This is a rant. A rant about party unity, about the failure of Democrats to live up to and stand for their principles, and a wake up call from a Democratic party loyalist. The petty self-interest of Democratic politicans is rapidly destroying the good will and hope of the people who fought hard to bring them to power. When the needs of one Senator become more important than the needs of all average Americans, the Democratic party, and the country, is in trouble.
For me, Democrats need to give up their petty manuevering and get back on the high horse, where principles in defense of the common man are more important than the petty reelection chances of a red state senator, or the chairmanship of a turncoat who holds the (unfulfilled) promise of being a 60th vote.
I'm just one Democrat, but an active one, and one who is angry, disgusted, and concerned for the future. Benjamin Franklin said "we must all hang together or we will hang alone." Never has this been more true than for the Democratic party.
The critical moment is now. Democrats in power MUST remember they stand for something MORE than just themselves!
During the years of the Bush Administration, when the GOP controlled both houses of Congress and the Presidency, there was one outstanding characteristic shown again and again by the Republicans: unity of purpose. In six years of complete control, the Republicans ran roughshod over everyone that disagreed with them. Democrats were prevented from attending conference committees; Democrats were told straight up they would have no input to bills, and what input they submitted would not be considered; upright and well-respected Democrats like Max Cleland were attacked, ostracized, and lied about in the most despicable fashion. Through it all, the Democrats kept saying things would be different when they took power. But now, they have power, and what we are seeing in Washington is little short of disgraceful.
The one thing the Republicans had - and have continued to demonstrate openly since Barack Obama's inaguaration - is an implaccable opposition to anything Democratic. To them, Democrats are not opponents, but enemies. They have no interest in working across the aisle for the good of the country; they have no interest in benefiting the country at all. Their interests are just two, and they make these interests very, very clear in everything they do: regain power, and give massive tax cuts to the wealthy. Everything else with them is secondary.
What appalls me about the current Democrats is that they don't see this. They think in some pollyanna fashion that indulging the Republicans - and Republican Lite supporters like Joe Lieberman - will result in anything good for the Democratic Party or the American people. Foolishly and weakly, Democrats squabble among themselves, acting like selfish beauracrats who care more about their own individual benefits than they care about a larger purpose. If there is one characteristic that defines the modern Democratic party, it is whimpiness.
I sit on the Board of a Democratic organization in the San Francisco Bay Area and have worked hard - and given significant amounts of my own money - to get Democrats elected during the worst of the Bush years. I worked on the Kerry campaign in 2004, pushed hard to support Democrats for the House and Senate in 2006, and gave my all for the Obama campaign in 2008. When Obama won and the world went crazy with joy, it brought tears to my eyes. After eight years of lies, war, arrogance, and abuse, a New Day couldn't come too soon for me, or for the world.
Yet, I always knew that once in power, there would be no cooperation from the Republicans for any initiative, any proposal, that would come from Democratic control of government. After watching their strong arm ways for eight years and listening to the hatred thrown like confetti on Conservative radio, I knew there would be nothing but opposition, hatred, and lies once the GOP found itself on the other side of the aisle. Rush Limbaugh said it, and it has only proved too true for the GOP from top to bottom: their one and only wish is for Barack Obama - and by extension, all Democrats, to FAIL.
One would think that knowing this would empower Democrats to understand what they have to do to bulldoze ahead and blow through this wall of opposition from the other side of the aisle, and that is to work together as a team to get the job done. Instead, Democrats have performed worse than anyone could have anticipated. Democrats have been anything but the antidote to the Bush years that the world wept with joy for when Obama flattened John McCain, and when Democratic majorities took control of both houses. In the 2008 campaign, the promises were big. But now, the joy has turned to embarassment. The Blue Dogs put themselves first; Joe Lieberman was indulged to the point of obsequiesness to (supposedly) ensure the magical 60th vote in the Senate; the rights of Insurance Companies and Big Banks took precedence over the need for progress for the little guy. National Security promises, like an end to wiretapping of American citizens, suddenly got weakened; abuses of Habeaus Corpus and the Geneva Conventions so long abused under Bush suddenly looked to convenient to let go of; the Justice Department that was supposed to restore respect for the Rule of Law ends up in court defending John Yoo, one of the worst of the Bush "if we do it, it's not illegal" lackeys.
The tone was set the day Joe Lieberman was allowed to keep his committee chairmanships, with a little pat on the head and a big "no problem, Joe!" even though Lieberman actively crossed the aisle to campaign AGAINST the very people patting him on the head. Since then, it's been nothing but downhill. Obama cuts a deal with the Pharmecutical Industry, which kills any real chance to lower drug prices. Foreclosure relief - an absolute crisis - gets mismanaged and proves ineffective because the banks aren't pressed hard enough, even after receiving billions. Obama gives billions to incompetent corporations in dire need, but asks for little in the way of strict requirements, and the banks say "thank you!" and use the money to give even bigger bonuses than before the crash.
