Concord and Liberty

Resuscitating this blog after almost three years, I can say that the political situation is looking up. I know the next two years will be bumpy at best, but the gains by the Democrats in November were momentous. The American electorate moved slowly, but the voters finally figured out that they were being lied to, and reacted appropriately.

My involvement in Carson City politics turned out okay. I didn't go to the convention in Las Vegas, but I did do some canvassing for Bonnie Parnell, who was running for the Assembly. She had served two terms, then retired from teaching and from politics at the same time. One reason she decided to run again was that her successor was a conservative Republican who had helped (along with the rest of "The Mean 15") to hamstring the 2003 legislative session by refusing to consider a tax increase which Nevada desperately needed (and which ultimately passed when one brave Republican broke ranks). Bonnie won by a fairly thin margin, and my canvassing could have added a few votes to her total. But I haven't done any politicking this year.

As November 7 approached, I couldn't shake a feeling that no matter what the polls said, the Republicans would somehow grab the election. I'm glad I was wrong, and I'll try not to fall into that kind of pessimism again. There were enough vote counting problems to show that there's no room for complacency, but the election didn't get stolen. And there will be improvements before 2008.

So the good news is that the United States is still a democracy.

Labels: Democrats Nevada