On November 4, 2008 America will answer to this question. What happens in America will impact the rest of the world. In 1980, Ronald Reagan's brand of conservatism swept through America like a wildfire and the nation headed in that direction. The world had witnessed the rise in religious fundamentalism in many parts of the world including India, Pakistan , Bangladesh , Israel , etc. This trend continued until this day.
At long last, if the conservatives are defeated in America , then there is a hope that liberalism will again gain its foothold in this country. It is the conservatives that made the big "L" word. They loathed the liberals. In 1984, when Vice President Walter Mondale ran against Reagan he said that no matter who wins in the election, the new president shall have to raise the tax. He was right. Reagan cut the tax for the very rich but the middle class shared the burden of Reagan's expansion of the government. The Republicans have an epithet for Democrats – "Tax and Spend Liberals."
Sarah Palin and McCain again labeled Obama-Biden ticket as "Tax and Spend Liberals." This time this characterization is not gaining any currency. Two days before the election most polls are telling us that Obama will handily win the election. Is that so? For some thoughts on that won't you please join us on the election night in Mukto-mona? We would like to have an interesting discussion on whether 'Bradley Effect' indeed had a shelf-life or not.
There were few participants in this forum who made this prediction that when the last vote is counted, McCain would come out victorious. This would definitely go against the trend reported by most polltakers.
Avijit Roy posted a message in the forum telling us that he added a link to the new MM-Blog page where people can discuss myriads of issues. I would request the moderators to allow us to post our comments, write-ups, and whatnot to M-M forum and Blog page so that we could discuss in what direction the political wind is blowing in America
Dr. A.H. Jaffor Ullah
- A researcher and columnist, writes from New Orleans, USA*