What I expect from the US elections

I know many liberals are excited about the possibility of the Democrats taking over congress and maybe the senate. With the exceptions of a few RINOS (Republicans in Name Only) such as Lincoln Chaffee, I absolutely despise the party and hope their extreme views never find their way north of the Canada/US border. That being said although the Democrats are preferable, I think liberal minded Canadians need to face the reality that the United States is far more conservative than we are and that it will take years to make the United States as liberal as Canada. Therefore my expectations are very tempered. The most I hope for is that the Democrats can take one of the two houses and at least keep in check some of the more extreme policies. However, at the end of the day, besides foreign policy, trade, and environment which have global implications, issues such as gay marriage, death penalty, gun laws, and health care systems are domestic policies that are ultimately up to the American people decide. I just don't want those type of policies finding their way into Canadian politics. As I have eluded to in earlier posts, really close relations with the United States are just not going to happen without alienating voters in one country, so we need to strengthen our ties with Asia and Europe. We need to continue to work cooperatively with the United States where possible, but also understand we will disagree quite often. We need to understand we are not the same people or culture, we are different so we need to expect things will be done differently. That is why my only hope is that the United States is at least not quite as right wing as it has been. Certainly the Democrats taking both houses would send a strong message to Bush, but I think the changes you would see would be quite minor as all they could really do is hold up the more regressive pieces of legislation.

Besides the only good thing about Bush winning in 2004, was it made me even prouder to be a Canadian as I know Canada does have to put with those regressive policies. We cannot change the United States, but we can learn from the mistakes and ensure we don't follow that direction. And sometimes just knowing you are right and are setting a good example is the best one can do since we as Canadians cannot change the world, but we can be an example to others.