands of civilian employees and defense contractors.

Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid had warned earlier in the week that if the bill failed, Bush could expect no more money for the war this year.

But he refused to categorically rule out taking up the issue again when Congress returns to work in December after a two week Thanksgiving holiday break.

"We're going to watch this very closely," Reid said.

Friday's vote prolonged a game of brinkmanship over the war funding, and marked the latest victory by Bush and his Republican allies over Democratic attempts to change war strategy.

Congressional Democrats have proven to be more adroit in developing strategies in recent weeks to reign in the Bush administration.

Last week, TPJ published an article covering the 2007 special and regular elections held in the United States to fill Congressional and State offices. Noting that Democrats lost a governorship to Republicans; Louisiana, but gained an offset by taking Kentucky from Republicans, we concluded from all elections conducted in 2007 that:

Assuming that the 2007 election and special election cycle is a bellwether of what is to come in 2008, what message are voters sending? The voting public seems prepared to give Democrats consideration, particularly in the northeast and in urban areas generally.

It is always better to gain seats than lose seats; so Democrats have clearly been the nominal “winners” in the 2007 election cycle. The number and pattern of Democrat gains, however, do not suggest a political tsunami against Republicans. Democrats still have a long way to go to fashion a truly national Party.

For those who may be predicting the utter demise of the Republican Party; that belief represents excessive exuberance. Republicans are taking their “licks,” but there is nothing in the pattern of 2007 elections to suggest that the Republican Party has collapsed.

We failed to note election results from Mississippi. Republicans retained the governorship and increased their hold on the Council of State, with only one Democrat remaining. However, Democrats, who nominally controlled the State House, increased their margin that body and regained control over the State Senate, now holding a 28 – 24 advantage. The story:

The 2007 election results in Mississippi are consistent with TPJ’s earlier views. Democrats had a good 2007 special and general election cycle. Overall, Republican lost ground, but the Republican Party remains viable. The General Election in 2008 will be another hotly contested affair.