One issue I’ve blogged about pretty extensively is my concern about the ‘suicidal lemming’ wing of the Democratic Party and what it’s going to do for the forces of true progressivism in this country.
It’s the wing that positive, just positive, that masses of voters will come out and support them if only they are firm enough in their positions – positions near and dear to the hearts of coastal elites, but pretty distance from those living paycheck to paycheck in exurbia and flyover country.
As usual, the Democrats have forty good issues on their side and want to run on thirty-nine of them. Here are three they should stick to:
1) Iraq is making terrorism worse; it’s a breeding ground. We need to extricate ourselves as soon as possible. We are not helping the Iraqis by staying.
2) Full public financing of campaigns so as to drive the moneylenders from the halls of Washington.
3) Single-payer health insurance.
Every Democrat I talk to is appalled at the sheer gutlessness and spinelessness of the Democratic performance. The party is still cringing at the thought of being called, ooh-ooh, “unpatriotic” by a bunch of rightwingers.
Molly needs to get out more. She’s talking to all the people Pauline Kael was talking to back in 1968. Now each of those issues has a constituency. And it’s not a small one. But it’s not enough to win national elections, or even to win Congressional ones outside of the deep-blue pockets.
Today we have evidence of that, as the netroots dumped cash, electrons and credibility onto House candidate Ciro Rodriguez in Texas-28; he got beat by Henry Cuellar, who famously hugged Bush at the SOTU.
This brings the netroots record to 0-and something.
At what point do the leaders of the netroots look at the evidence, and consider modifying their course?
Single-payer health insurance? Let’s see … that would be something like Canada, right? Does Miss Molly know what’s going on up there, the things the Canadians are doing? Indeed, she _should_ get out more.
bq. 3) Single-payer health insurance.
Just what we need, a government monopoly. I live 20 miles from Canada and their “single payer” system. I have over the years had many Canadian friends (almost married one). Every time I see this “single-payer health insurance” proposal a few thoughts come to mind. One is health insurance does not equal health care. The other thought is of a more personal nature, it is of two friends that are no longer with us. Those two friends had medical conditions that were treatable when they first sought care. They were beyond treatment by the time their name came up on the waiting list. When you choose to put something in the hands of politicians there is one thing that is certain. The funding will be diverted to the area where the most votes are. With health care, most of the votes are in primary care, the general practitioner. People that get seriously ill represent a small and transient voting block. That said, there is no doubt that the health care system in the US is in serious trouble. And in my view, government interference is one of the reasons. I don’t have the solution to this problem, it is extremely complex. I do know that simple solutions, like turning it over to the politicians, is no solution at all.
The trend since 1968 in Dem circles is complete repudiation of Jacksonian politics as “ugly, racist, militarist” ala one infamous Article in the Nation.
Thus issues near and dear to the hearts of the great masses of people find contempt:
*Jobs, specifically declining wages, outsourcing, and illegal immigration driving down wages.
*Crime, specifically the lack of political will to tackle crime and roll back criminal gangs from great swaths of urban areas.
*National security, which increasingly does not trust any Arab/Muslim government, and has little tolerance for CAIR type activities domestically (defending orgs that give money to terrorists, denouncing “Islamaphobia” when terror cells are cracked).
While Ivins might find traction on a “turn and pivot” to simply dump Iraq and destroy Iran and Pakistan’s nuclear capability (and capability to do much of anything, ala “rubble don’t cause trouble” theory) she is unlikely to gain much action nationwide with a “cut and run because we got beat and are afraid” strategy.
For Dems Cartoon Jihad only points out how wrong we are and we need to redouble our groveling to Muslims. Citizen Smash has a link “here”:http://www.indepundit.com/archive2/2006/03/apologist_ann.html
Basically, an ex-State Dept. spokeswoman believes Osama has a point and we should apologize to him.
You must check it out to believe it.
At this point I must say the Dem Party is dead.
When Reps are willing to dump the President’s position on the DPW, along with pretty decisive victories on the Patriot Act, it would seem that the country has moved to the right of Bush on National Security, while Dems move ever to the Left thinking out loud that Osama has some points and legitimate issues justifying the murder of 3,000 Americans.
Yes, Armed Liberal, we should expect Democats to follow in the footsteps of Cuellar:
Endorse Bush for President. In 2000.
What exactly should the Democrats be doing? Oh, yes, they should be working to keep contraceptives legal. Anything else is immoderate.
We got started too late, I think, for Ciro Rodriguez. But I think we’re getting everything in place.
[snicker]
“It’s all coming together,” says AJL.
1. Agitate for withdraw from Iraq and nationalized healthcare.
2. ???
