Okay. So I was doing a bit of thinking while I was stuck in Beltway traffic this afternoon, and I just figured I'd throw this out there.
Assume the worst case scenario: Bush is in the White House, another Bush is primed to go for 2008, Status Quo Man is has the DNC Chair, and halfway through the primary season Kerry has enough votes to be confirmed as the Democratic candidate.
I've come up with an A, a B, and a C.
Do we:
A. Work our asses off to support Kerry, hoping that even though he couldn't beat an incumbent President most of the world hated who had an approval rating in the high-forties-low-fifties, he could pull it off this time around? Despite the money and effort that would take, successful or not.
B. Work our asses off for a grassroots-groundswell campaign that might lead to someone else being confirmed as the nominee, assuming there was anyone else worthy of the confirmation, despite the money and effort that would take, successful or not.
C. Work our asses off to start another party, say the Progressive Party, and work from the ground up to get candidates into Congress so that we've got a minority who will actually have to be listened to, despite the money, effort, and time that would take, successful or not.
It really disturbs me that option C seems to be the one with the most chance of eventual success, at least in terms of our having a voice. It seems that even if we managed to pull off A or B, the actual difference we would make would be marginal at best.
Here's how I see it.
A. We give Kerry a second shot and work as hard as we can to get him elected. I see no difference here between Kerry 1.0 and Kerry 2.0. He's still the same guy, good enough at a basic level but profoundly unconnected with most Americans, profoundly a Massachusetts liberal, which does not resonate well with most Americans, a man whose message and actions may appear to clash resoundingly--I'm speaking of the whole concede/fight-for-the-votes-to-be-counted thing, which was at least arguably not the right thing to do.
He's the guy who declined to stand up and challenge the vote, despite massive allegations of votes gone uncounted or, in cases of intimidation, votes gone uncast. He's the guy who a day after his running mate promised that they would not go away until every last vote was counted, conceded.
I feel like a lot of Americans, ones who went out and stood in lines for hours and got crank phone calls telling them to go to the wrong polling station, ones who truly believed they were helping make a difference, will remember this and refuse to vote for him.
Or maybe I'm projecting my acknowledged bitterness onto the rest of America, I don't know. But I don't see Kerry as someone who will stand up for my rights let alone for his principles. I don't like the guy much anymore, and I can't think that I'm the only one.
B. Try for the grassroots campaign to get someone else nominated and confirmed. I like this idea, but don't think it could ever work. I don't think the Democratic Party has enough chutzpah to go along with this, and I don't think enough delegates could possibly be swayed. It would cost a lot in terms of time and money, and would probably end in a resounding failure. Which would cost Kerry, assuming he was confirmed, in support among members of his party that might have voted for him otherwise. United we might stand, but divided we'll definitely fall.
C. Start a Progressive Party. It won't be easy. It might not even be fun, not at first. But I honestly think that there are more people who feel cut out of the process, neither Democrat or Republican, than there might seem. I think there are more people who see problems with what's going on in this country than appear at first glance.
So sound them out, work from the local level all the way up to Congress. At the very least, become a power minority that needs to be consulted and needs to be addressed. That way we have a voice, we have a vote, and we can keep our voices heard.
The status quo doesn't seem to care about our voices. So why should we care about their re-election(s)?
I'm not sure if any of this would actually work, mind. But it's something--or even a few somethings--to think about.
What am I missing here?
(and please know, this is not at all intended to be Kerry-bashing. I was trying to be as critical as I could without being nasty. Please let me know if I overshot, so I can fix it!)