Mound City

I have heard the questions posed, and I have asked myself the same question before, could a few more years of Bush be helpfull to the Democrats? Will a Kerry term simply give the Republicans time to regroup? For strategic reasons, is a Kerry loss necessarily an absolute blow? Should we just leave Iraq in Republican hands and let them reap the whirlwind? Would a further collapse in Iraq on Kerry's watch, be left in his lap if people forget who started the war?

In an overall strategic sense, it may be better to let the Republicans win this one and use the building anger and dissent to create a new Democratic movement. In a sense, steal a bit of the Conservative playbook. After Goldwater lost in '64, the Conservatives found themselves on the outs, they spent the next 16 years getting ready for Reagan. In the process they constructed the massive message machine we see in use today. While Nixon was certainly a republican, a movement conservative he was not.

However, given the importance of the current restructuring of government, especially in intelligence, military matters and oversight ability, the possibility of letting the Bush administration (Cheney, Wolfowitz, etc.) have the greatest influence is a worrisome idea. Already, the administration's replacement at the CIA, Rep. Porter Goss, who promised he could run the office free from partisanship, has been apointing top Republican aides to top positions in the CIA. Goss also is the one who floated the idea of trying Richard Clarke for treason. It's hard to see how they believed him when he said he would be non-partisan.

For one reason alone this election is too valuable to lose, the Supreme Court. The possibility exists for the next President to appoint one or more Justices. Considering the standards by which this administration has used in appointed judges to the federal bench, can the nation really handle it? Of course, before the 2000 election O'Conner said she wouldn't retire unless a Republican was in office and she has yet to do so, so we can never speculate too much about these.

All-in-all, the overall needs of effective restructuring in the government take precedence over politics. Leaving the gov in control of the Republicans will only take us down. Their policies have bankrupted the government, bankrupted our standing in the world and damaged our ability to use the government to fix itself.