3. Victory!
Andy, I may go back and pull links together, but I’ve been laying out what I think D policy should be for several years:
1) Figure out a strategy for dealing with Islamism that doesn’t involve a) super-ninja warriors who will, undetected, identify and mysteriously kill bad guys without disturbing anyone else or b) NUKE THE BIYATCHES;
2) Get in front of the issue of the insanely corrupt culture in Washington by – fessing up that we have bad guys to, hanging them out to dry and challenging the GOP to do the same thing;
3) Devise policies to deal with the ‘insecure middle’ by focusing tax policy on middle-income households and thinsg which create middle-income jobs;
4) Force ‘no windmills’ and ‘no infill housing’ groups to sit back and shut up as environmentally sound energy and higher-density infill housing become policies;
5) Admit that infrastructure doesn’t mean housing and schools (a parochial California concern);
6) Sit down with gun owners and abortion opponents and negotiate a truce.
That’s a start…
oh, and stop blaming America first (see the speech by “Ann Wright”:http://www.indepundit.com/archive2/2006/03/apologist_ann.html)
A.L.
Oh – and before our GOP readers get all smug and cocky, let me point out that race-by-race, the 06 balance is tipping enough that I’m worried about my bet that the D’s will only pick up 4 or 5 seats.
“Corrupt, complacent, and clueless is no way to go through life, son.”
A.L.
1. Tell George Clooney to get lost. Along with Babs and the rest of the Hollywood moonbattery.
2. Tell George Soros to get lost.
3. No more Davos!
4. If it comes down to Islamism versus global warming as a Profound Issue of Our Time, Islamism wins. Apologies to Al Gore.
5. Lose the teacher unions. They are beginning to do something that many thought impossible. Among other things, they are giving Republicans a decisive issue with poor blacks: school choice versus the uncaring, entrenched educracy brought to you by the Democratic Party.
6. Rediscover working people, and remember that few of them are actually in unions or in unionizable jobs (ie, they work in small businesses). It isn’t 1958 anymore.
And remember that “working people” doesn’t always mean “dirt poor” – nailing families who make $100K/year because they’re “rich” who should be soaked isn’t smart either.
7. Make sure you run Al Sharpton and the race-hustler crowd out of the primaries early next time. Defer to him at your peril.
8. Gay and “sexual identity” politics is a designated loser at a national level. Go ahead and be heteronormative.
bq. 1) Figure out a strategy for dealing with Islamism that doesn’t involve a) super-ninja warriors who will, undetected, identify and mysteriously kill bad guys without disturbing anyone else or b) NUKE THE BIYATCHES;
…
Yeah, screw it, I’m out of here. I recognize hyperbole when I see it, but I also recognize somebody’s set-in-stone prejudices leaking through. You sure as hell don’t have to agree with guys like Eric Martin, Kevin Drum, the American Prospect guys, and politicians like Biden and Murtha, but if you can take a look at what they’re arguing and boil it down to “what we Democrats really believe in is a magic wand that will fix the world and give everybody a pony”, then you’re just flat-out delusional. Your brilliant idea that Democrats can reach some kind of “truce” with abortion opponents (have you ever, actually _talked_ to any social conservatives? Ever?) is just icing on the cake.
Pathetic. I’m done hanging out here, giving you the illusion you’re talking to anybody but other die-hard Bush supporters, AL, and I wholeheartedly suggest to Andrew J. Lazarus, Davebo, etc., that they stop enabling you as well.
I am impatiently awaiting the emergence of a great LEADER who will oversee the banishment of every single fascist Republican swine who, with endlessly repeated lies and propaganda and needless deaths of thousands, has stained the honor of America.
Weston La Barre in 1970 said in “The Ghost Dance” that charismatic leaders are those who come to resolve acute stress situations in the culture.
“A society’s culture is a set of defense mechanisms, both technological and psychological. If technical means fail to protect the people against anxiety and stress, then psychological means must be fabricated to maintain homeostatis [or balance].”
In other words, right now America is in deep shit. The fascist swine are destroying the country, and we sit helplessly in numbed shock. Some of us write hysterical posts to liberal blogs. Some of us call our congressmen, or join email or fax campaigns.
But what we need the most is to find a true leader. Who is he?
Or she?
John Palcewski
JOhn,
Do you have the slightest clue what a fascist really is? Do you seriously believe the Republicans compare in any way to Hitler or Mussolini’s thugs? Your ignorance of history is astounding. Anyone who claims liberals are more intelligent than conservatives (a claim I’ve seen stated or implied in many places) has only to read your comment to disabuse himself of that notion.
Chris,
Yes, I have talked to many social conservatives. Some of them are idiots, most are thoughtful people who resent that nearly every aspect of our culture opposes the values they wish to transmit to their children.
Chris, I wish you’d hold your water and stick around. Without putting words in Marc’s mouth I think it should have been clear from the title of this post the faction that he’s criticizing and I believe that the particular point you cite is a fair criticism of that group.
