To all my Democrat friends . . .

[indianasmith]

Congratulations.

Your party has won the Presidency of the United States, as well as control of both Houses of Congress. America has elected its first African-American President; the Civil War is finally over.   It is a historic moment.

I wish President-elect Obama a long and happy life and a successful administration.  I will support him when he is right, oppose him when he is wrong, and pray for him daily. 
In light of all the spirited exchanges that have occurred here, a little history lesson is in order.

Thomas Jefferson said in his first inaugural: "The recent contest of opinion we have passed through may have imposed on those unused to speaking or thinking as they please an aspect of unpleasantness . . . but every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Federalists; we are all Republicans.  If there  be any here who would oppose this principle, or seek to end our republican form of government, let them stand forever undisturbed as a monument to the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated, as long as reason is left free to combat it."

Enjoy your moment, and make the most of it.  Our turn will come around again some day.

[Zapranoth]

Well said.

It's all our turns, though.  If we're going to get out of the situation we're all in, for this country we've got to all do our parts.   The voter turnout is a great start, but I think Obama put it well when he said he needs everyone's help.      The real work begins.

[raj]

Well said Indy.  Karma for the graciousness.

[Nukie 2]

Well, I hope this new government understands that not everyone can move upward on the ladder, because someones gotta do the grunt work. So, they shouldn't the workforce and allow them comfortable working and living conditions so they can actually buy stuff and keep the economy rolling!

Otherwise we'll all be forced to live in rat-holes on the worst welfare, and the only engines of the economy will be McDonalds and Wal-Mart.

[schmendrik]

Well, I hope this new government understands that not everyone can move upward on the ladder, because someones gotta do the grunt work. So, they shouldn't the workforce and allow them comfortable working and living conditions so they can actually buy stuff and keep the economy rolling!

Otherwise we'll all be forced to live in rat-holes on the worst welfare, and the only engines of the economy will be McDonalds and Wal-Mart.

I'm a little confused about what you're worried about because a crucial verb was missing. If it was "tax" as in ... "they shouldn't TAX the workforce" the tax policy is very clearly stated, has been for at least 18 months. Everyone making less than $250K will have their taxes reduced. Any other version came from McCain scare tactics, by saying that *somebody* would have their taxes raised, he let his supporters believe that it was them who would end up paying more.

In contrast, McCain's tax policy would have ended up costing those same workers more. His policy was (a) less income tax cuts than Obama's at every income grade below upper class, (b) new taxes on employer-based health insurance and (c) incentives to encourage employers to stop providing health insurance so that people would have to go on the open market to find insurance.

[Nukie 2]

I meant to write spite the workforce.

As for Obama, I give him critical support, not that I'm a Republican, but I consider myself Labour/ Social-Democrat-- which  really isn't a significant force in the USA, and is a tiny faction within the Democratic Party, but more buddy-buddy with the Greens (wherever they are).

Obama wanted to get more of the independent voters, and he did. He better remember us. Well he's talking about, among other things, universal healthcare, job protection from relocation, and rethinking FTAs. Let's see what happens.