Be Nice, But Indict

Two weekends ago we did something very out of character for us: we went to a party. Not only was it a party, but it was a party where we didn't know anyone.

My wife found it listed on MoveOn.org's site of parties celebrating the Democratic victories in the mid-term elections. She had orginally asked some other friends to join us but they all backed out at the last minute, so we were left to go on our own.

The party ended up being part MoveOn.org event and part CD Release Party for a local Raleighwood band. All in all, it was an odd, cobbled-together affair with the band playing in the emptied living room of a fashionable, historic area (Boylan Heights) house that was being reburbished.

After the first set the homeowner/keyboardist opened the mic for anyone who wanted to share any thoughts on the elections, the Dems victories or anything they'd done to contribute to the Dem's cause during the election.

A few people got up to speak and it was clear they hadn't been prepared to do so.

The last guy to speak had called several hundred people from the democratic headquarters during the week before the election. He told of how happy people were to hear from someone, how grateful they were to be encouraged to vote and make a difference.

He ended by saying it was now time to put all of the partisan politics behind us, to not "go after" the Republicans but to just move forward.

From the floor, where I was laying, I loudly said, "Be nice, but indict!"

My wife cheered that thought on by saying, "We're not ready to make nice!"

The speaker tried to chide us, saying if we did that we'd never get elected again. He quickly left the mic and sat down. When my wife tried to engage him in a conversation he just as quickly got up and went to the other side of the room where he gathered with some friends and avoided us.

"Be nice, but indict" has become my personal motto for the coming two years in politics. What Bush and the Republicans have done to the Constitution is intolerable. Dems need to (a) work to make corrections to the damage done and (b) make sure that those responsible are exposed and punished so (c) this kind of miscarrage of justice and abuse of powers never occurs again.

I see the Republicans as having acted like little kids who have realized that their parents have left the house for the day. Suddenly they were the ones in charge and they got to set all of the rules -- and so they did. They ran amok, trashed the living room, had a 'fridge-emptying food fight in the kitchen and strung their littlest brother up by his belt from the ceiling fan.

Now that the parents have returned home, there's clean-up to be done and punishment to be doled out so the spoiled brats learn that what they did was not acceptable.

Some people learn because they have the character and sense of self-identity to know what is right and wrong for themselves and others. Some people are too in-it-for-themselves and could care less. They need to be handled accordingly.

(And, yes, I'd be saying the same thing if the parties were switched and the same abuses of power had taken place)

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