I'm so angry I can barely stand it.
The Democrats seem bent on making it impossible for me to support them. And I have worked so hard to continue to support them that their continual pigheaded refusal to meet me halfway--or hell, even a quarter of the way--infuriates me.
More anger below the fold...
The personal lines I have crossed in order to support a candidate like Bob Casey, for instance, are numerous. And "choice" doesn't even begin to cover it. Unless by "choice" you mean our ability to choose a President rather than a king. Casey supports Alito who supports the concept of a unitary executive. And Casey is the DLC's poster boy. Great. And one of my leaders--one of my few actual leaders in the party, Teresa Kerry--is pouring her money into this SOB's pockets. Well, it's her money, and her right to do whatever she wants with it--but my money's not going anywhere near that bastard. And speaking of the Alito thing, my ability to form alliances with the right wing of the party has been severely impaired since January. I'm having a hard time trusting them. Go figure.
But that alone wouldn't endanger my ability to support the Democratic party. I'm fairly used to the conservative end of the party royally pissing me off, though I'll admit they've never outright abandoned the notion of a constitutional republic before. Nonetheless, the reason for my anger goes far beyond the DLC's pigheaded dedication to kissing the collective ass of conservatives everywhere. No. What really inspires me is when Barbara Mikulski, fairly liberal Senator from blue Maryland, whinges on about how "we can't take any option off the table" when dealing with Iran. I get inspired indeed when she insists that Iran is a Really Dangerous Country (oh, you think?) and so we can't say for sure that we're not going to invade them. I mean, they might have Weapons of Mass Destruction.
This rationale sounds somehow familiar to me, as if it were the lyrics to a bad 70's top 40 hit from my childhood. One of those songs that got played over and over and over again until you thought it would never go away. Like "You Light Up My Life."
Aside from the fact that the original Boy Who Cried Wolf currently inhabits the Oval Office, and aside from the fact that our last trek out to the pasture to kill off the Really Dangerous Wolves left the field with far more wolves in it than when we got there--why is it that Congress apparently doesn't care that we are in no way ready to engage in another war?
Earth to Democratic legislators: our military is already stretched unbearably thin. Houston also wants you to know that we're sinking billions of dollars a day into the quagmire formerly known as Iraq, and it might not be such a good idea to do the same thing in Iran. Mr. Gallup would like you to know that the American people are sick to death of chasing around the Middle East wasting the lives of their sons and daughters because George Bush said the boogeyman would get us if we didn't. And our most faithful allies in the last wolf-slaughtering expedition, Britain, would like you to know that you're off your nut.
Am I supposed to be grateful for the fact that you, the politicians to whom I've entrusted thousands of my dollars and hundreds of hours of unpaid labor, aren't yelling "Nuke `em! NUKE `EM!" and foaming at the mouth like your neoconservative colleagues? Is that the difference between you and the Republicans? Because I've been defending you for years from the accusation that there is no difference between the parties. Was I wrong to do so?
Who are you listening to? Just tell me that. Because I have a sneaking suspicion--hey, just call me a cynic--that your position on Iran has less to do with the immanent danger of its nuclear program to the United States than it has to do with the immanent danger of the words "weak on security" to your 2006 campaigns.
If that is true--let's just assume, as a hypothesis, that it is--may I sincerely request that you open your goddamned eyes, please, and look around you. You like polls--look at them. Does it seem to you like the American people would like another Middle East war with their freedom fries? Does it seem to you like the American people are giving a big double-thumbs-up to George Bush and his stellar foreign policy? Or to Bill Frist, or Tom DeLay? Who is interpreting the poll data for you? Who is keeping you frightened? Who are you listening to?
I know it's not me, nor any liberal, nor damned few who could call themselves part of "the base." You decided long ago that your own base was the political version of Typhoid Mary, the bearer of white-hot political death. That's such a weird way to approach your own base that it's no wonder the party is, as the pundits say "in disarray." I've gotten used to your "pragmatic" approach, and your aesthetically interesting choice of the word "centrism" to mean "chasing to the right to protect our careers," or, more honestly, "hiding how geeky we are so we can fit in with the popular kids." That is, quite honestly, what your behaviour looks like--closeting.
Don't you even care that the price of your popularity might be the destruction of our economy? Or that the price might be stretching our forces so thin that we can't adequately protect the "homeland?" Or that the price might be a completely destabilized Middle East, with all the political and economic problems that will create globally? Or that the price will be the lives of at least hundreds, and probably thousands, of American troops, to say nothing of the lives of thousands of Iranians who never did a goddamned thing other than get born in the wrong place at the wrong time?
Who are you listening to?
Even if all you care about is your careers, why do you think that supporting George Bush's next war is going to improve your chances? How low do his ratings have to fall before you get it? The American people don't like him, don't like his Cabinet, don't like his allies in Congress, don't like his foreign policies, hate his domestic policies, and wish to God they'd never heard of him. Is that good enough for you, or do we have to burn him in effigy on the steps of every state capitol building before you get it?
They say every campaign is run on change or continuity. As the minority party with no control of any branch of government, you must run on change. You have no choice.
How lucky you are! The American people desperately want change.
Unfortunately, you don't.
Who are you listening to?