I’m a Georgia Voter

So, I went and voted yesterday. But I couldn’t find my voter registration card. Luckily, Georgia laws are a little bit different from South Carolina, where Governor Mark Sanford was initally unable to vote because he forgot to bring his voter ID card — he returned some time later with the right ID and was able to vote. Here — for the time being — we only have to have a driver’s license or one of 16 other forms of ID, most of which don’t have a photo. I showed the poll-worker my drivers license and poked at the Diebold touch-screen balloting machine. It seemed to work okay, and it didn’t make me so angry that I wanted to smash it to bits. Then I went home to wait for the results. After waiting for the exit-poll embargo to expire, I eagerly watched the results and projections start rolling in. It was exciting to see Democrats taking control of the House, the majority of Governor’s seats in the US, and to get within one seat of controlling the Senate — that last Senate seat won’t be decided for weeks, it seems. But I have a feeling it will fall to the Democrat, because the pundits are saying that his mere 7,000 seat lead is to large to be overcome by a recount. Though I’m happy about the Democrat’s gains, I’m not a Democrat or Republican. I’m one of those swing-voting Independents. (The World’s Smallest Political Quiz says I’m a Libertarian-leaning Centrist.) My vote, and my excitement about the Democrats’ big win, is not so much that I support their platform. Instead I feel, as it appears most of the US does, that the current Republican-lead administration and congress have simply screwed up in a history-making manner. I’m also trying to be realistic about what really can happen in Washington. Already Rumsfeld has resigned — that’s a good sign. But what leverage do the Democrats really have to force more change? Nancy Pelosi says that she will enact all of the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. That’s the item in her agenda that I would rank highest, though her number one priority, cutting off the lobbyists, is important too. I suppose their grip on Washington has to be broken before the other items (not all of which I’m enthused about) can be brought to bear. How will she and the Democratic leadership be able to bring these items to the table and get them passed? With the Senate so close, even if it ends up being controlled by the Democrats, center-right Democrats may — and probably will — vote with Republicans on certain contentious issues. I do see this mid-term election as a spectacular rejection of the direction that the nation’s leadership has taken to date. I’m not certain that everything that the Democrats think they can move through congress will be as easily done as we’re lead to believe. I also think that the Democrats will have to work in a conciliatory manner to move the nation forward in the matters that the voters said were most important: corruption, safety from terrorism, the economy, and the war in Iraq. The next two years won’t be what we expected of Bush’s lame-duck term. The Democrats have the opportunity to work with Republicans to move the nation forward in a positive manner. If they fail, the Republicans will regain control of congress, and another Republican will be president in 2008. If the succeed, then Democrats will solidify their leadership of the nation.