More Than Change

More than change, more than new blood in Washington, what this country needs is a realignment. A political paradigm shift has been impending for decades; presently, a debate is brewing over whether Barack Obama's electoral victory constitutes its timely arrival. Here's an insightful view on the situation:

The Realignment Opportunity

As renowned liberal political scholar Paul Starr argues in this article, I think that Obama and the congressional Democrats that will surely march to his drum come the new session must (I emphasize, not should, but must) aggressively pursue their reform programs. Needless to say, not all of you are as happy about this conclusion as I; the Obamacrats in power and we, the American people, will hear a lot of cynical criticism and panicked outrage from the conservative pockets in the media. We will have to face the spectre of a temporarily reinvigorated Republican contingent; they will seize the opportunity of "vast", "big government", and "redistributionist" policy programmes in a bid for viability merely months after the American people stripped them of any they had left. Still, the American people must be vigilant. While the Republican arguments are scripted, political ploys of any opposition, we must take the new Democratic policies for what they are and, just as we must insist on accountable improvement, we have the responsibility to give credit where credit is due. I ask all of my more conservative friends and fellow Americans: even if you don't agree with some of the fundamentals that govern this new liberalism, observe and think about the effects it will have/is having on our economy, on our infrastructure, on our society. Allow the programmes to achieve some change before trashing them as bureaucratic failures. Let's be open-minded with the next four years, at least. Let's see if the Obamacrats and, more so, we as a nation, can't come out this sluggish post-Bush morass better than we went into it. We owe ourselves that much, this American thinks.