It is rather awe-inspiring to see how swiftly Bush has achieved this: he's got both houses of Congress, he's just ousted that feckless idiot Lott and will have a virtual cabinet member running the Senate, he'll soon be stacking the Supreme Court, and his opponents are in complete disarray. But, we should not be surprised. Look at Texas and Florida. These were solid Democrat strongholds before the Bush brothers hit town. Now, the Dems there aren't just in the minority -- they have been totally routed and rendered irrelevant. The same thing is happening on the national level, because the same causes give rise to the same effects. And, unlike Reagan, Bush didn't have Jimmy Carter to grease the skids for him. Getting here has been uphill all the way. And the desperation of the Democrats is a joy to behold...
I have enjoyed watching that obnoxious and rampantly corrupt party catch a dose of reality. It is also telling how they respond to it: with near-paranoid, self-indulgent cries of "foul!" and abject denial of the truth of their situation. Such pathos loses its allure after a relatively short time, though.
Having sidelined themselves for a while, the Democrats are mainly a peripheral factor until the next elections. They still wield a great deal of power, to be sure, but, fractured as it is, Democrat influence on the agenda of the next two years is more likely to be a nuisance for the Republicans than an impediment.
Rather, I am keenly interested in what this fully Republican federal government is going to do with its time. All indications are that they have some major changes planned that will have long reaching effects.
As an American citizen, I believe it is my duty, and that of all Americans, to keep a careful watch over the government in the months to come, since we are the final "check and balance" against potentially disastrous actions by our government, and it needs to hear our voices.