Lost, One Democratic Party Backbone
This blog is mostly a call for discussion, an open thread have you, and a statement of opinion garnered from my many discussion with other politically active youths. It is both a seeing of opinion from other youths and an informational blog for those of prior generations.
For those of us who have come to our political ascendancy during the reign of President George there is some confusion about political identity; Should we be Republicans or Democrats? The question comes not from any personal conflict over which is the better party to pick but whether or not its worth picking a party at all. Now some of you chuckle and say that’s always the case but you must put politics into the context of the last 8 years. For the Republican party you begin with a strong economy and then post 9/11 a burst of patriotic fervor which was shortly afterwards bogged down by two wars, loss of credibility abroad, a slowing economy, frequent violations of civil liberties and multiple scandals involving lobbyists, bathrooms and congressional aides and other petty things. For the Democrats you’ve go the cowing of the party by the 2000 presidential election, and then the subsequent tail between the legs syndrome led by Tom Daschle on the Iraq War and other Security related legislation such as the Patriot Act, whose effect has been to even harass our local librarians. There was the allowance of the swiftboating of John Kerry (you’re right, I do say allow, had the Democratic party organized a PAC or 527 to say, implicate dishonorable actions by John McCain in Vietnam the Republicans would start sharpening their axes and rightfully so) and now a Democratic Party so concerned with winning back seats that they have forgotten that they have human values are not not poll evaluations or that their human values can only be expressed during those Senate meetings held in secret (See FISA, offshore drilling recently).
Few times in history have both parties managed to bungle the stated platform of their party at the same time so haphazardly, not to mention the affairs of the country generally. While people who had developed their party preferences prior to this period may have become disillusioned with their party, they at least have a glory day to reach back to. The analogy I like to use to describe how a youth with their newly found citizenship feels in this situation is as follows:
I was led into this political fight, the prize for which was the future of our country, by an energetic Republican Party telling me not to worry and with a less prominent Democratic Party behind telling me they have my back. When we got to the fight I was led into a room with an 800 pound Rottweiler with a Republican Party holding its hands in the air and a Democratic Party nowhere in sight.
Think about the issues youths have come to face and think if they’ve improved in the last 8 years. Just now are they becoming addressed and one can’t help but take a cynical look around wonder if the trend will continue past this incredibly contentious election. The parties may be changing but I say not fast enough. While other’s may have some traditional attachment to one party or another they wish to reach back to, we youngsters, left alone and unguided we have come to seek other solutions. It’s very much internet based and more informed than older generations would like to think. It’s very progressive, grassroots and has some strange bedfellows with Ron Paul Libertarians and the Obama college group allying on issues.
For the purposes of this blog I’ll delve into why the Democratic Party needs to re-evolve a backbone because on the issues I do align mostly with the Democratic Party. However, I’m sure young Republicans will read this and understand my pain, even if their pain is over a different set of issues and maybe recognize that over all we have the same set of solutions. It is is in the spirit of the John Jay Chapman quote:
If American politics does not look to you like a joke, a tragic dance; if you have enough blindness left in you, on any plea, on any excuse, to vote for the Democratic Party or the Republican Party (for at present machine and party are one), or for any candidate who does not stand for a new era, / then you yourself pass into the slide of the magic-lantern; you are an exhibit, a quaint product, a curiosity of the American soil. You are part of the problem.
It is my moment to channel to channel Emile Zola and say the to party establishment, J’accuse.
The strategy of the last two presidential elections and the congressional elections in between has been to put resources where the polls say they will be most effective. We all of course understand the limits in money and time the Democrats are faced with but we would like to remind them that when they read these polls that they merely measure the extent of our current support, not the length of our aspirations. We fight for those who fight for us and leaving large swaths of the country out of your general election campaigns merely because we will not vote for you this year is a sure way to make sure that we will not vote for you in the next.
With that said I do applaud Howard Dean and Barack Obama’s 50 state strategy. While some shake their head and say it is a waste of resources I’d like to remind them of the effect down-balloting will have in Southern and Western states not likely to Vote Obama for this go around. While many point to the black minorities in Southern states and how their numbers are not enough to win a state I say that may be so but the large turn out from them will win likely win the Democrats districts, and districts mean a Democratic base in those states and a stronger election chance in 2012. When the South “went red” and the Democratic Party left them out of their campaign strategy the worst thing that happen was the evisceration of the local parties; so a temporary switch to Republicanism in the post-civil rights Reagan Sagebrush Revolution became very real and permanent. It is time to win that territory back. After all, if the Democratic wants to be the party for the poor and minorities, where better to fight for them than in the South?
