[Another reprint from
Southpaw, the lefty blog that loves you and craves your attention]
I'm a precinct chairman for the local Democratic Party. Last night, we held an executive committee meeting, at which all of the local Dems running for office gave short speeches. Some of them were inspiring, others were less so. Each of them caused me to imagine myself running for office, giving my first real campaign speech, explaining why I'm there, what I offer, and why it matters so much that I bother with the whole thing.
Well, that last part really extends to anyone who takes time to keep a blog, or write comments in others', or read them at all -- or even keep up with political news in the first place. Why does this matter? Why do we bother? I suspect that the answers to those questions might reveal more about our commonalities and our differences than one might suspect at first. Imagine asking Bush: "Why does politics matter? What kind of country do you mean for this to be?" I can't begin to imagine his answer. So mine will have to do.
In America, I believe, one's success should be determined by his industriousness and creativity, and never by accident of birth. In a perfect America, we would have a meritocracy, blind to race, parental economic status, parental political status, and interested only in what one contributes to society through his hard work and good will.
(Imagine where George W. Bush would be right now, if his place were determined only by his hard work and good will.)
In America, a social compact must be upheld in which the livelihood of American workers is respected by business. The exportation of jobs to cheaper overseas labor, undermining our consumer-based economy, should not be tolerated. The poisoning of our air and water and the reckless destruction of our natural places should not be tolerated. Any institution that values the fiction of a corporation above the well-being of actual people should not be tolerated.
We must understand that the historic breeding ground of tyranny is not the popular elected government; it is the institution of permanent, pan-generational wealth, often in collusion with the power of the state. A man who wishes to work hard enough to support himself and his family, and to own his own home, should be able to do so in peace as long as his work is worthy and his company profitable; he should not lose his livelihood to satisfy the short-term greed of his company's shareholders. The man who aspires to build his own company, whose ingenuity and tireless effort give us a product or service worthy of the price he charges, should not see his enterprise destroyed because older, larger corporations use predatory practices against him. The tyrants who satisfy their own greedy urges by destroying the well-being of those of lesser wealth must be stopped if we ever are truly to live free.
Naturally, this is only a start. But these are the core beliefs that prevent me from being a Republican.