Are Eric Martin, Kevin Drum, and the American Prospect folks fairly characterizeable as “the netroots”? I don’t think so. I think they’re mostly liberal wonks of what used to be the Eastern seaboard sort.
In today’s Democratic Party is the stock of “the netroots” rising or falling? The long-time leaders of the Party? Rising or falling? You gotta consider the trends.
Assuming John’s post is not an utter troll, or an attempt to wring some Hitler Youth out of the web, which it definitely whiffs of…
A Great LEADER?
You mean like Robespierre? Or Lenin? Or Der Leiter himself, the rescuer of Weimar Germany? Or that Man of the Common Man, Pol Pot?
Men on horseback tend to have common traits.
I believe the eminent sociologist Chad C. Mulligan said,
bq. “Papa Hegel he say all we can learn from history is that we learn nothing from history. Hegel was an optimist. I know people who can’t learn from what happened yesterday at lunch.”
You might think the current situation is a shit sandwich. You might even be correct. Statesmen, instead of opportunist swine, we could possibly use. But if there is any mercy to be found in this world, please, may it preserve us from Great LEADERs.
But I think you knew that, John, and were trying to mock or provoke. If I’m right, please try to improve the quality of your communications. It has been established that we do have a bogometer here, and when it pegs, we say toodle-oo.
Well, I can see that this conversation is headed for the gutter in a hurry…
Foobarrista….
I am more than willing to trade in George Soros, Al Franken and Michael Moore (I kindof liked Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, so I’ll leave Clooney), but in exchange, the republican party has to remove the following:
1)Limbaugh
2)Hannity
3)Coulter
4)Swift Boaters
5)Rove
6)Savage (although he’s just crazy in general, not neccessarily crazy for R’s)
As I’ve said before, they’re are serious problems in BOTH parties. AL has been trying to discuss what democrats SHOULD be doing to clean out their ranks… You can either critize the democrats, or try to clean out your own party.
I have a lot of respect for Chris, but “I’m taking my ball and going home” isn’t a way to add to it. And I’m standing by my foreign policy comment. Today, the core principles of the (mainstream) D foreign policy are: build better defenses; back out of Iraq as quickly as we can with any grace; possibly say mean things to the Saudis while buying their oil and taking their political and foundation cash (note that the GOP is even better at doing that).
The ports issue is domestic grandstanding which worsens our ability to operate in the ME; and the response to terrorism is “we will seek them out and strike them”. How? The only path I can see is via super-secret ninjas, and they don’t exist.
What do we do about a nuclear Iran? Well my quote was from Atrios, who said, exactly:
bq. you f**k with us a little bit and YOU NO LONGER LIVE BITCHES!
So no, I’m not seeing the coherent policy that Chris is seeing. I’m more than ready to be enlightened, however…
A.L.
“…”what we Democrats really believe in is a magic wand that will fix the world and give everybody a pony”, then you’re just flat-out delusional.”
Perhaps.
But as a writer I have to take some responcibility for what people see in my communication. If someone gets a wrong reading of it, that’s probably his fault. But if alot of people have the same incorrect reading, then its likely that its my fault and the reading that they have isn’t as incorrect as I would like it to be.
So perhaps the Democrats don’t really believe in magic wands that will fix the world and give everybody a pony, but you would be hard pressed to discover what they do believe. Perhaps that isn’t really the heart of thier platform, but if it isn’t then they’ve done a very bad job communicating what they do believe. If this is not what they believe, then its about time they except some responcibility for the fact that they always come off that way. AL’s comment is spot on my criticism of Kerry’s foreign policy speaches, in that the concrete plan that differed in any fashion from current administration policy, the changes with any substance, was so ungrounded in reality as to be flat out delusional and the rest was simple assurances that if Kerry was elected everything would magically get better. In fact, AL’s ‘ninja warriors’ comment is probably inspired by certain Kerry speaches. In particular, Kerry repeatedly emphasised that the military solution to the problem was doubling the size of our ‘special forces’, a suggestion which I assure you is as realistic as having Superman and Wonder Woman round up the bad guys.
“Your brilliant idea that Democrats can reach some kind of “truce” with abortion opponents (have you ever, actually talked to any social conservatives? Ever?) is just icing on the cake.”
Yes, he has. Me, among many others. Have you ever talked to any ‘social conservatives’? Anyone that believes that their is no middle ground on abortion has listened to noone but the press.
AL: I blogged on this one yesterday, too. Frankly, I think it’s healthy for the Democrats. I think they need to seriously have this out. The Progressive wing is alert, well-funded, and motivated, and they want to own the party the way the Reaganites fight to own the Republicans.
