Happy Birthday Niki!!!!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we're back! Blogging will return to my regular schedule which means reading (yes, I'm talking to you Niki) will (can?) return to your regular schedule. Hooray! So, what has happened since I last wrote that Republicans were being demographically relegated to the second tier? In descending order of importance...

1. Michael Jackson died
2. Torby died
3. Teddy Kennedy died
4. *Rough year*
5. Walter Cronkite died
6. Frank McCourt died
7. Enough with the death...
8. Zachary visited Swaziland and got a real job teaching social studies in Corvallis, Oregon
9. Joshua got married
10. Democrats couldn't pass any of their big agenda pieces through congress...
11. ... because Republicans are ridiculous obstructionists...
12. ... and because Democrats aren't willing to play hardball. Yet.

Hmmm, sadly, it looks like all that happened was people and pets died, I started something new, and the political system fell apart. So, as my first post back, I'm implementing something I've learned from teaching: soliciting interaction!

In comments, let's hear from you: What happened since May, 2009?

Al Franken

Today the elections folks up in Minnesota formally anointed Al Franken as their next senator. Hooray! Of course, there will be more court challenges, but at this point it looks pretty concrete... er, more like written in concrete that is quickly drying. That puts the final total, at least assuming Illinois ends up with a Democrat to replace Obama, at 59 Democrats, 41 Republicans.

Libertarian Presidential Debate

On Tuesday I was browsing through the Washington Post and happened upon a press release that went something like this: Bob Barr and Mike Gravel! Live! In Person! Libertarian Presidential Debate!

I thought, "Well, that's better than lying on a cold bench in Dupont Circle." (It surprising how quickly you can feel like a person without a home.) So off I went to the debate.

You political junkies out there probably noticed the missing name: Ron Paul. He is the star of Libertarian politics (though he's still a Republican) and, just recently, he broke the one million vote mark in the Republican Primary election. He even has $5 million in his campaign fund. That said, he was no where to be found at this debate.

Honestly the event wasn't that interesting. I met Anthony, a first year law student at George Mason who considers himself a Libertarian and works at a think tank whose aim is make our voting system more equitable. I met Jessica, a writer for an online magazine who was sent to get a story on how the Libertarian Party could be to the Republicans in '08 what Nader was to the Democrats in '00. And I met the campaign manager of a Virginia congressional candidate who, quite frankly, was weird.

The big takeaway was a new perspective on why I like the Democratic Party: it seems like we're simply not as extreme. The Republicans all vie for the following titles: Hates Terrorists the MOST; Hates Taxes the MOST; Hates Environmentalists the MOST; Wants to Drill in ANWR the MOST; Is the LEAST PUSSY OF US ALLLLLLLL; etc. You get the point. The Libertarians were the same way. It was a competition to see who could mention state's rights and the constitution the most. There was a specific question about who promised to close which federal agencies. It's all so extreme. Perhaps it's due to my perspective, but Democrats don't seem to have those extreme positions. Can you think of any?