It's a feeling that, I'm sure, Republicans felt in 1994.
With victory, and a strong sense that we utterly decimated an ugly, cancerous ideology that poisoned our government, I am reminded of a quote, made famous in the George C. Scott film Patton. That quote goes something like this (flip me to see):
For over a thousand years, Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of triumph, a tumultuous parade. In the procession came trumpeters, musicians, and strange animals from conquered territories, together with carts laden with treasure and captured armaments. The conquerors rode in a triumphal chariot, the dazed prisoners walking in chains before him. Sometimes his children robed in white stood with him in the chariot or rode the trace horses. A slave stood behind the conqueror holding a golden crown and whispering in his ear a warning: that all glory is fleeting.
What drove the Republicans from power in congress is exactly what drove out the Democrats in 1994: Corruption. Corruption was the single biggest issue for voters in 2006. They were angry: angry at the Mark Foley scandal; angry at the Jack Abramoff ties; angry at Halliburton contracts; angry for incompetent planning in Iraq; angry at the response to Katrina. Corruption and incompetence all around. The same kind of incompetence and corruption from Democrats in 1994.
When asked about his experiences as Secretary of State under Bush Sr., Republican James Baker responded in this way:
"Someone asked me what was the most important thing I had learned since being in Washington. I replied that it was the fact that temporal power is fleeting." Baker went on to observe that once driving through the White House gates he saw a man walking alone on Pennsylvania Avenue and recognized him as having been Secretary of State in a previous administration. "There he was alone - no reporters, no security, no adoring public, no trappings of power. Just one solitary man alone with his thoughts. And that mental picture continually serves to remind me of the impermanence of power and the impermanence of place."
Baker is very astute; more astute than the team of monkeys running around the White House these days. Republican leaders the last six years either failed basic history 101, or just plain ignored the obvious: continue down this path of stupidity, and eventually it will come home to roost.
And boy, did it ever.
The grossly distorted Goldwater-Republican movement is dead. Stick a fork in neo-conservative ideology. It's done. Karl Rove is done as well. His legacy is written in stone, a tombstone that is. He barely got George Bush Jr. elected in 2000, and then barely got him re-elected during a time of war, a feat unheard of in American politics. Presidents are always re-elected by landslides during a time of war. Bush Jr. was the exception. Rove lost both houses of Congress, most of the governorships, and many state legislatures. From now on, when Rove goes to Republicans asking for this or that, they will laugh in his face and state one single word to shut him up: 2006. Like the man Baker references in the quote above, Karl Rove went from the top of the world in 2004 to some guy walking alone on Pennsylvania Avenue, muttering to himself and wondering how any of this could have happened.
All glory is fleeting, Karl. You have failed history 101.
Like the Democrats of 1994, the Republicans failed to heed the warnings of history. They lacked a conscious, a force or sense that would keep their tactics, policies, and attitudes in check. They lacked a force to keep them honest. Their massive power corrupted them, and now the painstaking work they engaged in to build up a powerful ideology is for nothing. Poof! The word "neocon" is now associated with pedophiles, baby-killers, and men so bloated with power they resemble Jabba the Hutt (or Dennis Hastert, same thing).
Now, the Republicans are the minority again. It took them just 12 years to squander the power they had worked so hard to obtain. For Democrats, it was 50 years before the power engulfed and destroyed them. Many of those Democrats from 1994 are long gone. Some remain, but the new face of the Democratic Party is molded in the image of Howard Dean, John Tester, Jim Webb, Barak Obama, and Eliot Spitzer.
However, if history tells us anything, it's that without a conscious, without a force to keep a powerful party honest, history will repeat itself. The Howard Deans, John Testers, and Hilary Clintons of our party will transform into reflections eerily similar to those of Karl Rove, George Allen, and Dennis Hastert. Unchecked, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Again, history 101.
So, how do we, as Democrats, prevent history from repeating itself? It is clear Republicans are unfit to control any office of government, and that their party is poisoned from top to bottom. They have nurtured and encouraged a culture of deception and corruption bent on one thing and one thing only: winning elections by any means necessary. They care nothing of governing, helping citizens, and ensuring a high quality of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The Democrats of 1994 were also of this mindset, but not as transparently as Republicans today. Like the Democrats of old, Republicans cannot be trusted to govern until they transform themselves into a real party that is capable of governing citizens of a Democracy. Until then, Democrats must control the high offices of our government.
But with that kind of control, what's to stop them from becoming twisted reflections of Republicans? The answer is you.
While this victory is tremendous and joyous, we must all remember that right now, today, the REAL work begins. We have held back the flooding, drowned the fire, fought the Huns from the parapets. Now we must work on righting the wrongs, fixing the damage, and repairing our country from years of decay. Along the way, the power Democrats weld will tempt them, and it is up to us to keep them honest.
So, when Democrats like Ken Salazar vote for torture, that is a mental note we must file away. Torture is Republican, and a Democrat that advocates or allows such policies must be held to the flame.
When Democrats like Joe Biden enthusiastically support a Bankruptcy Bill that hamstrings American families, we Democrats must take that to heart when we see him and his hair plugs running for President in 2008.
When Hilary Clinton starts talking about moving to the center, we must hold her to a specific definition of what the "center" is, and if we honest Democrats don't like that "center," we need to tell Hilary to STFU.
The point here is that we are the conscious of this party. We are the Democratic Party. Not Hilary, or Joe, or Ken, or even Howard. This is a people powered movement. They merely represent us, and when they choose not to represent us, we must choose to remove them. If these new Democrats are easily corrupted into warped charactures of old Republicans, it is our job to find new Democrats and run them against the corrupt slime that can (and probably will) infect our party.
To not do so would be yet another failure of history 101.
So, savor this victory everyone. Enjoy it, no matter how odd that feeling of satisfaction is. However, I remind you that the price of freedom (and victory) is eternal vigilance. And I also remind you that without perspective "all glory is fleeing."