I think a lot of the “circular firing squad” that gets the Dems in trouble is because these differences keep getting papered over, rather than finally being fought out. If and when the Democrats put rhetorical blood on the pavement, and determine once and for all who the party is and what it stands for, then we’ll have a credible opposition party again. And then either a third party will form to replace the old discredited one (a staple of American political history, e.g., the Whigs), or the Dems will be able to make serious progress.
Do I hope that the moderates among the Democratic Governors’ Club ™ crush the Molly Ivins ’68er wing? You betcha. But that is their fight to fight, and prolonging that fight is hurting America by dumbing-down the political discourse (insofar as the current papering-over makes it difficult to distinguish “liberal” from “leftist.”)
(btw, the comments aren’t allowing my url to appear due to some previous bl*gsp*t spam)
I can’t really say that I want to see the Dems get their act together, its fun to watch an entire party implode due to ignorance, corruption, and a heavy reliance on the “kook” factions.
Being right of center on most issues, but no flack for the GOP (they abandoned their core principles in 2000 and until they return to the Gingrich Contract with America roots they will forever be worthless), I could only propose the following bits of information for Team Lefty:
1. Quit hating on Whitey. Face it most of your party is still white and its about time you realize that race relations are not a winner. Stop playing the race card, stop with the affirmative action bullcrap and drop the liberal white guilt. Only the most “progressive” (what a misnomer that is) members of your effete liberal elites buy into this crap. Most Americans realize that yes racism exists to a degree, but that the days of Jim Crow are long over. When you realize that fostering discontent in the minority communities is not good for America then you just might bring more swing voters over to your side of the fence.
2. Quit hating on the wealthy. The Democrats war on the rich is a failure, and was only a winning issue during the times of the robber barons. Wanting to, or becoming rich is not a bad thing, and most of the elites within the party themselves are indeed wealthy beyond the vast majority of their constituents. Soaking the rich and playing class war politics is not, nor will ever really be a winning platform, because it only fosters resentment. Most people who have become wealthy have earned it (not everyone is a Kennedy style trust fund baby), and that “richest one percent” already account for almost 35% of the nations tax burden.
3. Wal-Mart is not the devil. Recognize that most people like companies like Wal-Mart and enjoy the ability to buy their goods at a price they can afford. Realize that Wal-Mart employs a lot of people no one else does (handicapped, elderly, etc).
4. Understand that a “living wage” is whatever someone is willing to work for, not some arbitrary dollar amount. Government induced pricing, rent controls, and nearly all forms of price fixing have and continue to be massive failures, ask any economist that doesn’t have his head up his ass (Paul Krugman) and they will tell you this.
5. National Security means doing what it takes to make us secure. Yeah you might have to scrutinize that arab kid with the I <3 Osama t-shirt more so than grandma in her walker. You just might have to accept that we are indeed in a war with fanatical islamists hellbent on killing us. And in turn you just might want to drop the animosity towards the military.
6. US Foreign Policy is not European Foreign Policy. You can’t equate the US to Europe in terms of foreign policy decisions, nor should we. Europe faces very different challenges than the US does, and therefore our FP shouldn’t mimic their continued failures. Appeasement didn’t work in 39 and it wont work in 06. Also understand that the UN is a monumental failure, and that reliance upon it to solve US foreign policy matters is an exercise in futility.
7. Don’t break the backs of the young to support the old. Face it, touting your destruction of Social Security reform may give you and your ARRP supporters a big chubby, but it pisses off most people under 40. Continuing to support SS in its current form is a loser, realize that it needs to be fixed, age limits need to be bumped up to reflect current demographics, and letting people invest a few percent of their own money is not the end of the world.
8. The “New Deal” is a failure. The US is not a homogenous nation of like thinking people, we are not a Nordic nation of 13 million people, and as such socialism will not work here. Give it up and realize that euro-style socialism is failing in Europe, and that attempting to enact it here in the US won’t work either. Cripling the nation under a large tax burden for government monopolized services is not a prudent course of action.
Anyway, these are just a few things that I see that might help Democrats, or any group for that matter, win over support for their party. Most of this is common sense, most of it would actually benefit the nation. Most of it is long term to enact, and thus for that reason most of it will be ignored.
The reliance by both parties on short term political gains is destroying the nations long-term prospects and security.
Gabriel…
2. Class envy isn’t going to play well in America, agree. It especially won’t play well when your support base consists most visibly of Hollywood millionaires, financial speculators, and ambulance-chasing tort lawyers who drive Bentleys. A refined critique that talked about different KINDS of wealth accumulation having differing value, however, might get a lot of traction and address an important GOP blind spot.
Of course, that’s hard when you’ve allied yourselves with precisely the least actually productive part of the rich population, plus public sector unions.
