[Cross-posted at The Left Coaster.]
After reading the 20th story about how the just-ended Campaign for America’s Future conference turned into a total slugfest that mercilessly beat the shit out of our august White House and Party leadership it occurred to me yet again how idyllic life must be as a Republican Party base member.
Since 1992 it has been granite Republican conventional wisdom never, ever to ignore the base. No political whim or tactic demanded by the base is ever ignored, a television network exists to confirm every fantasy one would ever want to indulge in solely for them, the laughably "liberal" other networks always putting on those twisted alleged liberals in funny bow ties. Of course they’ve completely stomped on the throttle to take themselves over epic cultural and political cliffs, but they obviously enjoy it, at least, continually feted and bowed before on their mission of total political oblivion.
Oy, the story is so different on the other side. The New Democrat leadership that performed the miracle of winning the Presidency (not even an open election, after a war had just been won!) openly disdained and triangulated the Democratic base, cementing the model instantly grasped by the new Change President, who hired Clinton’s chief of staff as his own.
Sssssssssssss, just the hint of the dreaded name evokes furious hissing from pockets of blogtopia. Success!
Here in 2010 after not even 2 years of the Clinton treatment the environmentalists are obviously very unhappy, civil libertarians like Ellsburg and Glenzilla are professionally livid, civic fiduciary managers are beyond appalled, feminists still rightly furious for being so callously pawned in a sick Stupak game, peace activists are eons beyond dismayed, health care fighters like Slinkerwink and nyceve disgusted, the unions fighting back with a hurt roar after some asshole in the White House (sssssssssssssssssssss) just pissed on their noble efforts to primary Blanche Lincoln, one of numerous Senate Blue Dogs who humiliate and degrade the Democratic Party base to an extreme degree on a daily basis.
Golly gee, as the titan blogger Digby so pithily observed in an instant classic blogtopia title, where did all the love go?
The Democratic base has no other place to go and we will never internalize that horseshit rationalization we didn’t go anywhere, the Party left us. We are an element of this party too, we’ll be here long after the triangulators are gone. We’re not chumps, we just don’t give up on our duty.
Love gone produces an "intensity gap" among the base Party members that are tracked with polls, so many House and Senate seats may be lost because of it, speculation abounds for 2012 results, yadda yadda yadda. What concerns me more this morning goes far beyond political tangible elements, the White House is obviously pleased at current results and they won’t come close to losing in 2012.
But the Executive Branch has indeed stomped and killed the love held for them among the Democratic base. Duty and love of country will not come remotely close to producing threats or retribution for it, the restraints of American politics box the Democratic base in to behave always beholden to leadership, but when one has rejected and killed love freely offered one is way, way off any path to success and peace in our world.
True love dies all the time, many times every day, where that absurd statement or notion came from, well, it certainly wasn’t and isn’t based upon empirical fact.
Love is a very powerful life element, yes, and life has an extremely good record of brutally enforcing retribution for those who treat them so lightly. I have no idea what will happen, of course not, but I can see the Democratic Party falling apart after 2 or 3 election cycles of this abuse, in no way can it work long-term, only to have the Republican Party over-run the country again in some berserk shock-doctrine epoch that smashes the country down forever because we couldn’t oppose. After what George Bush did the last time they were in power, who doubts it?
Thankfully we are not anywhere near close to that nightmare—yet. As stated before, just the potential for it to exist is an unforgivable breach of political duty.
As for those in the White House who have so callously thrown asunder the love so freely given to them by such fine folks, well, I pity you. Winning elections is only a small part of political success, you know not what you do, and I pray for all our sakes somehow, in some way, you escape the inevitable terrible retribution for it in whatever form it eventually takes.