Does it matter what a Democrat is anymore? It matters in the Lamont battle with Lieberman, but in California's race for Governor, it seems not to matter. There is always the issue of who can win -- here on this Blog and in Democrats' minds. But when do we get so obsessed with winning that we no longer stand for anything?
Now, come to find out, the biographies of the main contenders for the Democratic nomination in California both show (unsurprisingly) that they come from Republican households. Angelides, from his private boarding school background, was first politically active for Pete McCloskey, a Republican http://www.capitolweekly.net/... e.html?article_id=675
(Admittedly Pete McCloskey was good on the issue of Peace, but he was a big business, tax-cutting Republican.)
As for Steve Westly, "Westly spent much of his comfortable upbringing in a Republican household in Menlo Park and Atherton." http://www.mercurynews.com/... ws/14635039.htm
To be a Republican when Westly was growing up in California would mean supporting Reagan in tear gassing students and defunding education, among other things.
We all know that Hillary Clinton grew up in a Republican household, too. Hey, it's important to attract bright and talented people to the Democratic Party.
But when does it matter that one was raised in a household that did not believe in FDR, or support Pat Brown in California, but rather supported Nixon or Reagan.
We don't need to nominate a red-diaper baby for Governor, but how about someone who believes that economic regulation actually benefits the country (and business itself, incidentally).
A Democrat looking at Conneticut really has to laugh. Christopher Dodd, who seems like the more liberal Democrat of the two Senators, was responsible for the the securities litigation Act in 1995 that stopped plaintiffs' rights to bring lawsuits for investment fraud and allowed companies to publish outlandish business plans in their prospectuses as "forward looking" projections -- protecting them from lawsuits. Oh yeah, immediately after passage of that Act, we started seeing prospectuses for internet pet stores, Enron and MCI. We started on the biggest investment bubble (the dot.com bubble) and biggest wipeout of retirement investments since 1929.
We at Strimling2006 believe that the basic Democratic religion - that Democracy and Courts act as a counterweight to great wealth and privilege and in support of consumers and the working person - must be at the heart of what we do and believe. Let's work for the Democrats to win back the House and Senate, and the Governors' races. But let's make sure also that they are at least a little bit "Democratic" by voting for our true values.
Now, of course, we have a dog in this race. Mike Strimling is running in the Democratic Primary for Governor in California because he looked at the positions of Westly and Angelides and just didn't see a Democrat or progressive. You can tell from our website www.michaelstrimling.com that Mike Strimling grew up in a household that revered FDR, Eleanor Roosevelt, Truman, Adlai Stevenson, and Pat Brown. Mike's parents actually voted repeatedly for the funding of the University of California, instead of growing up in a household that voted Republican.
Let's think about what we are doing here. At least in the primary, let's vote for our values.