3. Wal-Mart employs a certain number of people, but it also UNemploys a larger number of people. Make whatever economic arguments you like, a genuine party of the working class/ average folks is going to see that as a Bad Thing. Live with it.
4. A living wage is not whatever someone is willing to work for. That’s called a “wage”. Note the adjective “living,” intended to modify “wage” such that it is possible to provide adequately for one’s family, etc. Agree with you on rent controls (which creates a ton of inexpensive housing that middle-class folks promptly grab), goverment price-fixing, et. al. But again, this isn’t about your beliefs but their (largely lost) identity as the “party of the common man.” There are arguments you could make that might be persuasive to a Democrat’s values (for instance, looking at France’s cites where regulation and artificial wages keep a significant stratum of poor people out of the job market entirely), but the one you made isn’t it.
Of course, one could also argue that finally getting serious about illegal immigration might do more for living wages in many industries than a law – and also address a hot button national secuity concern President Bush (but not the GOP) is ignoring.
8. The problem with the New Deal is that it is about 80 years old, and everything has moved on. It arguably kept the USA stable during the Great Depression, but its expansion into the “Great Society” programs and inability to prune itself once jobs were done, have been failures.
The question a serious Democrat would ask is how to help the less fortunate in modern times, without running into the well-known minefields that have become apparent in past policies.
Ahh..
The Armed Agnostic strikes again in the usually inane matter.
A man with his finger on the pulse of the middle to left electorate I tell ya!
Let’s review the “solutions”.
Yep, I believe it was Hillary who suggested method A and Howard Dean who went with the NUKE THE BIYATCES (YeeHa!)
Oh wait, never mind. Those are the two proposals that the Armed Agnostic believes have been suggested.
Well, at least he’s got his finger on the pulse of the DNC right?
Nope, scratch that.
Seriously AL, when you wander away from non partisan foreign policy discussions into political discussions, you really wander way way off the reality reservation.
How can a self proclaimed “liberal” be so out of touch with the statements of the part that allegedly represents progressives and liberals?
Chris
One could argue that it’s a sign Marc hasn’t paid any attention whatsoever to the issue over the past 8 years.
But frankly you’re right, it’s a simple case of intellectual dishonesty.
By the way guys, if any of you don’t believe that the majority of Americans believes:
Iraq is making terrorism worse; it’s a breeding ground. We need to extricate ourselves as soon as possible.
Then you are only fooling yourselfs, or perhaps clinging to the bits of shock and awe grandeur from those glory days of yesterday. You know, when the electorate didn’t despise you and your pipe dreams.
“Iraq is making terrorism worse; it’s a breeding ground. We need to extricate ourselves as soon as possible.
Then you are only fooling yourselfs, or perhaps clinging to the bits of shock and awe grandeur from those glory days of yesterday. You know, when the electorate didn’t despise you and your pipe dreams.”
Who needs polls when you have idealogues.
Ivens does an admirable job of showing us the exact downfall of the democratic party. But not by explaining it, but by showcasing it with her inanity.
“1) Iraq is making terrorism worse; it’s a breeding ground. We need to extricate ourselves as soon as possible. We are not helping the Iraqis by staying.”
If Iraq is a breeding ground for terrorism… how does leaving it become a wise policy? Also ‘leaving would help Iraqis’ flies in the face of the ‘Its a Civil War’ talking point. Unless you are championing whichever hyperviolent sect puts the boot to the throat of the rest if we left of course. i guess leaving would help them.
“2) Full public financing of campaigns so as to drive the moneylenders from the halls of Washington.”
Havent Dems figured out yet that every campaign finance law hurts them more than the Republicans? Republicans can live without Jack Abramoff. Democrats cant live without George Soros.
“3) Single-payer health insurance.”
Socialism. Americans have been clamoring for it for a century. Brilliant, run with it.
Wal-Mart vs Illegal Alien menace could be a full book if you wanted to really analyze the problems associated with both.
Neither side of the aisle wants to truly tackle illegal immigration and its affect on labor, infrastructure, healthcare costs, education costs, ect. Both sides pander to the open borders segment, one out of desperation for votes one out of support for big business. Both sides harm Americans soley for more party power and donations.
Wal Mart may not pay health benefits, then again, healthcare would be far cheaper if we didn’t have to pay for the 12 million or so illegals sucking up local social services. Go into any ER on a border state and you will be outnumbered 4 to 1 by Hispanics, with nearly all of them being “uninsured”.
The legitimate concerns with Wal Mart is their reliance on China for product. Any ripple in that alliance would spell certain doom for Wal-Mart. If Democrats really wanted to stick it to Wal-Mart they would impose tarriffs, which would destroy Wal-Marts competitive advantages. That said, they would never get away with it.
