red sky in morning....

I See a Nation and I Want to Paint it Red
   by Kerry Jacoby
This piece originally appeared on www.pardonmyenglish.com.

As the President accepts his historic victory, and we bask in the warmth of our great conservative win, we have a Republican president, a more Republican House, and a legitimately Republican Senate.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, it’s time.

It’s time to get some new judges and Justices. It’s time for Scalia to ascend as Rehnquist steps aside, and for George W. to get someone confirmed who will interpret the law, not make it. Then, Justice O’Connor can be released from her duties, something she’s reportedly wanted for quite some time now, and another strict constructionist can take her place.

It’s time for the Congress and the Courts to LISTEN to the voice of the people -- the people who, in eleven states tonight, sent a very clear message. Marriage, they said, is the union of one man and one woman. They said so by incredible margins -- in the 60 and 70 percent ranges. They said so decisively, and whether or not they voted for George W. Bush. They proved this is not a “wedge” issue. It is a matter of deep concern to the people of America. And it is not for the Court to decide otherwise.

It’s time for the President to get out his veto pen -- or, better yet, for the Congress to exercise good Republican judgment and cut both taxes AND spending. If Congress won’t produce a balanced budget, the president no longer has to worry about his political viability. Far from a lame duck, he is now a man without political strings. He need not run for re-election. He need not worry about his political future. He can use his veto power, without worrying about his long-term political capital.

It’s time for Fallujah to become an ashtray, and for the United Nations to understand where its future interests lie. The political will to move hard against the Evildoers has been awaiting the moment when taking that risk will not lose the president his job. It’s time to finish what those head-slicing animals started when they decided Iraq was not going quietly into the bright sunlight of democracy.

It’s time to get some commonsense legal reform. If there’s anything the American people have had enough of, it’s lawyers and lawsuits. What does it tell you when we can only muster a kind of bemused annoyance when we find that there are Americans among the many lawyers offering themselves up to defend Saddam Hussein in his trial? Of course, we think. That’s what they always do.

Good doctors in America are being run out of business by skyrocketing malpractice insurance bills caused by ridiculous monetary awards teased out of juries by slimy shysters like (former) Senator John Edwards. The president has promised to do something about it, and I believe he will. Because it’s time.

And, after four years of petulance, it’s time for the Democrats to stop pretending the Republicans can only win by cheating and that we didn’t win at all. It’s time for them to get over it and get back to the business of helping us run this great country. We can agree, and we can agree to disagree -- but we must stop disagreeing just to be disagreeable and tearing down our nation just to prove our side right. And it’s time for those same Democrats to tell the cryptocelebrity policy advisors to just go away and leave politics alone.

The politics of hysteria and conspiracy have failed. Patience, calm, and wisdom have prevailed.

Now let’s all get to work doing what Americans do -- fixing what’s wrong and doing what’s right.

November 03, 2004