When I went to the US three years ago, one thing that struck me when I went to book stores was the large number of conservative right-wing books on sale, decrying liberalism, promoting imperialism and calling for a return to old-fashioned Christian values.
I went into Barnes and Noble today for a wee stroll through the paperbacks and hardbacks and it suddenly hit me – where have they all gone? I counted about 20 books on sale, and about two were touting a conservative stance. The others were unflinchingly anti-Bush. I noticed two books apparently featuring Ann Coulter on the cover but on closer examination they were written by fierce opponents of her. Other books were taking aim at Bush, Cheney, the religious right, the Bush administration’s views on the religious right, Iraq, Katrina and US government policy. I even noticed a very critical book written by a Christian minister.
Man, the wave has truly crashed. With the congressional elections tomorrow it will be very interesting to see how it all turns out. I must profess to knowing very little about US politics, and my instinct tells me that the outcome might be somewhat more muted than might be expected, but if this was the UK or Ireland, the word “landslide” would be on everyone’s lips.
Passive Impressions 
We shall see. I’ll be stopping to cast my ballot on the way home, and will try to stay up late enough tonight to see results.
Keep your fingers crossed.
What scares me about this election is that voters who are in favor of Democrats are very sure what they are voting against, yet not really sure what they are voting for. Prior to this election, I’ve heard whole lot of criticism, but little constructive proposals, let alone well defined solutions – to ANY problems this country is facing.
I lived once in a country where people voted against(1946) w/o knowing for sure what they are voting for – only to end up with 40 years of communism.
Sure, this is not the same situation, but still.
That’s a good point. I can only speak for myself when I say I voted *for* and not *against*, while voting straight Democrat for my state representation. (And based on what I’m seeing on the news so far, I feel very hopeful!)
But that is a VERY good point, and one I think a lot of people forget about.