My general reason in brining up Wal-Mart, is that much of the opposittion from the left appears emotional in nature. Illegal immigrants do far more damage to local economies by reducing wages, remitance payments, and strain on infrastructure to which their infintismal taxes will never offset. You never hear about the big Unions pitching a fit about illegals sucking up Union construction jobs, and you will never see Unions take the Democratic Party to task for their support of illegal immigration. Unions would rather launch yet another failed strike or pour millions into fighting school vouchers, port automation, etc. when they should be lobbying hard for serious illegal immigration reform. Instead they will bitch about legal immigrants (H1B-Visa types) who come here and take jobs.
/incoherent rant
Davebo, that’s exactly the antiterrorism policy of the Democratic mainstream, and I’ll put a post up later to demonstrate it.
A.L.
Davebo and Chris (in absentia, presumably) – the thing that contradicts your arguments on the abortion issue is that the Democrats HAVE managed in the past to have exactly such a truce.
Perhaps this will clarify:
The “truce” is NOT going to be with the Pro-Life activists, any more than one could advise the Republicans to adopt a truce with Kos et. al. – or for that matter, with NARAL.
But the truce will make a difference in a number of Democrat constituencies whose positions are religiously informed in whole or in part, and do not match the party’s. This includes a decent number of white urban working class voters (mostly Catholics), as well as chunks of the Latino base it courts and even the black community. It’s important that they don’t feel hounded out of the party for their views, or made unwelcome.
On the other side of the abortion issue, the GOP faces more or less this same scenario from another direction, with the “soccer moms” types.
Clearer?
Correction to my earlier post. The actual quote from Chad C. Mulligan is more like
bq. “Papa Hegel he say that all we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history. I knew people who can’t even learn from what happened this morning. Hegel must have been taking the long view.”
…which is punchier and funnier.
Arrrgh! know, not “knew”. Arrrgh. Time for my power nap.
I’ll add that Dave Schuler had a good “post on this issue”:http://theglitteringeye.com/?p=411 that had fewer items in it and was more general – but possibly more useful for that reason.
“Joe Klein, a reliably center-liberal guy,”:http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101030519-450938,00.html summed it up as a 3-front challenge: optimism, patriotism, and confidence.
Oh, and guess who this is:
bq.. “Let me quickly chart the life of a former Democrat. When I was a teenager in the 1960s, the Democrats seemed to me the party of the working class and middle class–the party of immigrants, strivers and those who adhered to an expansive reading of the American dream. I shared that dream, and saw my home as the Democratic Party. I was swayed by JFK and Bobby, by their implicit sense of honor about being Americans, as if they thought to be an American was a great gift and yet had a price: You had to help your country, you had to have guts and an open mind, you had to care about people others forgot.
I thought of Republicans as bland, unimaginative, vaguely immoral people who drank things like gin and tonic where they played things like golf. I remember reading in high school or college and being moved by someone’s wonderful old turn of the century agitprop poem–“The golf links were so near the mills that nearly every day / The laboring children could look out and see the men at play.” I assumed those men were Republicans.
My father had been a poor kid in Brooklyn who grew up on what was then called relief. He’d talk about the rancid butter people like him were given to eat. But he thought Franklin Roosevelt was the only president who’d ever done anything to help the workingman, and he had a resentment of those who were comfortably middle class, or upper middle, or rich. I inherited this. These were the biases I brought to the conversation when talk turned to politics when I was a teenager and young woman.”
p. ….Peggy Noonan, who grew up as a solid working class Democrat (before the First Exodus in the 1970s/80s). That’s from “an excellent essay”:http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=110003143 that went into a book by that noted right-wing nut, Andrew Cuomo. To summarize:
* Look at the clock. Know what time it is. Wake up and get serious.
* Help, don’t “position” yourself. Make progress.
* Be pro-free-speech again.
* Develop a new and modern Democratic rationale.
* Stop being the party of snobs.
* Stop taking such comfort in Bill Clinton’s two wins. Move on.
* Have a philosophy instead of an ideology, hold it high and dear, and attempt to apply it, not impose it.
* Respect normal Americans again, even those who are not union members.
* Start smoking. No, not that kind of smoking.
RE: Abortion:
bq. “An example: abortion. The Democrats became the party of what they called abortion rights. Fine. It seemed to them right at the time and a step toward human progress. But now, 30 years later, after all the things we’ve seen and pondered, after all that science has shown us, the Democratic Party has grown not less radical on abortion, but more. Your party won’t even agree to ban third-term abortions–which is the abortion of a baby who looks and seems fully human and capable of life because he is. The Democrats oppose parental consent even in the cases of 14-year-olds who are themselves children. It opposes directing doctors to inform frightened young women before an abortion is performed that there are other options, other possible paths. This is so _radical_. So out of touch with the feeling and thought of the vast middle of the country. So at odds with our self-image as a nation.”
