We'll Ask Again: WHERE ARE THE DEMOCRATS?

[Q]

Published on Friday, March 7, 2003 by NOW with Bill Moyers

Where are the Democrats?

by Bill Moyers

There was news a report in Washington this week about how Democrats and Republicans in Congress conspired to close down the investigation of an alleged abuse of power by a leading member of the House. Now we'll never know the truth of the matter. The story reminded me of a conversation I had many years ago with a constitutional scholar who said the most important function of one political party is to keep the other party honest. "No party investigates itself," he said, "so the public safety depends on each party shining the spotlight of scrutiny on the shenanigans of the other."

Once upon a time, this happened quite often. Both parties could be counted on to mock the deceit, hypocrisy, and pretensions of the opposition, while they cloaked their own vices in the warm pieties of patriotism and altruism. They also challenged one another's belief systems with the two-fisted ferocity of street brawlers. Such spirited partisanship wasn't a pretty sight for children, but it offered choices, got the public's attention, and aroused a robust and sometimes ribald participation in democracy. Politics mattered.

Things have changed. Republicans still love a good brawl - they could appreciate the movie the Gangs of New York. Because they will claw, scratch, jam their knee to your groin and land an uppercut to the jaw after the bell has rung - and if they don't finish the job their partisan press will do it for them: Rush Limbaugh and the Darth Vaders of talk radio; the pamphleteers at the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, and a host of publications aided by big business.

But where are the Democrats? As the Republicans were coming back from the wilderness - lean, mean and hungry - Democrats were busy assimilating their opponents' belief system. In no small part because they coveted the same corporate money, Democrats practically walked away from the politics of struggle, leaving millions of working people with no one to fight for them. We see the consequences all around us in what a friend of mine calls "a suffocating consensus." Even as poverty spreads, inequality grows, and our quality of life diminishes, Democrats have become the doves of class warfare.

Then there's the other war that's about to happen. Whether you are for or against it, invading Iraq is a reckless diversion of resources and a huge distraction from what ails us. But Democrats signed a blank check over to the President last fall because their leaders wanted "to move on to more important things," namely the mid-term elections, which they lost anyway.

Now Democrats in Congress are so deeply divided and impotent that Ralph Nader is thinking of running again. Maybe third parties will eventually invigorate politics. But what I wouldn't give for a revival of that old-time religion, when both major parties locked horns with the devil - that is, with each other. An Irishman once asked - "is this a private fight or can anyone get in it?"- Well Democrats could answer that by crawling back in the ring, and duking it out. Who knows? They might even save the Republicans from themselves.

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0307-05.htm

--------

The Democratic party MUST become a real opposition party. It is their duty to uphold the rule of law and investigate wrongdoing in the executive branch. It shouldn't matter that they're the minority party...they must stand on principle and do what's right for the people and country.

[Q]

1. The very first thing we must do is OPPOSE the Iraq invasion/occupation

Every Democrat knows the invasion of Iraq was based on LIES and DECEPTION. This is an illegal aggressive war. This is an act of treason.

Democrats also know that the Bush* White House is covering up the SAUDI CONNECTION to the financing of terrorism. They know War Crimes have been committed.

How can we have this knowledge and not do anything about it?

[joanski01]

2. It seems like the Democrats didn't

read this article. If they did, the DLC and DNC said "shove it".

[Q]

5. Something that the Bush* apologists and appeasers...

...don't seem to take into consideration is that people are LEAVING the party. Not because the GOP owns the entire government...but because the Democrats have simply given up and refuse to defend the Constitution and rule of law.

And then we have the DLC helping the other side destroy the last remnants of the New Deal and social contract.

The Democratic party must fight or die. Unless of course that's what the DLCers want to happen.

[paulk]

3. you've got to reach back a year and a half

to trash the Democrats?

C'mon, I expect better from you...

[Q]

6. It's telling that you're not asking if it's RELEVANT...

...instead of when it was published.

Perhaps you can help me with something? Why are you and others so determined to trash those who want OUR party to be a real opposition to those trying to destroy our party and country? Why the reluctance to fight against what you MUST KNOW is the most corrupt and criminal White House in our history?

[paulk]

17. You seem to define "fighting against the White House"

as trashing the Democratic Party. Day in and day out. That's what you mainly do here at DU. Trash the Democrats. Advocate for a third party.
You trashed Kerry constantly until the Admin. made you stop. Now that the election is over it's back to business as usual.

You want to reshape the Democratic Party by destroying it.