Some say that Dean and Obama’s strategy is “admirable” and a “nice symbol of commitment.” I say its much more, and what the Democrats should have pursued from the start. They are a national party, it’s time they started acting like it.
Some condemn this strategy as a way for “Bluedogs,” who are, according to many establishment members, just Republicans wearing economically liberal shoes. That may be so in the shallowest sense but the reality is that Bluedogs get elected and give Democrats majorities in the Senate. A political strategy based on geography has left both parties gridlocked into their respective Northeast/Upper Midwest/ West Coast and South/Plains/ Mountains corners which, obviously also leaves an even split in the Senate seats. Also, the Bluedogs represent a people who are socially conservative first and care for economics second. Would the establishment prefer a Republican in the same seat who is conservative in all respects? Bluedogs allow for legislation on the economy, foreign policy, energy and put away the distracting issues of abortion, religion for another day. Change in the mindset of Bluedog regions of the country require babysteps and the Bluedogs is how you get your foot in the door.
The largest failure of our Congress is not just in the passing of poor legislation but in not passing legislation or legislation on matters of absolutely no substance. This is where my accusations broaden to even those Bluedogs and 50 state strategists who profess higher ideals. In the past 8 years our Congress has discussed Terry Schiavo, FISA, ethanol, a “Bridge to Nowhere,” been wrapped up in scandals involving Abramoff and congressional aides, drilling in ANWR, privatizing social security, constitutional bans on gay marriage, etc… All born out of the politics of fear and distraction and upon examining the record, there is not a Democrat who likely avoids blame in these. What has not been solved is our energy crisis, health care, 4 years of indecision before forcing a surge in Iraq, Afghanistan, Global Warming, social security, our national debt… the list goes on and all are issues which for the next president will be very real dilemna and for myself, will likely have very real effects. In the meanwhile our civil liberties, standard of living, healthcare system, and environment has been seriously degraded.
Barack Obama, a short congressional record mostly absolved you of these sins. A vote for FISA was an immediate play into the politics of fear and you have yet to explain sufficiently. In fact your recent actions have led me to believe you intend to avoid attention to it altogether. If your motives for voting for it were political, a fear of looking weak on security, I would point out that is has damaged the reputations of Russ Feingold, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton or any of the other Democrats who opposed it not an inch.
This is Tom Daschle politics at its worst, and I find it ironic that he’s an adviser to your campaign. Have you not learned from the Iraq vote, popular at the time but now a weight around the party neck;equal guilt in the decision to go to war with the Republican party. In fact your candidacy was built around a principled opposition to the popular thing to do at the time and now with FISA you are of equal guilt with all of them.
A strong political front is not standing up loudly for those things which are popular but standing up strongly for those things that are right. I say the same to those Democrats who are considering flopping on offshore drilling. Don’t be blind, a 60% approval rating for offshore drilling isn’t because we all suddenly believe it is a good idea as opposed to the past, but merely because it is the only real solution that has been proposed for the energy crisis. It is another Bridge to Nowhere. It is a distraction which by itself has no hope of solving real American problems. You’re our elected leaders; lead!
Flopping on this issue doesn’t just effect your credibility but you believability the next time you stand up and say you are fighting for us. How can we believe a person who doesn’t believe enough in their own principles to fight for them?
This is what I believe. These are reflections of what I have heard from many others. I plead with the Democratic party to stand up to the accusations, to stand for these propositions, to promise no more acquiescences on matters of substance, and to no longer forget that you represent the country, not just the primary basis of your constituencies.
In the meanwhile I promise to no longer vote for the lesser of two evils. Third parties who represent my goals are no less a good choice because of their slim electoral chances. They too force change if enough people are able to see the good in doing so. I will cross party lines on advocating for issues which are right and even advocate for candidates on the other side of the aisle if they fight for those issues. I have no party allegiance until there is a party which is fundamentally right.
-Marc-
-Marc-