All of these things are where most (and i’m talking super-majority here) of American the public is on the abortion issue, to the dismay and often anger of both the pro-life and pro-choice factions. The GOP suffers because it’s seen as allied with the hard pro-life faction. The Democrats suffer because they’re seen as allied with the shock troops on the other side.
And folks in the middle don’t feel represented much, but over time have slowly bent politics into something that approaches their position. The question is which party will ease up on their self-penalizing stance first.
One example among many. When James Carville gets up there on election night and says you’re not connecting – hey, something’s wrong. And the Berkeley/ Kos wing isn’t exactly blazing a trail of electoral success.
But I’d encourage you to hope for redemption in 2006 and 2008 (heck, as long as you like) by trying harder with the Hannover Fiste routines of “Buuuuuuuussssshh! [or insert Republican President here]” plus letting the Howard Deans and Daily Kos types be the public face of your party.
As Dr. Phil would say, “how’s that working for you?” For me, doc, I’d say it’s working fine.
But then, I’d like to see you guys lose. I just enjoy pointing out to the moderates who have left the Dems in droves how unrealistic even such moderate suggestions as the notes above are. Helps the New Independents make up their minds…
Joe,
Sorry, but I just can’t bring myself to believe that a smart guy like you is no naive on the abortion issue.
No truce can be made because the two sides aren’t honestly arguing the issue.
Here’s a newsflash for you. The last thing the GOP wants is for Roe V Wade to be overturned.
They need it, almost as badly as they need Osama on the loose. It’s their wedge issue. They could care less about it, just as they could care less about the folks hanging out in front of abortion critics with placards of dead fetus. (Other than the first week in November that is).
They want those folks riled up, ready to save all those poor lives. They could really care less about all those poor lives, but they need the “wackos” as GOP operatives are known to call them. They want to be able to say “Hey, we tried in South Dakota but those darned activist judges (that for the most part we put on the bench but never mind that) stopped us.
Frankly I’m amazed at the Republicans who are actually gullible enough to believe that Souter and O’Conner somehow became “less conservative” once on the bench.
So compromise with a group which won’t even be honest about it’s goals is a total waste of time.
Mark
Mark, tell me you are referring to the Polish.
http://www.pollingreport.com/iraq.htm
Bottom line. Majorities believe:
Invading Iraq was a bad idea.
We aren’t making progress in restoring order in Iraq.
The administration has no clear plan for handling the situation in Iraq.
We should withdraw either some or all of our troops from Iraq.
We either can’t, or won’t “win” in Iraq.
There will be a major civil war involving ethnic or religious groups in Iraq in the next year.
But hey, I know. It’s all the media’s fault.
Still, you should probably avoid the polls.
“They need it, almost as badly as they need Osama on the loose. It’s their wedge issue.”
I see. It’s all a big conspiracy then.
If it was ever at all present, the rationality has now departed the discussion. If you were interested in a rational discussion, please go elsewhere, because you no longer have a chance of finding it here.
It’s called political reality dude. Stick your head in the sand if you choose, but GOP strategists do call those christian conservatives wackos, they do laugh at their gullibility, and they do count on them every first week of November.
As a social conservative and a republican, I’m sure that’s depressing news to you. But the fact that it is news to you doesn’t make it any less true.
Bush’s stance on the matter during the 2000 elections should have clued you in. “I’m against it, but now is not the time..”
Here’s a tip, it’s never going to be the time.
And this isn’t exactly a new concept. It’s widely recognized by that swath of Americans who don’t believe Adam and Eve rode dinasours to church.
But don’t be too blue. You did get a new Faith Based Office in the Dept. of Homeland Security.
Never let it be said they didn’t throw you a bone before tying you up in the yard.
Davebo, Joe explained the hole in your thinking pretty clearly, but let me repeat it just so folks are clear.
Randall Terry is never going to compromise on abortion; he represents maybe 5% of the American public. I don’t much care what he thinks.
Lots and lots of people are made uncomfortable by the similarly absolutist “any abortion anytime for anyone” views of NARAL. If the Democratic Party took two steps away from them – say, by supporting parental consent for women under sixteen (who, technically, are children), and meaningful restrictions on abortions in the third trimester, a bunch of those peopel whould be happy to pull the lever for Democratic candidates.
That’s what it takes to win, and winning seems to me to be a good idea. Call me silly.
A.L.
You don’t say? Why I feel so informed now. Thanks for your assurances.
And here I was under the impression that the Religious Right had far too much influence in this country and that the GOP had been taken over by a bunch of dangerous theocrats. Maybe you need to go tell the liberal commentators out there not to worry, that the GOP is just duping the social conservatives and the Religious Right really doesn’t have any influence in Washington. They really don’t have any need to worry. I’m just sure it will certainly put thier minds at ease.
