We've seen this before. Miserable failures at more levels than we can even comprehend. Signs of deep corruption and incompentence. How in the world can anyone think that this is the best, we as a country, can do? How can anyone support what is happening, let alone, how can a majority of this country continue to support whats going on? While I hate being cynical, and I hope that my fears are overblown, I can't ignore what I've seen unfold in the past few weeks.
We've heard all the excuses; stolen elections, fear mongering, spineless democrats, wedge issues, and the media is unfair to name a few. But in 6 years, nothing has changed. After losing elections, Democrats regroup, talk a lot about what went wrong, write it off to 'we're closer now than we were a few years ago, so that's something to be proud of'. You know what? That the same bullshit way of thinking that got them labeled as weak on terror pansies in the first place. Self congratulatory talk only reinforces what didn't work. Have democrats made gain since 2000? No. Have they stopped the hemoraging? a little bit. Will anything change in 2006? I hope so, but my gut tells me otherwise. Maybe I haven't gotten over the beating they took in 2004, or in 2002, or in 2000, but even in the face of Katrina, Plame, Wiretapping, Medicare, Iraq, and Abramoff, when so many Americans know in their heart that something is amiss, my gut tells me there will be more GOP gains in 2006, and certainly not a democratic takeover of congress.
The same strategy that worked for the neocons in 2000, still works today, and it will work in November. They will respond to critics only enough to muddy the water, and to give their faithful talking points to respond. They will attack on their weakest points. They will fundamentalize everything in an effort to make the choices black and white, you're either with us all the way, or your against us all the way. There will be no shades of grey in the political debate. Funamentalism leads to division, and division is the key to consolidating power.
Look at what they did to Kerry. Bush has a miserable service record, it was his weakest point, so what do they attack Kerry on? His service, because then any criticism of Bush will just look like politics as usual. By labeling him as a flip-flopper, Kerry was forced to define himself on everything. Remember, everything has to be black and white in the neocon world, not grey. You need medical malpractice lawsuit caps, and manditory minimums, because god forbid you give a judge or jury the ability to see grey and evaluate each unique situtation differently. It's got to be you're either right or wrong because people are incapable of making responsible decisions on their own, so it's best if they don't have to.
Look at whats happening now. What are Bush's weakest points? The Wiretapping scandal, where he broke the law as it currently stands, is huge. But what is he out talking about right now? Wiretapping, because then he can talk about 9/11, and people see him as a bold leader who won't let a silly outdated law get in the way. Any american who's even done as much as read the constution and bill of rights, knows that's wrong, but how many americans actually understand these documents? What about congress, I mean, this Abramoff thing is going to wreck the GOP, right? Well, no... most americans believe that it's a bipartisan issue. The mantra has become 'all politics are corrupt, that's just how it is'. Let the newsjocks and pundits argue about this, the water is muddied, that's all that matters. Bush appologists will push the false message, Liberals will argue back, and the people in the middle will just shrug their shoulders and go about their lives... it's all just politics, right? And look at Alito, republicans accuse the democrats of playing politics, and off marching in lockstep with the fringe left. But who's really in lockstep with one another, which party has a unitied caucus, and which one has a divided caucus? Wouldn't you think that a lack of dissent within a party would be a symptom of being unable to think freely? But as we all know by now, that it's the party above the people.
So here we are, in January of 2006. The message machine is running full force. The attacks are clearly defined, and in the next few months, we'll see a revitalization of the same old tired wedge issues, morhped just enough to fit the current political climate. We'll hear about homosexuals, the war on religion, and terrorists. And we're going to hear a lot about mexicans. They'll talk about it in the scope of 'illegal immigration', but seriously, do you think any of these minutemen militia folks gives a damn about the european living next door who outstayed his visa? No, they're 's far more uncomfortable with the amount of spanish being spoken in their town, printed in their newspaper, or on his TV. It's racism in disguise, and you bet they're going to capitalize on it. They'll push the idea of buildling a wall on the border, seriously, building a wall... to keep people from coming into the land of immigrants. And it will work, because the world has been fundamentalized, everything is about being black and white, so if you agree with them on one thing that resonates with you, and you agree with them on that, then you must agree with them on everything else. It's been a slow erosion, and we all hoped that the country would just wake up one day, and realize just how far we've slid, but it hasn't happened yet, and I don't expect it to happen anytime soon. I hope, I really do, but I've just seen this same pattern too many times to think otherwise.
See, the debate has become so polarized and the issues so numberous and muddied, that you're either with Bush, or you're against him. Few people, except the well connected and well informed, have the time to actually learn all the facts about these things, so they trust whatever message machine it is that they listen to most. Any discussion on a particular issue between a liberal and a conservative, is quickly turned into a back and forth on a multitude of issues. Listening and understanding has been replaced by shouting and regurgitation of talking points. With no real public debate, our government is unchecked, free to consolidate even more power.
