When we as American citizens are called upon to work for and support not only our chosen Party, but the candidate that our Party has selected for the General Election, then that is what we must do, to do other wise is to commit a serious wrong. The Constitution grants us certain rights and common sense requires that we should exercise those rights.
As our forefathers before us and the succeeding generations since have accepted the truth that all men/women are created equal; that by the very citizenship granted by this the Government of the United States of America, they must participate in the political system that these same forefathers had designed, to fail to do so will allow a government that will gather onto itself powers other than those granted by the governed.
Whenever the citizens suffer from a form of government, it is their right to request, no to insist, on a new government that will follow the principles long established to protect the safety and happiness of those same citizens.
Each of us would put country before party, because it is our obligation to preserve our fundamental freedoms for our children and grandchildren. We should each one face our arrogant politicians, especially those who have placed their own self interests for power and wealth before the interests of we the people who elected them, and we should remove them from office.
Repeatedly we have seen the electorate abused by the officials they have elected, and invariably we have seen those same officials turned out of office and new blood brought into the Political System. But it has always been done by civil means (the civil war was the exception), and one would hope that we continue in that grain.
The emergence of increasingly virulent and hostile ideologies in the Democratic Party’s national politics, is leading us down the path to a collapse of the two party system and the rise of increasingly more dictatorial powers being attributed to the Executive Branch of our Government. It happened in the Election of 1860 when the Breckenridge faction broke from the Democratic Party (Stephen Douglas), and allowed the Republicans to gain control of the Government this subsequently leading to the Civil War, Although the two Democratic factions polled 600,000 votes more than the Republicans, they lost the election because of the division between them. Bell didn’t help matters either with his Constitutional Union Party. We can ill afford to see that happen once again, nor for that matter can we afford another President who claims he has powers that are not granted by the Constitution. Abraham Lincoln took upon himself powers not so granted, to keep this nation from being divided, and George W. Bush is no Abraham Lincoln.
Common sense tells us that we can’t change our government on the mere whim of a few disgruntled voters whose candidate lost an election. We can understand those who are discouraged wanting to form a third party, but at what expense? Even Presidents such as Teddy Roosevelt attempted such, all to no avail. Multi-millionaires have attempted it also to only see it fail.
This Political System in America is based on a two party system, and it will continue to be a two party system. We have neither the patience, nor the time to allow rhetoric by the disgruntled minority to distract us from the common good.
Facts change and sometimes political needs do as well. This is reality, and no one should be more aware of it than a candidate for our highest office. Politics is first and foremost compromise, whether in a campaign or in Washington, if the leader of a political party is too stubborn to accept and adapt those changes then he/she has no business being the leader.
Some have said that the Caucuses are a violation of the one person, one vote principle; they claim that the caucuses caused unfair results during the Democratic primaries of 2008. They fail to realize that caucuses only contributed 3% of the vote in the 13 states where caucuses were held, while the other 37 states contributed 97% of the vote. Those who are now decrying the caucuses are the same ones who knew as they did in 1992 and 1996 that they are part of the nomination process, why then didn’t they prepare for them?
It is absolutely necessary that Democrats come together in Denver and cement the party or we will end up facing four more years of corruption and abusive power by the Republican Party. In every primary contest over the last two centuries there have been core supporters of the losers who have voiced complaints, but in the end they must and for the most part do come together to combat the evils that befall our country.
There is no doubt in any of our minds that the Republicans are corrupt, they look out for the moneyed interests, that is what they have built their party on, and set as their principles. We Democrats are more grounded with principles in line with the common people, and it is only with the consent of the common people that any administration is allowed to govern. By virtue of numbers if nothing else.
In the most recent General Election, we (and I am one of them) who supported Howard Dean, talked of third party and protest votes, but in the end we (and I am included) voted for Kerry. Or for that matter remember 2000 and the totally flawed systems that allowed the corrupt administration we now have to take office over the more popular Al Gore?
The fact that this was a historic primary, the first black and first woman to run on a major party ticket for the White House, one can begin to understand the frustration we felt in 2000 and 2004 multiplied many times over.
Voters rarely carry resentments from the primaries into the voting booths in November. Of course that doesn’t stop them from raving about "what could have been" in the meantime. Will this GE be an exception? I don’t think so. The ardent Hillary Clinton supporters are for the most part women over the age of 30, and these are usually hard-core Democrats. They will wake up one day very shortly and realize that the alternative to Obama is McCain and four more years of Bush policies. Nor are these ladies about to stay home and not vote in November. To many years of Republican tyranny and corruption insures us of that.
I personally believe that this grumbling by the disgruntled is healthy for the party, voter turnout has jumped greatly and political activism has seen a rebirth that was long over due. Party loyalty will be the tie that ultimately binds us on November 4.
Barack Obama is an ideal leader, he is one who has an open mind as well as strong principles. And as an 81 year old lady (from Illinois) a WeDems member recently said, "he is easy on the eyes and the ears and me a life long Republican."
We Democrats must stand together in unity.... We must march into Denver with our heads held high, and march out again as an army united against corruption, against abusive power, against the Republicans who have unleashed untold evils in our lands.
Ron McBride
Founder & CEO WeDemocrats.org and WE! MagazineWE! our weekly online magazine