After the historic elections last year, the Republican Party seemed to be in a free fall. The failed policies of President George W. Bush led to a historic Democratic White House and a Democratic-led Congress.
In 2004, when Bush was re-elected, the Democrats were the ones doing the soul-searching. Many believed that they had lost key elections because they had ignored or avoided the enormous impact that religious faith had on the lives of Americans. Now the GOP is falling victim to that same type of ignorance, this time alienating large groups of ethnic minorities that can sometimes swing an entire election one way or another.
However, the Republican Party obviously did not receive the memo that …

Blame is not necessarily a bad or a petty thing. Blame attributed to those people who are responsible for taking actions that intentionally or unintentionally result in harm to others is appropriate; as it is to those whose inaction causes that same result. As our constitution is weakened, and our liberties stripped away by those we place in positions of authority that have no respect for either, it is easy to identify those who are to blame.

Criminalisation of politics has become an issue of grave concern among the Indian intelligentsia. And though the top leaders of all political parties agree that those with criminal record should be debarred from contesting elections, the number of such people is only increasing. In 2004, about one in five MPs had a criminal record, including some with charges of heinous crimes such as murder, rape, dacoity and kidnapping.

Why does it happen?
The most important factor, which determines the ticket distribution, is the “winability” of the candidate. Hence more and more people with money and muscle power are getting tickets from the political parties. Another factor that has played an important role is that the criminal elements …