My local Democratic Party committee are trying to make nearly 4000 calls in the next month - to Democrats who have registered since the 2008 elections - encouraging them to vote by mail, to vote the entire ballot, and of course to vote for Democrats.
Voting is an expression of "We the People, in order to form a more perfect Union...", which as most schoolchildren learn are the words that begin the Preamble to the Constitution. While the Preamble is not binding law, its first three words express the essence of democracy itself: that the legitimacy of government derives from the consent of the governed. That was a departure from rule by inherited divine right, the dominant theory of government in Europe at the time. But who are "We the People?" That depends on whom you ask, and it's another important difference between our two political parties.
The Janitor Professor of Astrology's morning constitutional began with "We the Stars, in order to form a more perfect Universe." Perfect for them, of course.
More below the fold....
Why We Bother, Part II - Who Are "We the People?" (Plus Kossascopes)
This week, Morning Feature looks at the stark difference between the Democratic and Republican parties. Yesterday we considered the two parties in terms of what century we live in. Today we'll ask who "We the People" are. Tomorrow we'll talk about how we progressives must become more active to transform the Democratic Party, from the ground up.
The Democratic Party is not yet a progressive's ideal fit. Yesterday I described my vision for our nation - greater equality of income and opportunity, a stronger social safety net, less privilege and discrimination, a smaller military presence, and an economy and community patterns focused on sustainability rather than GDP growth - and noted that this is not yet the vision of a majority of voters, nor perhaps even of a majority of registered Democrats. Because our candidates must convince a majority, and for some other reasons we'll discuss tomorrow, the policies espoused by elected Democrats are rarely as progressive as my vision.
Elected Democrats often at least try to help Fred, our archetypal median American, although in doing so they often work from a menu skewed by forty years of conservative narrative dominance. The resulting policies may not help Fred as much as truly progressive policies might have, and sometimes even hurt Fred because the policies were ill-conceived and/or poorly implemented. But at least most of our elected Democrats try to help Fred, and we do that because our idea of "We the People" includes all colors, creeds, genders, orientations, and socioeconomic status. That's why we're a "big tent."
Not so the Tea Party GOP. They're a party of PMS, and that doesn't refer to a women's health issue.
"Pale, male, and stale."
I couldn't find an original source for that description of the Tea Party GOP. I first heard it in 2008 as a pithy comment on the delegates at the GOP convention. The Tea Party GOP are disproportionately white, male, and older. (They dispute that; this year CPAC invited actor Stephen Baldwin to show they attract younger white males too.) That's not an accident. It's a byproduct of the policies they advocate and those whose interests they represent. As then-candidate George W. Bush joked in 2000, "This is an impressive crowd" the haves and the have-mores. Some people call you the elites. I call you my base."
But as his administration proved, he wasn't joking.
From cutting capital gains and inheritance taxes to gutting enforcement on securities and accounting fraud, narrowing a woman's right to choose and carving holes in affirmative action, "covenant marriage" for heterosexuals and blocking marriage for LGBTs, ever-greater burdens on public schools and demands for private school vouchers, "closing our borders" and opening private prisons, the Tea Party GOP are about expanding the privileges of wealthy, older, white males. As we discussed yesterday, they seem to long for a return to the 19th century, when most states limited voting to white male landowners.
We saw that again at the February health care summit, in an exchange with Sen. John Barasso (R-WY). Formerly a practicing surgeon, Sen. Barasso said his "most informed, discerning customers" were those who had only catastrophic coverage, because "they have some skin in the game." When President Obama asked if he would accept only catastrophic coverage, the senator said he would. But as President Obama countered, that works for members of Congress because they're wealthy enough to afford the costs of medical care that isn't covered by insurance.
Fighting for democracy.
And of course wars that kill our young people and brown-skinned foreigners are also fine if your "We the People" includes only wealthy, older, white males. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were sold, in part, as a fight to spread democracy in southwest Asia. But to judge by their reactions to the 2006 and especially 2008 elections, the Tea Party GOP don't much value democracy here in the U.S. As the Tea Party GOP budget proposed by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) proves, the Tea Party GOP idea of democracy is one that privileges wealthy, older, white males ... at the expense of everyone else.
In making those phone calls this month in my county and the other work we do nationwide as Democratic Party activists, and in advocating to make the Democratic Party more progressive, we're not just fighting for our party. We're fighting to preserve and expand democracy - for all of "We the People" - here in the United States.
That's why we bother.
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The Janitor Professor of Astrology is still waiting on returns from the outlying galaxies, so your Kossascopes will be delayed.
And, the returns are finally in. Oh well....
Aries - A star 2000 light-years away says you're late with your taxes. To Rome.
Taurus - One of your stars is considering a super Nova. Don't pay cash for that clunker.
Gemini - Two of your stars are in love. The other star in that trinary system is jealous.
Cancer - Your stars say you're one of the people. But it doesn't like people.
Leo - Your stars are arguing in MyDeepSpace. It could get explosive.
Virgo - Your stars are in perfect alignment. Like that's a surprise.
Libra - Your stars started a Facebook group. They didn't befriend you.
Scorpio - Your weekend will be like one 15,000 years ago, says a distant star. Time to invent fire.
Sagittarius - Your stars just renovated their galaxy. They don't have pics yet.
Capricorn - Two of your stars may be black holes by now. Like that's a surprise.
Aquarius - Several of your stars are on the Spiral Arm of Fame. It's your age.
Pisces - A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, your star met a Wookie.
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Happy Friday!