"...11/7 was Independence Day for citizens, not just a victory for the Democrats..."

Doc Searls wastes no words. He figured out a long time ago that content is more compelling than form; quality trumps quantity. I'm not good at that myself, but I do appreciate it in my role models. This post is chock full of good links.

Transparency won last Tuesday. But it needs to keep winning in the course of everyday governance. Citizen watchdogs need to guard the henhouse of democracy from the wolves we elect to serve there...

...we need to recognize that 11/7 was Independence Day for citizens, not just a victory for the Democrats in Conres. The Republicans took a "thumpin" indeed; but they took it from voters expressing their independence. As the new majority party, Democrats need to recognize that, or they'll get thumped too, next time around.

He links to Richard Bennet's post with advice for Republicans that I find compelling.

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If Republicans want to win national elections they should drop the Southern Strategy that emphasizes guns, Bibles, and big spending, and adopt a Western Strategy that emphasizes small government, personal freedom, property rights, and the things that can only be done for us by government such as infrastructure, environmental protection, and (competent) national defense. This would be a return to Goldwater’s ideals, and a rejection of the Religious Right’s desire to use government to force a narrow set of social values on people. It’s perfectly OK for the religious people to be grossed out by gays and abortion, but it’s not OK to require everybody else to be grossed-out too.