What Happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore --
and then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over --
like a syrupy sweet?
I came to DailyKos a few months ago because I am a political junkie, a former "Hill" staffer, and new to the world of blogging. Coming to the site in the months before the election was invigorating. There were so many people working to elect representatives that reflect our common values. Talking with a friend who is a DKos veteran and has front page rights I expressed dismay at the lack of true intellectual discussion of theory, while at the same time lauding the practicality of the site. Maybe it was just in the months before the election, but DailyKos to me was not a site dedicated to philosophical political debates, but a site to get Democrats elected.
Saddam Hussein is a bad man. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a bad man. Bashar al-Assad is a bad man. Kim Jong-il is a bad man. In my humble opinion each of these men, and each of these dictatorial governments contribute to instability in the world. The citizens of these repressive gegimes do not have it easy. There is a legitimate reason for the United States to be focused on these countries. However horrible these countries are, one thing they all have in common is that they are not committing a genocide.
"Never Again" is the mantra taught to young Jewish children in their Hebrew school classes. "Never Again" can we allow the Holocaust to happen. "Never Again" can we let genocidal maniacs kill millions of people because of who they are or what they believe. "Never Again" can the international community be slow to act or close its eyes as madmen kill indiscriminately. Never Again.
Dina Babbitt was a young girl at Auschwitz when Dr. Mengele noticed her painting ability. For the next several years that painting ability kept Babbitt and her mother alive. She has been involved in a decades long battle to get her paintings back. I had the honor of working on her behalf several years ago. Congresswoman Shelley Berkley (D-NV) has been one of her top advocates. Recently, Berkley's staff videotaped Babbit's story. Here she is in her own words.
Barak Obama is an amazing and inspirational man. I remember walking into my office the day after his keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and telling my officemate that Obama's speech was the most inspirational speech I had ever heard. I can't even describe the emotions that ran through my body when he said:
"The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I've got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported it."
Ned Lamont ran a great campaign and the Democratic Party of Connecticut let Joe Lieberman know what they think of him. I have serious reservations about whether Joe got the message. While the Democratic party was telling Joe he is too far to the right, that only pushed Joe to the right in order to win the Republican vote. Joe's election is due to a calculated decision by the Republicans. Perhaps in a race between Lamont and Schlesinger they would have been full steam behind their candidate, but with Joe in the race they conceded the seat to work for the more conservative Democrat. This was there one victory on election day. They won, we lost. Now its time to welcome Joe back to the Democratic Party.
Today is a great day. Democrats have regained majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate for the first time since losing control in 1994. However, we would be remiss if we did not analyze everything about this election, both what went right and what went wrong. So, stealing a methodology that has been done over, over and over again, here is my list.
I know the title to this post isn't all that surprising, but it is actually an important message. Over the last few weeks I have heard a lot of people saying that they were going to vote for the Working Families Party ("WFP"). For those of you who don't know, New York has a lot of different lines on the ballot. Besides Democrat and Republican there is also the Conservative party, the WFP, and the Independence Party. Typically, those parties endorse one of the major candidates. Thus, Eliot Spitzer is running on the Democratic line AND the WFP line.
Political rhetoric can get very heated. However, the American political system has been pretty good about keeping the anger at just rhetoric, and not actual violence. Sure, we have an Aaron Burr in our history, and the canning of Charles Sumner, but by and large, American politics has avoided outright violence.
I am a Democrat. That should come as no surprise considering the name of my blog is www.angryyoungdem.blogspot.com. (And as a point of reference, it alludes to a Billy Joel song, and nothing else). I always have been a Democrat, and always will be a Democrat. I grew up in the 12th district of NJ where Dick Zimmer was a well thought of moderate Republican who I had the joy of voting against numerous times. The 12th eventually turned blue when Zimmer ran for Senate and lost and his replacement, Mike Pappas, sang "Twinkle Twinkle Kenneth Starr" on the floor of the house. The 12th may have been a moderate district, but the district representing Princeton University had little tolerance for such nonsense. So they elected a rocket scientist, and former Jeopardy champion, Rush Holt. Holt is an excellent Democrat, who, in my mind, always votes the right way.
The Kos community should be ashamed of itself and its use of censorship to silence people who disagree with the rampant anti-israel sentiment of the far left.
If you like what you read, please visit my blog at www.angryyoungdem.blogspot.com
For as long as I can remember (say maybe the last 23 or so years) the Republicans have been the party of favor in the military. The perception was that Republicans had the best interests of America's troops in mind and Democrats always wanted to cut spending for the military. There was some grain of truth, especially during the Reagan years, to the notion that Democrats wanted to cut military spending which was, after all, enormous. Today, America is at war in the streets of Afghanistan and Iraq and the Republican party is portraying themselves as the party of national defense and homeland security.
I come to DailyKos to get my fill of left leaning news and to read a few good rants. Heck, I have even vented a few times in my own diaries. However, I have noticed recently really tasteless advertisements that go against what the DailyKos community stands for.
