I think we'd all pretty much agree that Democratic control of Congress has been less than satisfactory. The very real concern we all seem to have is how best to tackle the problem. Most solutions presented resort to the "fire under their ass" model. This could work but I prefer a more focused goal. My solution is to get rid of their traitorous butts by primarying them out but do it with precision.
For starters, we need to remember the 2 VERY REAL built-in factors in our favor. 1) 41 sure votes in the Senate keeps us in the game, and 2) should we lack those 41 votes, a Dem president keeps us safe from Republican maneuvering. Given these factors, we can begin to solidify around possible solutions.
My solution would be to identify here on DKos, and in concert with other Democratic blogs and institutions, the 41 Senators best suited to our goals. We work to chuck the rest without regard to losing control of the Senate. Read on and I'll explain my reasoning.
Here is my reasoning:
It is better that we let Republicans have the credit for further civil rights abominations like those that have now been brought about through Democratic control. Let the people identify these deeds with Republicans and vote Republicans out again in 2010. We then have the opportunity via no Dem incumbent to have much more say on who the Dem nominee would be for a given race in 2010. It will be easier to elect a progressive Dem than to change these sorry excuses that have been masquerading as Dems.
Obviously, we'd need to identify 218 Dems in the House to support and chuck the rest of them also. We might get by with chucking more Dems in the house as we can expect some retirements in 2008 as well. In any event, through retirements and new members, I think it's important to keep control of the House as the money flow starts there and money talks in Washington. Big Time.
Finally, it is imperative that we elect a Democratic president in 2008. It is my opinion that for this specific election only, Congress is secondary to the presidential election. My suggestion here is that we come up with a consensus candidate that can both 1) represent our views consistently and 2) get elected. I, of course, understand that this would be a tall order. We all have our opinion on who would best represent us and whou can be elected. What we have to remember is that any of our Democratic candidates would be preferable to the best the Republicans have to offer. We might just have to bite a bullet.
I admit this would likely involve me giving up my support for my favorite candidate. I could do this if it assured the country of adequate controls on the types of disastrous legislation we've seen occur in the last 6 months.
I'm curious to know what folks think about this and any ideas on how it might best be improved upon and then implemented. Any thoughts on which 10 in the Senate should go would be appreciated (51-10 equaling the necessary 41). I'd do a poll but being my first attempt at a diary I'd just like to get this to post correctly before I try adding polls. Everyone bear with me and I'll learn how to do this better.