Sayonara Cinema

While I try to remain a “third person point of view” voice and not let politics and personal opinion interfere with reviewing films, I can not hold back my sheer joy of what happened on November 7th and hopefully will happen later this week.

For those of you that may have been watching bad reruns, reality TV, or playing video games, the Democratic party took hold of the House of Representatives for the first time in twelve years. And as another landmark note in history, Nancy Pelosi is set to become the first woman speaker of the house. These are grand times we are living in, even with the shadow of a stalemate war, ever-emboldened terrorists, and the glimmer of a nuclear threat looming over us. This handover, if the cards are played right, could be the first wave of change in American politics, and make for an even more exciting election in 2008, as Bush leaves and hope rests on the future Democrat nomination.

As we move our attention to the upper house, all eyes are on the votes still being tallied and accounted for in Virginia and Montana. As of Wednesday morning, both Democratic hopefuls in these states lead by a razor thin margin. If they can hold this 1% lead, the wind in the sails of the Republicans will quickly deminish as Democrats take over the Senate as well.

In individual states, there were plenty of “hot button” topics on the ballot as well. Unfortunately, several states passed a referendum that would define marriage as between a man and a woman, essentially outlawing any prospects of same-sex marriage. However, up in South Dakota, a law that would have outlawed all abortions in the state was defeated. It is a beacon of light that a woman’s legal right to choose is still valued and this will hopefully create a precident on which to go by if and when attempted laws like this arise in the future.

Come January 1st, any major problems that develop within the US and around the world can no longer be blamed solely on the GOP. There has already been rhetoric being tossed around from both sides about “reaching across the line” and “bi-paritsan cooperation”. It is only by standing true to these words that any prospect of reuniting a country that has been torn in two over the past six years will come to fruition. The American people have made their voices heard. Let’s see if they will honor our requests, or if we will have to start shouting and demanding in another two years.