Here's the money line from a letter to the editor in today's Helena, MT Independent Record:
I've been a voter for 40-odd years and as a rule I always voted with the GOP, even though I think of myself as an Independent. So, a word of advice to the GOP of Montana: Please shut up. Haven't you figured out that out present governor wouldn't have been elected if a lot of GOP voters hadn't voted for him? I did so because on a very few issues that concerned me he stood up and said just what he thinks and believes.
The full letter is
here.
Why this is important to me? Below the fold.
I see progressive strategy diaries here and elsewhere: diaries about the DNCC, diaries about strategy for 2006 and 2008, diaries proposing lists of issues that should be important to liberals. Each time, I've wanted to respond "haven't you figured it out yet?," but shut up because I didn't know how to express what I was feeling. Well, here it is.
Strategists, take your issue lists and shove them. Phony liberal candidates are just as odious as phony conservative candidates. When we send men and women without principle to DC, we put our liberty, our property and sacred honor at risk. It doesn't matter whether the puppet-master is the DNCC or PNAC. What matters is the puppet strings.
Listen to the fighting dems (veterans running for congress) if you get a chance. I've heard a few who try to take just the right liberal position every issue. They don't sound genuine, they won't be elected and they shouldn't be elected. Many of the others have minds of their own. They make me cringe on some of the issues, but I trust them to do what's right on the big things.
The Federalist papers puts it this way. The constitution is our representative in DC. We send Senators and Representatives there to protect our interests by protecting the constitution. It's takes strong men and women to do this, men and women with a deep sense of duty and honor and a reverence for the American experiment.
The writer of the letter to the Independent Record is telling us that we don't need a strategy to elect progressives. We just need progressives with character.
In the 2000 election, we voters couldn't have anticipated 9/11. Neither Bush nor Gore were on record about invading Iraq after an attack on the US. Gore had the better liberal credentials, but when I think of Gore, I don't think of duty and honor and reverence for anything. Gore was a made candidate, and I have no idea what he would have done after 9/11. Maybe he would have invaded Iraq so as not to look weak on terrorism. NPAC would have been whipping up sentiment for doing just that. Would Gore have had the backbone to stand up against the pressure? I doubt it.
I invite you to set aside your focus on issues and listen to the character of the men and women running for office. Support candidates who get the American experiment, and will stand strong for our right to continue it.
