Election day

[mdlbear]

All across my friends list there are people reporting huge lines at the polls, urging their friends to vote, expressing cautious hope. I particularly draw your attention to An Open Letter to the United States of America by telynor. Go vote.

I'm guardedly optimistic, as the phrase goes. The right of all couples to marry in California hangs by a thread. All across the country people are voting with machines that are easy targets for fraud. The election could easily have already been stolen, and the Supreme Court could well let them get away with it again. Even if Obama wins, the outgoing administration is, even now, shredding decades worth of regulations, and has hired a generation of right-wing civil servants who will take decades more to age out.

This mess is not going to be cleaned up in the next four years, and possibly not in my lifetime. Go vote anyway. It's important.

Comments

[tagryn]

...has hired a generation of right-wing civil servants who will take decades more to age out.

Most of the political appointees who head gov't bureaus, departments, and and Cabinet-level positions phase out as soon as the new POTUS gets around to making his appointments. The cases such as at DoJ are notable and newsworthy because they aren't commonplace. The non-political tier of civil service, which is the vast majority, is still merit-based (the non-merit part of that is mainly networking (i.e. who-you-know) at work, not ideological litmus testing).

[mdlbear]

Apparently they've been (illegally) applying political litmus tests to civil service hires.

his mess is not going to be cleaned up in the next four years

[capplor.livejournal.com]

You know the saying, "A journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step"

We have the chance to START the turn-around now. This isn't "Happily ever after".

I am, however, wondering at the extensive internetwork Obama has built for his election. That could be a great force, continuing through his term -- the ultimate "grass roots" effort.