All these other issues like minimum wage, drug costs, etc. are important. But we gotta keep our eye on the ball: Defending/restoring the constitutional rule of law. The radical-right has been grabbing for an imperial executive branch, and we must insist that Democrats reject this philosophy, and reverse the damage already done. That is non-negotiable: If you have a president that can operate outside of the law, you have a dictatorship, not a republic.
This article by Robert Parry outlines our current political situation:
"But the significance of the Republican defeat cannot be easily brushed aside. Beyond the issues that popped up in exit polls – corruption, the Iraq War, etc. – the news media should have taken into account the American people's discomfort with Bush's assertion of "plenary" – or unlimited – power.
By rebuffing the Republicans, the American people were saying they want to keep their Republic. They were defending their quaint Constitution and Bill of Rights; they were embracing the clunky notion of checks and balances; they were endorsing that old-fashioned idea about the rule of law.
The nation's unease about Bush's thirst for dictatorial powers has always been an underplayed issue, troubling Americans across the political spectrum from liberal to conservative.
It remains to be seen what the Democrats will do with their new congressional clout. But it can't be disputed that the voters just said no to President Bush. The American people rejected Bush's grim vision of endless war and the end to the Republic."
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/110806.html