Recently a
diarist declared she was leaving the Dems and becoming an independent. She gave as reasons all the shameful pandering the Democratic politicians have done and their complicity in all the horrible crimes going forward in our names. Her indictment was powerful, impassioned and essentially unanswerable: many Democratic politicians have sold us out, most recently with the pass some Dems gave Michael Hayden. I respect the diarist's position, but, while I feel exactly the same way she did about those votes, and the votes for the war in Iraq, I managed to come to the exact opposite conclusion about what to do about it. Find out below how I became a Democrat because of these same horrible votes.
I come from a Democratic family on my mother's side. My grandfather, a lineman, was on a negotiation team for the IBEW back in the 50's. He was an admirer of Roosevelt and especially Truman (we're from Missouri). My mother was a lobbyist for Planned Parenthood for a decade. I was all set to be a good Dem, joined the Young Democrats in college.
But a funny thing happened: the Democratic politicians forgot to KISS MY ASS. Somehow they failed to recognize that I was a huge genius and they should call me up on the phone to ask what they should talk about the next time they were on the floor. I was an impassioned environmentalist, and I didn't hear the Democrats speaking out on this issue, back in 1984. Some of them probably were, but I didn't read a lot of newspapers back then.
I worked on the Mondale campaign, but if you asked me to tell you one thing Mondale was really excited about, I couldn't tell you. Fritz didn't consult me, either.
So the Dems weren't speaking to my environmental concerns, and I decided to go elsewhere. I worked a little in the Green Party in Hawai'i. The Democratic machine controlled everything there and it seemed to make sense to give them something to worry about with our little third party. While we were there the Gulf War got going and the Dems seemed supine, unready, and startled by the speed of events. But newly-elected Neil Abercrombie came back from Washington and told us that Bush had no intention of removing Saddam and that all the empty rhetoric about that Saddam was just that: empty. The Powell doctrine was firmly in place in those days. During Neil's speech I started to feel a little queasy. Here was a guy that seemed to reflect so many of my values, and he's a Democrat. But I was feeling pretty comfortable with the Greens. It was a small group, and the echo was perfect. All six of them listened to me, usually.
When we moved to Maine, I explored the Green Party here. Guess what? The Green Party is no different from other parties, in terms of ego trips, power plays, enforcement and groupthink. Gonna have to put up with it
wherever you go.
So I shied away from that and basically went off to my farm to raise vegetables and fulfill the Jeffersonian dream of the small freeholder.
Voted for ol' Ralph in 96, wanted to send Bill a message. I had been outraged by Clinton's 1993 bombing of Baghdad. I sent him a mean letter and said I was done with him, so there, and spfft on the Democrats.
But 2000 came along, and things had changed. Gore had written a book I admired, and I was hoping the real Al was still in there somewhere. But I was truly disgusted with the hapless campaign, and I had the feeling that Al just didn't care about the talking points his high-priced beltway consultants were handing him. I voted for him, but that was it. Gore was predicted to win handily in Maine (which he did), and I figured that was enough.
Now we've had five years of this criminal enterprise, and I am asking myself a few hard questions. Such as: why, really, did I fool around with the Green Party for so long, and why did I not work on Gore's campaign? After all, he was the first true environmental presidential candidate since Teddy Roosevelt.
I wanted to hear my issues discussed. I realize now that the way to accomplish that is to start talking about them myself, not just wait for pols to catch on through telepathy. I was always asking myself questions like: why doesn't the Democratic Party care about my passion for the environment? Why don't they address these issues I care so much about? Over twenty wasted years
waiting for Democrats to address my issues. Did I advocate for my positions? Nope. The Green Party was easy pizza, since we didn't have to convince each other of anything. Belonging to a major party means having to continually slug it out with an incredibly diverse range of opinion. That's heavy lifting, and I'm too busy being pure over here in my corner with my six friends.
I didn't want to get my hands dirty. I didn't want to compromise. Hold oneself pure. It's a neat trick that makes you feel good and allows limitless navel gazing to the grave. No work need be done. The only trouble is, you have to give up the idea that you are going to make a difference, because this ain't Italy, baby, we got a two-party system, and I sure as Hell ain't a Republican, which leaves the donkey as the only remaining choice.
I'm not as young as I used to be, and nobody has a contract with God. The world is going to Hell faster than usual, and when I'm lying there on my deathbed apoxic and having near-death experiences, some Ghost of Elections Past will drift up and point its long bony finger at me and say "You just pretended to give a shit. If you had worked to become the change you want in the Democratic Party, Jenna Bush wouldn't be President today. Now die!" Aargh!
So when confronted by the crimes and misdemeanors of the current crop of Democratic politicians, I say, fine, we replace them. They are just our mouthpieces. This shouldn't be the old fight about the choice of working within the system or outside of it. It's about making a new system inside the shell of the old.
So, what do I do now? I need major horsepower (donkeypower?) to advance my goals. So I'm going with the Democratic Party, which I now realize (belatedly) includes myself. Here's my plan:
1. I realize that Democratic politicians are not the party. I am the party, along with all the other people out in the reality-based world. Politicians, on the other hand, are a special breed. They know how to get elected. They need a lot of guidance on anything else. That's my job.
2. Since I am the party, I can make it what I want it to be. But that isn't easy. I have to do it one caucus, one race, one politician at a time. I have to work along other people who may have some opinions that are unlike mine in some important respects. So much easier to be cynical and throw up my arms and run away. But after twenty years of that, I can tell you that in the long run it's easier to just get to work. I wish I had years ago.
3. Insisting on purity is a luxury I can't afford. I can hold accountable, work to replace bad politicians with good ones, but even good politicians have minds of their own and my wise, all-knowing advice isn't always there to guide them. There will be boners (flag amendment) howlers (tax cuts for the rich) and tragedies (voting for war in Iraq). Until a pol crosses a line that I just can't follow, I hang in there with him or her. If he does cross the line, I find a new candidate and support that candidate in the primary. The worse they are, the harder I work to replace them with more prinicpled pols. Bad Democratic politicians are a reason to get more involved with the party, not less. Progressives can have a giant political party and we can get results. Big results. And that's what counts.