To the DSCC, the DCCC, fellow Senators & Representatives and Leaders of the Democratic Party:
Based on media reports, you may feel that things seem awfully good for Democrats going into 2006. The Republican Congressional & Executive Juggernaut is being (some would say irreparably) damaged by the onslaught of scandals. Two major hurricanes have exposed the damage done by their policies and incompetance. The Modern Conservative Movement, one could say, is in its downward spiral with no hope of recovering, albeit, for the short term. You may think that it is now inevitable that the Democrats will return to power.
If so, you would be wrong.
Americans are sick and tired of business as usual in government, and I would wager that unless your cause shows real, true leadership, the people will not join in and help out. In other words, if current trends, talking points and agendas continue on as is, 2006 will be just like 2004 for Democrats - another depressing missed opportunity, possibly the last one for this country, much less the Democratic Party.
There is now great concern among the grassroots, who like it or not will make or break your chances at achieving a majority in either house of Congress in 2006, that you will choose to ignore the Iraq War in this upcoming mid-term election. Such folly will not go unpunished.
You may outline universal college education, a sane energy policy, universal health-care, an emphasis on science, and bringing down the deficit as your main focuses for the party. And that's great. However, to do all these things, aside from eliminating the tax cuts, how do you expect to pay for all this - all the while we have a war in Iraq that is costing Americans $4 billion a month and members of BOTH parties are participating in pork barrel legislation?!
Polls across the board are demanding an exit strategy for our troops in Iraq. President Bush refuses to outline such a strategy, and the American public have thus turned against him and his war. No one on either side of the aisle, except an occasional proclamation from someone like Russ Feingold, is proposing any type of exit strategy. In other words, our men and women continue to die in a war that seems to have no end, and our families continue to suffer with the losses of said men and women, not to mention an overall lowering of our living standards to help pay for the cost of this continuing folly, all the while we have no real leadership to help guide us out of this mess we are in.
What makes you think that by ignoring this salient issue that we will naturally gravitate to you? Passive behavior does not strong leaders make, and strong leadership is needed now more than ever in this country. Like it or not, life is about to get very tough for many Americans, so much so that they may not have the time to parse between your policies and that of Republicans. They will be too focused on finding that next meal or that paycheck that will pay their electric bill than on wondering whether you will propose universal college education.
What will universal college education do to help put immediate food and water on the table?
What will universal college education do for a young soldier in Iraq who may not ever return to his country and take part in said opportunity?
What will universal college education do to mend the suffering of our families who lose loved ones in Iraq, and those who have been maimed by this catstrophic war?
What would an American with a dead brain thanks to a car bomb in Iraq be able to do with universal college education?
But, while the choices that will come may be hard for us to swallow, if we see that you are in touch with the American People and what they are wanting their leaders to do, then for better or worse, we will follow you. If you don't offer that vision, we will continue to rot with the leadership we have - better to go with the devil we know than the devil we don't.
You may be perplexed that we would continue to vote against our own interests. You may even look at us in scorn for preventing you this opportunity to help make right what went wrong, the same way we looked in scorn at those who voted for Bush in the 2004 election. In return, we will look at YOU in scorn because you were too much of a coward to stand up for what not only your party believes in, but what the American People believe in and want, and they want out of Iraq. OUT! What makes you think that things will change if you just let the winds blow as they may? What makes you think that we will go for a new captain if all that captain will do, on the most important issue on the minds of Americans, is more or less stay the course?
Mark my words - Americans will not muster the energy and determination to go to the polls for you if they do not see genuine leadership from you on issues that need to be addressed. The grassroots will not mobilize their constituents and fellow Americans to vote for you if you don't offer them a clear, alternative vision. Ignore the Iraq War at your own political peril, and that of this country.
You have been forewarned.