Have you been annoyed with the limp excuses from Democrats about how much they hate letting the wealthy get away with a tax cut, but they had no choice but to cave? I have.
After emailing the president, my Democratic senator and Democratic representative to Congress, and a few others, I received the following from Senator Dick Durbin:
Thank you for contacting me about the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act. I appreciate hearing from you.
I voted in favor of the bill, but this is not the bill that I would have written. There are sections of this bill that do not honor my values and principles. The provisions in this bill that give tax benefits to the wealthiest among us are awful, but we have to accept reality. Members from the other side of the aisle made this unfortunate subsidy for the rich a requirement in exchange for their support for helping working families and the unemployed.
This bill will help working families. It will ensure that our fragile economy doesn't slump further and that we provide the benefits that unemployed people and the middle-class need.
After listing all the benefits his vote made possible, he finished off with this:
These tax provisions are expensive, but this is necessary relief that our middle-class families and small businesses need as our economy slowly recovers from the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression. At the same time, we have to realize that these provisions are adding to our national debt and deficit, and these problems must be tackled. I will continue to work to find common sense solutions to rein in our ballooning debt without sacrificing economic progress. Finding a solution to the growing debt problem is not a partisan problem, it is an American problem.
Notice that he didn't say word one about the tax giveaway to people making more than $250K, to the billions going to the estates of a scant few, and to the raiding of the Social Security trust fund and Medicare funds by the payroll tax cut. If you're like me, you'll find all his concern for the victims of the economic downturn to be cold comfort, because the tax cuts that have been extended are part of the problem, not the solution. Moreover, effective negotiators don't whine about the opposition being too tough, they get tough themselves. True, the Democrats in Congress didn't negotiate this deal, the president did. But rather than call him to task for cutting a bad deal on his own, they have simply shrugged with the pathetic excuse that this was as good as they could get. I know that Daily Kos is a Democratic site. I've been a Democrat for decades longer than that DKos has existed. But the behavior of our Democratic "leaders" has tested my patience for the last time. This is what I wrote to Durbin:
I find your insistence that we "have to accept reality" to be a hollow and craven position for a senator who claims to hold principles. A real leader fights for principles; he doesn't bargain them away. You have been tested, and you have failed the test. I have been a Democrat for my entire adult life because I believed that the party stood for something. It once did, but no longer. You and the other members of my former party who have capitulated to the "starve the beast" strategy of the Republican party--a strategy that they have publicly promoted for years--no longer have my support. You have taken one large step toward fulfilling their long held goal--dismantling the social system that truly honorable Democrats strove and sacrificed to create. You should be ashamed of yourself. Enjoy your transition, first to total political irrelevance, and next to private life.
I fully expect I'll take heat for repudiating the Democratic Party on a site dedicated to the support of that party--one that I've previously defended, supported, and contributed to. But one has to wonder if a Democratic site makes any sense if the leadership of the party doesn't show the kind of courage that we expect of them.