One of the "values" Republicans love to talk about is accountability. We need standards for education. President Clinton is not above the rule of law (on Monicagate). blah blah blah.
Accountability of the government to its people is actually one of the core values of the left and has been hijacked and distorted by the right. All of us here at dkos want to hold the Bush administration accountable for its lies and manipulation of public in going into Iraq. We all want accountability for corporate welfare and tax shelters given to companies that move offshores. We all want Republicans held accountable for gutting the Clean Air Act and destroying healthy forests.
I thought about this subject today in light of a fundraising letter I received from Democracy for America. In the letter, Howard Dean wrote of the successes DFA has had in the past election, winning 1/3 of the races it promoted and performing remarkly in dozens of others. More importantly, however, I was struck by a simple pie chart that broke down what percentage of funds went where: staff costs, communications, contributions to candidates, etc. On the reverse of that page, there was a map of the United States with dots for all the candidates DFA supported. This organization went out of their way to explain and make clear their results and what they felt was working right. That is accountability.
I have never received such a letter or even an email from John Kerry, any other Democrat, or the DNC. In fact, I went to the party website to try to find the breakdown of expenses and could not find anything. Then I started thinking: do we as rank-and-file Democrats really do anything to hold our leaders accountable?
Since the election, many of us have found of a number of areas where our leadership is failing us. When consultants arrange larger than optimal media buys to fatten their own wallet, that's not accountability. When Iowa and New Hampshire Democrats fight to keep their state first to preserve parochial interests over the interests of electing a President, that's not accountability. When the same losing consultants manage campaign after campaign, that's not accountability. When the Democratic heads of Congress support a candidate for chairman who actively participates in the right-wing movement, that's not accountability.
We need an open and honest dialogue with our leadership both in our party and in our country. It is time to end the blatant state of corruption that permeates our society. We must demand results, not empty promises. It is time to hold our leaders accountable.