Searching for an Ideal Goverment

[MineralMan]

We always seem to be doing that, with pretty unremarkable results. And here we are, coming up on another important election year. I have an image of what I think an ideal outcome would be, but I know my ideal will never be met. Why? Because it's an ideal, and the political world is far from an ideal place. So, I, like most people, am faced with making decisions that are very, very often less than ideal.

On the day after the general election of 2012, what will we see? Will we see Democrats regain control of Congress and retain Barack Obama as President? Or will we see a new resurgence of Republican control of Congress and the White House? Those are the two most dramatic things that could happen. Other things include Obama in the White House and a Republican-controlled Congress. Or some yet-to-be-named GOP candidate as President and a muddled Congress.

What's certain is that we won't have the progressive Executive branch and Legislative branch that would be the ideal situation. There's virtually zero probability of such a thing occurring. So, what do we do, as politically active Democrats with high ideals? Do we shrug and let the chips fall where they may? I don't think so.

Here's what I'll do. I'll do everything I can to get as many Democrats elected as I possibly can. I'm in Minnesota, so I've got a good head start, with Franken, Betty McCollum in my own district, and Amy Klobuchar, who is likely to win and continue voting solidly with the Democratic Caucus in the Senate, despite her bi-partisan support from constituents. I think it may be possible to retake the MN-6 congressional district away from the Republicans, so I'll work on that. And then, there are a couple of other House districts in Minnesota that may be amenable to electing a Democrat instead of the Republican in 2012. If we can turn out the Democrats in strong numbers, President Obama will win, too, despite his lackluster performance in getting progressive legislation passed through an oppositional-defiant Congress. That'll be OK, if we can give him a more cooperative Congress to feed him legislation to sign.

That's in Minnesota. I don't have the money to help outside of my state, so I'm going to focus on Minnesota. I hope others will do the same in their own states, working on those Congressional districts where a swing to a Democrat is possible, even if difficult.

The result will be, if we're successful, in a slight change only. We're not going to get a progressive federal government in 2012. We might be able to do better than we have right now, though. The alternative is unthinkable, to be quite frank. Unthinkable. And yet, that's what we're going to get if we don't do a full-out push in 2012. We're going to get the unthinkable alternative.

So, what's it going to be? I suggest we go for the best possible result, and then fine-tune in 2014 and 2016, always working toward that impossible ideal. We'll never get there 100%, but we can move the country incrementally if we go all out every time to do the very best that's possible. Shall we?

[NNN0LHI]

1. Recommended because I will be doing the same thing in Illinois

[MineralMan]

2. Thanks, and good luck with your work there!

2012! We can do it!

That's my slogan for this election.

[Cool Logic]

3. ...is like searching for the ideal human being...

It does not exist.