I've become increasingly convinced that in order to change the course that this country is on, we can't rely on democrats to lead us. We need to lead us. This is so much bigger than just partisanship. The constitutional values that make this country great are under attack. But we can't go about them in the same old tired way, by preaching to the choir. We need to convince real republicans to take back control of their own party from this neocon minority. We've got to ask them "When will it be too much?", or "Is the Bush doctorine really the best you guys can do?". It's January of 2006, it's 2-1/2 years until the next presidential election. If we engage in honest and open discussion with our republican neighbors, if we listen to them, if we leave our talking points and our vast amounts of facts at home, and we just listen to these folks, we might have the chance to influence the future of our country, regardless of what party wins the next election. Nearly even republican I know, holds Senator McCain in high regard, but who's this George Allen guy that they're calling the front runner? We need to study who these people are, and help our friends on the other side support the candidate that represents what they stand for, not what we stand for, but what they stand for. We aren't all that far apart in reality, really, we all think a lot alike and hold a lot of the same values. They may not be our first choice, but if we can get real, mainstream, people who call themselves republicans, to stand up and take control of their own party, won't we all be better off than we are now? This is bigger than partisanship, we need to remember that.
Wouldn't we all welcome a return to they days when the biggest debate in this country was over whether or not assault weapons should be legal? Or whether or not welfare recipients should have to work a certain amount? Yes, we all feel strongly about these things, but that's what political debate is. The result should be spirited debate, dissent, but at the end of the day, we should still respect and care about one another. Instead, we're become a country divided, catagorized, a fundamentalized, filled with so much anger and hatred, that we've lost touch with one another.
We need to reclaim what America is, and we need to lead our friends, neighbors, and families, down a path away from partisanship and division. So here are a few ideas and messages that I've been thinking about a lot lately. I don't have all the answers, and these ideas aren't perfect, but it's a start. I think that the level of collaberation that comes our of the dailykos community is incredible, and I think that we have the power and the ability to change the world, one messsage and one person at a time. We will never agree completely on anything here, that's the beauty of it, but we all still respect one another at the end of the day.
So here are some of my ideas;
On money in politics: Wouldn't it be cool to see someone run for congress, who takes only the congressional salary of $158,100 a year? Now before you say, well that's impossible, think about this... that's more than most americans make right off the bat. Try balancing your family, your house in your home state, and a condo in DC, with that kind of salary, not to mention an office at home. But, if we expect people to support families on minimum wage, a congressperson should be able to survive on this. Offices and staff at home and in DC could be funded through grants from local governments, or donations from constituents. And second, you should only accept donations from constituents. When groups outside of a district are able to influence a race by dumping a ton of money into them, that's not true representation of the constutents. The party has become more important that constituents, and that needs to be changed. If candidates were restricted to only using money from constituent donations, it would mean less money overall... so there would be less opportunity to fund TV attack ad blitzes, and we might, god willing have a shot at a real debate about issues.
On defense: Defense of this country should be our militaries primary objective, but with the vast resources, and nearly half of the federal budget dedicated to military spending, we should be getting more bang for out buck. Our military needs to be equiped to respond to disasters throughout the world and at home. Our service men and women should be contributing directly to communities by working with youth, rebuilding cities, or helping the elderly. That's what "the service" should be, it should be about service to our country. We need to maintain a deterent by having a strong, quick, and agile military, with constant reinvestment in techonology, but we also need to find a way to reap the benefits of those gains without having to go to war.
On technology: The Apollo project for alternative energy is long overdue. If we got united with Republicans, and there are a lot of them who support this, to push this, Bush could potentially save his legacy, and we could finally start moving in the right direction. We need to focus on math and science education and we need to make sure that our citizens have the skills that they will need to survive in the global marketplace. The US has fallen miserably behind, but it's not too late to catch up.
On social-economic issues: Globalization has already happened. We need to admit that and we need to adapt to survive. We've developled this sense of entitlement that our low value added high paying manufacturing are an american birth right. It's the cold hard truth, but we can do better and we can adapt. We need to change the way this country looks at pensions, health-care, and wages, and make them easier of get, more portable, and more secure. It can be done, but we need to get honest with ourselves that the world has changed, before we get completely left behind by the rich and powerful.
Points to reinforce:
Neo-conservatives are fundamentalists. They want the world black and white, they cannot see grey.
Respect, Tolerance, and Love are real 'family values', not judging your neighbors and being afraid.
We need politicians who put people above their parties
Neo-conservatives will always attack on their weakest point, just watch.
So that's where I'm at in my way of thinking. Many of you will disagree with me for sure, and I'm ok with that, but the important point here is that we need to learn how to talk to one another again and we need to reclaim civil debate. We can't win or change this world by being and fighting just like the neo-cons, and this included fighting back in the same way that they attack. We, as americans, are all better than that.
I've also got to give credit and a recommendation for two books that I recently read that got me thinking about a lot of these things. Jimmy Carters, Our endangered Values; America's Moral Crisis and Tom Friedmans The World is flat If you haven't read them, I highly recommend them. I'm not much of a reader, typically, I'm reading 3 or 4 books at any given time, and will take years to finish some of them, but I couldn't put these two books down. They aren't perfect, and I don't agree with everything that is said in them, but that's kind of the point of both of them, there's a lot of grey in the world.