The pins and needles are gone. Election night is over. Now what? The Democrats have taken control of the House and the Senate still hangs in the balance.<\/p>\n
The big story of the night, at least for feminists like myself, was the rejection of the South Dakota ballot initiative to Ban Abortion. Thank goodness that the good people of South Dakota had the sense to not pass such a stringent and dangerous measure. If passed, this ban would have covered all abortions, including rape and incest related, except in the case of the mother\u2019s imminent death from delivery. The basic idea was to pass the ban in South Dakota and then push that toward a wider measure reversing Roe V. Wade. There is, ofcourse, a legal route that the ban would have had to take in order to overturn the 1973 legislation, but we don\u2019t need to worry about that now.<\/p>\n
The unfortunate fallout of the ballot measures was the passing of Bans on Same Sex Marriage in 7 more states. In 2004 bans were passed in Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Ohio, Oregon and Utah. This year we see Colorado, Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin following suit. States that passed this same type of ban in previous elections have been Alaska (1998), Hawaii (1998), and Nebraska (July 2006) bringing the total overall to 21 states with Same Sex Marriage Bans currently on the books. The only bright spot this year was Arizona defeating the ban on election night and becomming the first state to put forth a ban and defeat it. All the other states have passed these bans on the first try.<\/p>\n
Perhaps Arizona turning down a same sex marriage ban is just a preamble to the wonderful things that can now happen in this country. With control of both the House and Senate we will be able to do such great things. Although we are simply waiting for a concession speech in Virginia to seal the deal on the Senate that should come by the weekend.<\/p>\n
Now what?
\nDemocrats need to find a thoughtful, yet progressive and swift way to get out of the Iraq war and bring home our troops. They need to look long and hard at the branches of government and root out corruption at it\u2019s source. They need to get back to the humanitarian feeling of the United States and caring for our own people as well as those around the world.<\/p>\n
The best part of today has been Rumsfeld stepping down. I suppose it was required, otherwise he would have most likely been pushed out. This is just a great day all around. Hopefully the momentum will continue on and we can all rest a little bit easier tonight knowing that the Democrats are filling their new seats and starting the strategies that will bring our country back to the great level we should be at. The light of a new day brings a great opportunity for all of us to come together and begin cleaning up the mess of the past 6 years. Now that we have the power there is nothing we can\u2019t do!<\/p>\n
Peace –
\nHippiegrrl<\/p>\n