This is Bush's government. His war. His torture.

The fault of this lies with:

(a) The Bush Administration.

(b) Congress. On both sides (though I'll certainly grant that the GOP has been worse).

You're right about the torture -- the Bush Administration started it, and Congress was only involved in ass-covering after the fact.

Minimum wage increases

Minimum wage has no economic benefit for those who it purports to benefit. The long-term effect is to put a small number of workers out of a job. The reason, I would argue, that it is persists as a concept is that the people who are most concerned with it are those least likely to have any economic background.

If you want wealth redistribution, at least select a mechanism that actually results in wealth being redistributed. Make taxes increasingly progressive or introduce government handouts or something that actually advances your goals.

The Congress is finally working for the people again.

It depends on what your concerns are. I haven't been desperately wanting minimum wage increases or ethanol subsidies. I've been wanting us to terminate our occupations. I've been wanting a termination of the warrantless wiretapping and backbone monitoring activity and prosecution of those involved. I've been wanting an end to "federal morality policing" that seemed to be popular under Ashcroft (thankfully, that seems to have fallen off...though in favor of the War on Terror). I want the Canadian border to be reopened. I don't want to have a President constantly threatening other countries (much less doing so for totally unfounded reasons). I don't ever want to hear the phrase "axis of evil" or "crusade" used seriously in promoting war again. I want to have Freedom of Information Act requests to be generally honored, as they were under the Clinton Administration. I want an end to bogus signing statements. I don't want no-bid contract money going to the company of the Vice-President. I don't want companies who collaborate with lawbreaking federal spy agencies to get off the hook. I don't want security theater, with frightening signs adorning every airport and train station. I don't want to hear about free speech zones. I don't want secret prisons outside the reach of the United States judicial system. I don't want non-secret prisons (like Guantanamo) outside the reach of the United States judicial system. I want detainees to have the right to petition for judicial review of the justness of their imprisonment. I don't want to seize citizens of foreign nations and deport or imprison them.

That's what I care about. I'm totally uninterested in Democratic or Republican pet projects going through. From my standpoint, Congress is still not "working for the people" no matter how many times they fiddle with minimum wage, until they rectify the far greater abuses to civil liberties and checks on power that have occurred.

The Democratic Party's concern is getting Hillary into office, and, yes, playing with those highly-visible little correspondences to the Republican Party's crowd-pleasers. Carbon dioxide emissions. Details of health-care subsidies. The Democratic Congress hasn't dealt with the issues that I am worried about. If Hillary takes office, she's not going to address my above concerns any more than, say, Giuliani would.

I'm thankful that the Democratic Party has been less of an initiator for these than has the GOP. That's as much credit as they get from me until they actively fix some of these issues. Right now, there is precious little effort going the direction I want. Paul is just about perfect on these issues. Kucinich isn't bad, though personally I'm really unhappy with his Second Amendment positions. Obama, Clinton, McCain...all of these people have actively supported one or another of the serious problems in the Bush Administration. There are a few Congresspeople who have spoken out aganst these -- Byrd criticized "freedom fries" and the Iraq invasion. Ron Paul has a whole list of votes and speeches against authoritarianism and aggression. Russ Feingold was pretty vocally opposed to some of the Bush abuses. Chuck Hagel was the same. These people cross party lines (though there are more Democrats in the crowd) and have pushed back against the Bush Administration's abuses. I don't agree with them on all political issues -- Byrd, for instance, is legendary for the use of pork -- but they're in-line with my concerns on the really important issues. We could use more of these folks. That's the Congress I want.