Then you should go about telling them that Adam and Eve didn’t ride dinosaurs to Church, because its really embarassing that all those liberals that yell about how religion has too much influence in politics believe something like that.
Chris — You missed the point.
DPW and immigration show that GWB is to the LEFT of the American People.
What you don’t like is that the People themselves have made judgments and moved to a position of nationalism, cultural-core defense, and patriotism. Inevitable btw after forty years of Identity Politics.
The spirit of 1968 is DEAD.
This need not be the end of the Democratic Party, but only if the spirit of FDR and his measures are embraced, instead of the ideology of Folk Marxism and elitist Progressive Politics. Just like the Depression killed Progressivism so too has the post 9/11 World killed Elitism as practiced by Bush 1 and Bill Clinton.
What gives Republicans cheer and Democrats fear is that the grassroots of Republicans is responding the the huge Jacksonian shift of the people while Democrats continue to blame America for bin Laden ala Ann Wright (it’s appalling that her remarks generated applause from Dems in the audience).
A great Leader recognizes the changed circumstances of the World or situation and moves the populace to recognize how things changed, and strategies for dealing with the change. FDR clearly recognized by 1936 that Hitler and Japan were mortal threats, and the stupid pacifism borne out of the reaction to WWI’s slaughter had to be ditched. Little by little he nudged the people there, not by stupid Ghost Dances but by measures such as Lend-Lease, Good Neighbor and articulation of the Four Freedoms. Such is needed to get rid of the naive, stupid, and destructive utopian pacifism of the netroots in the Dem Party.
The foreign threats of terrorism (jet travel and modern communication makes mass-casualty terrorism easy for failed/failing states and Muslims intent on “raiding party” intimidation) seem tailor made to FDR big government done right solutions.
GWB as far as he’s done anything has embraced a half-hearted Big Government Agenda. Dems can win, and win decisively if they embrace Big Government to solve populist issues; among them National Security, with a massive expansion of the military and lots and lots of technology.
Davebo — Republicans don’t want abortion overturned. You are correct in your analysis there. Neither do the American people I believe either. Fringe whackos want abortion illegal, and NOW presses for basically no restrictions at all. Most of the American people believe it should be legal, with some restrictions, but would rather have birth control. When Viagra and various birth control measures are advertised on national TV I’d say the consensus of American opinion is pretty clear.
But this is a battle already won. Taking a victory lap on it is like Bush in 1992 talking about Iraq.
A.L.,
IMO you have no chance on national security issues, but on domestic ones I have some suggestions which might be useful. I am an ex-Democrat, the Scoop Jackson kind, and was headed for a career as a political consultant before deciding that I didn’t have the belly for it (a stark choice between a friend winning a Congressional race and breaking up his heretofore happy marriage does that).
1) Promote upward mobility and defend the American dream:
2) Turn abortion from a liability to an asset by abandoning Roe v. Wade, and accept that some states will ban it (but it would certainly be worth fighting in them for abortion in cases of rape, incest and the mothers’ health – you get a free chance to credibly label the GOP as “barbaric fanatics”). Most states won’t ban abortion, and those are the states you can win in national elections.
Show some confidence that your Party can fight and win in most state legislatures on abortion. This fight will revitalize state Democratic parties and force major fissures between libertarian and religious Republicans. This will face obstacles, but your Party definitely needs to create some space between itself and the extremist remnants of the feminist movement, and it will marginalize the latter while giving middle class women a real stake in the electoral process.
Davebo: “It’s called political reality dude. Stick your head in the sand if you choose, but GOP strategists do call those christian conservatives wackos, they do laugh at their gullibility, and they do count on them every first week of November.”
I think you’re basically correct about the relation between the religious right and the GOP elite. And I think Armed Liberal’s point in this thread is that he’s frustrated that the Democrats won’t privately call the Kossaks wackos, laugh at their gullability and count on them every first weekend of November.
Prediction: the “netroots” strategy won’t help the Dems out much more than making Pat Robertson their spokesmodel would help the Reps.
Super-ninjas has been a problem for the Dems for a while. Even leaving aside the current netroots blank in any proposal they give for fighting terrorism that can only be filled with such, there’s also the previous administration.
Coll’s ‘Ghost Wars’ recounts a meeting with Clinton and a military advisor. Clinton was dismayed that we couldn’t simply insert a small group of Special Forces into Afghanistan, snatch or kill Bin Laden, and get out. The advisor is left dismayed when he has to explain the basics of intelligence, logistics and manpower to Clinton.
The super-ninjas has been a problem for many on the left (and some on the right) for a long time. Quick, effective, bloodless victory without breaking any rules or playing dirty. I’m not sure even super-ninjas can do that.