At every step, the Democrats have been nothing but a let down, all because they, too, are more interested in reelection and collecting campaign money than they are in solving real problems. When the Republicans came straight out and said "we want you to fail," every Democrat should have taken that gauntlet and done everything to shun, disgrace, hammer, and shame them for the self-serving blowhards that they are. Instead, the Democrats said, "oh, that's ok, we can still get along" and with barely a whimper, gave up on the fighting spirit the American people badly needed to see.
Today, the Democratic party is a joke. And, they brought it all upon themselves. For a long-time progressive like me, and a very staunch Democrat in my family going back to FDR, the current Democratic party is worse than a disgrace. There are many, many good people in it, but the leadership - starting with Barack Obama himself - don't understand how they are viewed. When average Americans desperately need to look up to a party that stands for their interests, and who can explain clearly what the stakes are - and then back those words up with action - mostly what we get is petty manuevering and an embarassingly weak display of unity.
When a couple of Blue Dogs and Joe Lieberman can derail the fundamental promises of the recent election, and when opponents who clearly make no bones about wanting to see you fail get treated like they're some kind of good buddy who's just having a little bit of a cranky day, then the meta-message that comes across is that the Democrats are simply too weak to govern.
All the polls back up this conclusion. Democrats are looking at a horrendous thrashing in 2010. But why? Because Democrats don't stand for anything strongly enough to really, genuinely fight. Democrats don't seem to realize that you win the hearts and minds of Independents and wavering Conservatives by showing you stand for something and you're going to get it come hell or high water. The slightest bit of opposition, and Democrats give up. They say, "oh, we can't get this provision because Joe doesn't like it" and they just cave. No wonder even loyal Demorats like me are pissed off, disgusted, and heart sick.... the weakeness of Democrats means only one thing down the road, and that's simply too hard to have to face: return of the Bush years, but this time even worse.
For me, the thought of a Tea Bag President, a Tea Bag House of Representatives, and a Tea Bag Senate, is simply too sickening to want to consider. But, like jackals waiting to move in the GOP is ready to capitalize on Democratic weakness. Aided by sell-outs like Joe Lieberman, Democrats are on the verge of handing back the keys to government after only two years.
They say the devil is in the details, but for Democrats in the House and Senate, the details ARE the devil. Democrats forget that inspiration comes from principles: standing FOR principles and legislating FOR principles. The cost of health care breaking the American family? The principle is that health care should be more affordable. Period. Demonstrably and immediately more affordable. Fight for this principle, speak to this principle, demonstrate this principle, and the American people - including Independents and wavering Conservatives - will swing your way when the smoke clears and the battle is won.
But Democrats, for some reason, never seem to be able to grasp this fundamental point. They twist themselves into knots over cost details and leave principles off the table. The result? A vacuum, filled by rancor from the other side and confusion among those who stand watching, hoping, for something clear to emerge. The vacuum is filled by pundits, by lies, and by alarming shows of petty self-interest.
What gets lost is principles. The American people are left to conclude that the Democrats have no principles. They also clearly have no unity. So what, the average American asks him and herself, qualifies them to govern?
This, right here, is the nub of what Democrats are looking at in 2010. Brought on themselve by themselves. By ignoring their principles by not pulling together for those principles.
Alas, the true tragedy here is that in a two-party system, the pendulum has only one way to swing and that's back to the GOP. Handing them control again will NOT give the American people anything that will help them, not in any way, because the GOP have nothing in their bag of policies that benefit anyone but the richest of the rich. They have no concern for the deficit, for the environment, for the health of the people, nothing. But what they do have is the appearnace of standing on principle, and unity behind those principles, even though they fundamentally do not serve the interests of the average person.
Faced with a party that has no principles and no unity, and because of which, can get nothing of genuine substance done, the only way for the pendulum to swing is back to the Right. I don't want this, the American people in general don't want this, and the world certainly doesn't want this, either. But, unless Democrats get a grip, this is the results they will produce.
I'm a Democrat and a Progressive. I don't want a third party, and I don't want a return to GOP rule. I want my party to grow up, get some backbone, focus on the foundation principles of who we are, and fight. Not each other, but the inertia of the system that puts coddling Joe Lieberman at a premium and the needs of the people in the back seat. That puts reelecting Ben Nelson more important than the reproductive lives of millions of women. That puts defending John Yoo and the tiny principle of allowiing advisors to speak freely over the major principle of protecting the American people from a government run amok, who can simply take away your rights, torture you, and stash you away forever unchallenged, simply because it wants to.
For Democrats in 2010, they have to get a grip and remember today, right now, that they were elected to STAND FOR PRINCIPLES. When manuevering, convenience and details become more important than principles, the ground beneath has already started to give way. The Democrats today are on shaky ground because they created that shaky ground. If even the most loyal among us - like me - are pissed off, disgusted, and alienated, they are not succeeding in their assigned task.
In 1776, in the most challenging time of our history, Benjamin Franklin said to the first Continental Congress, "gentleman, we must hang together or we will all hang separately." Those words are just as true today as they were then. Democrats MUST hang together for the principle of benefitting the average American, or they will most surely hang separately in 2010.