I still have a bit of a hangover. Not so much from beer, but from the combination of that and excitement over the Steelers and a mixture of disappointmen and anger over yesterday at The Daily Kos. I logged on during a break in the Steelers game and was shocked to see currents of invective directed toward "The Democrats" here at a blog where I've typically found myself to be
less enthusiastic about that party than 75% of the folks who comment here. I was, to say the least, thrown off a bit. Then upon further examination I got a bit more angry. If this, I asked, is what the Democratic Party gets in a dark hour from it's supposed, self-annointed "base", then no wonder the GOP has controlled most of the US government for a quarter century.
We have a thing or two to learn from the rise of the right some 25 years ago.
My concern was, and is, that people are blaming "The Democrats" as if they threw nothing but softballs at Alito and were voting in lock step to confirm him. I'll be shocked if any Judicial Committee Dems vote to let him out of committee. I'll be surprised if he gets more than 20% of the Democratic votes on the floor of the senate. He is clearly a man of questionable integrity, certainly a holder of dangerous views regarding executive power and probably a vote to overturn Roe v Wade. Not to mention the fact that he'd continue a long-standing
extreme pro-property, anti-labor majority on the court by an average margin of 6:3. Not that I'd expect different from any GOP nominee.
I think most Democrats (ooooh, bad pathetic weak Democrats) realize this. Most Democratic grass roots activists know it. Most Democratic Party pros know it. Certainly the majority of Democratic Senators know it. The question is whether enough centrist losers will put pride of "appearing reasonable" above doing the right thing. I think there will be about a half dozen and that will sink the chance at a filibuster.
Now, what I ask is: Does that mean "The Democrats" are unworthy or does it mean there are quite a few weak links in the Democratic chain and that those links need to be replaced as the opportunity arises. I obviously think it's the latter. And I also beleive that playing into media myths (wether true myths or not) that "The Democrats" are patsies and loser is not helpful in any way. The better thing to do, as the right wing of the GOP did effectively during the rise of the right, is to slowly replace the _INOs as power is consolidated.
In the late '70s and 1980s, one could see many attacks in The National Review on liberal Republicans and disloyal Republicans, but almost never on the Republican Party. If you are trying to take something over, it is best not to vandalize it in the process. CSFC, NCPAC and the minions of The Heritage Foundation did not attack the GOP, but they targeted "disloyal" or "liberal" members of the GOP as they became vulnerable by gradually turning public opinion their way.
What do I think hopeful progressives need to do?
In the short run (this week), we need to apply rhetorically reasonable pressure on our Senators to filibuster Alito.
This will probably fail, but that should deter no one from doing the right thing and doing it in the right way.
In the medium run (the next 34 months), we need to keep working in the Democratic Party, keeping expectations reasonable and realizing that change comes either slowly or cataclysmically, never at a pleasant moderate quickness. We are on the precipice of a one party state. if the GOP gains more power due to a greater fractionilization of the center-left, revolution will be the only option and I haven't the stomach for that. Better to be patient now than
deal with cataclysmic change later.
In the long run:
A: If things go well in "The Battle Against the GOP Extremists" then the fight to take over the Democratic Party will be strengthened. Why? Because the somewhat more combative styles of Dean, Reid and Pelosi (compared to McAuliffe, Daschle and Gephardt) will be regarded as successful. This will help progressives be viewed as an important part of the party and source of strength rather than a crazy cousin to lock up in the attic.
B: If things go badly in "The Battle Against the GOP Extremists" then we can fully expect the Democrats to move to fill the increasing vacuum on the near right and kick Dean out as party leader. It wil lthen be reasonble for progressives to look elsewhere. It will be democratic socialists like me running off in one direction, new left social theorists in another and left-leaning "libertarian" small-government reform Democrats in another. Frankly, I'll probably leave the USA if it comes to that. I'd rather not waste too much energy on these doomsday scenarios now though.
Things are improving, if at a snail's pace. I remember the Democratic Party of the early 1990s, in the heyday of the DLC. It sucked. I left. From 1993 until 2003 the only Democrat I lifted a finger for outside the polling booth was my senator, Russ Feingold. That was a mistake. Um, not supporting Russ, but ignoring all other Dems. I wonder now if I and so many other like me could have made the difference in changing the direction of the party sooner. The Dems are not as craven and cavin' as the were in the mid-90s, when they even had a fair amount of real power and still managed to let the country drift rightward. I came back largely because of Dr Dean. Please let me know if you really think I ought to leave The Democrats or Daily Kos or The USA sooner. I am no Yellow Dog Democrat, but I am am committed to seeing them through until the GOP is ousted from power or has made doing so possible only by force. If the Democrats gain power and proceed to be lap dogs to the corporate elite and fail the working class and ethnic and sexual minorities (and the female majority), then I'll be among the first to bolt for a new party (or some revised more inclusive Green Party).
We need to divide our attention. We must be working to take over the Democratic Party. We must be working to help the Democratic Party win power. To let either goal override the other is a grave error. Yesterday at this site I saw all too many people willing to hurt the Democratics in order to get it to change and all too many people so concerned with maintaining unity and organizational strength that they are willing to jettison the energy of the progressive movement.
This is a long haul.
This is a game of inches.