[Q]

21. I've been at DU a long time...

...and I spent my first year here blindly defending everything Democrat. After a while I felt I couldn't defend them any longer. I've voted Democratic for over thirty years and no one has the right to tell me I can't critize my party when I believe they're failing to lead.

I didn't set out to 'trash' Kerry. Like many others on this board...I simply felt he was a poor choice. And the administration didn't 'stop' anyone. All of us agreed to keep our disagreements to ourselves and vote anyone but Bush*. That's exactly what we did...never promising to 'shut up' forever.

It's the DLC that's trying to 'reshape' the party by rejecting everything WE have fought for decades to achieve FOR THE PEOPLE. If intropection and critical thinking can destroy a party...then it deserves to die.

[Leilani]

4. Good article, but it makes it pretty hard to be an opposition

party when your ticket, Kerry/Edwards both voted for the war.

It's tough to rant against Free Trade & lost jobs, when you've been a Free trader.

Etc.

[Q]

7. WE didn't vote for the war...

...and it's our responsiblity as citizens to inform our representatives when we think they're wrong.

I'm still assuming this is a government of, by and for the people. Why then can't we demand that they do what's right?

[pretzel4gore]

14. gettouttahere!

even if kerry edwards kissed geebush's ass nothing changes the fact the bastards lied and blackmailed the country into the 'war'; basically, the pukes are acting like vandals, and the bushdems pretend they, the repukes, are effective when they're not! so let's be honest here, unless kerry edwards were bushevik agents the whole time, they could have and still can upset the bushnazi applecart simply by telling the nation the truth. truth is poison to the bush criminals...right? poison kills, right?

[Q]

22. If we can't admit mistakes...

...that makes us no better than the Bushies. Democrats ridicule GOPers for marching in lockstep, never criticizing their leadership and voting for Bush* against their own best interests. Yet it seems some Democrats are willing to do practically the same thing.

Democrats supporting this war/invasion/occupation doesn't make it right or legal. They're obviously putting their own career before the well being of the people.

[THUNDER HANDS]

8. sad to say, but I DO blame Clinton for this

Our party stopped fighting the Day Clinton walked into the door with his 'third way' invention.

[Q]

9. The problem seems to be that many Democrats don't understand...

...what the 'third way' is all about. In practical terms...it's about EXPECTING the votes of the traditional base (without working for them) while going after the votes of the shadowy 'swing voters'.

The Repubicans are kicking the shit out of us and we're laying in the streets bleeding. So what does our party do? They throw us bandages and run for cover.

And it's not all about winning. It's about honor, duty and integrity. I'd rather our party fight the 'good fight' and lose than see them cowering to the Republicans. It's a pitiful sight to behold.

[gtar100]

10. We have nothing to lose for being an opposition party

<quote>The Democratic party MUST become a real opposition party. It is their duty to uphold the rule of law and investigate wrongdoing in the executive branch. It shouldn't matter that they're the minority party...they must stand on principle and do what's right for the people and country.</quote>

The sentiment is shared with a lot of people. I can hear it clearly in meetings, conversations, and liberal talk radio.

[Q]

12. What's the problem then?

Is it that the Democrats in DC have been threatened? Blackmailed? Intimidated? Are they in collusion?

Does anyone know why they're no longer an opposition party? It's just plain strange that they don't FIGHT BACK.

[pretzel4gore]

15. yes it is.

the ruling class (i think) has tried to operate the society under the 'free press' radar while strobe lighting the damn place (using the whoeremedia)...i wonder if they've so totally ruined everything that if any 'truth' leaks, it will in effect cause economic collapse, or something....(!!) the head of morgan stanley recently said that we're heading for 'economic armaggedon'...maybe there's something there (?)
http://www.copvcia.com/free/ww3/112304_economic_armageddon.shtml

[Q]

23. The Enron and Halliburton scandals disappeared...

...much too quickly for justice to have been served. Not to mention the 2000 election fraud, the Saudi/binLaden/Bush family connections and the coverup of the details surrounding 9-11. We'll never know the true regarding any of these issues without an opposition party to press for truly non-partisan investigations.

[bread_and_roses]

11. "leaving millions of working people with no one to fight for them"

That says it pretty plain and straight. When in this campaign did we hear the words "working class" from our candidate? I heard lots about the middle-class, but I didn't hear much about the working class, the working poor, the poor. I didn't hear about racism. Yet who are still the Dems core constituencies, the groups that can be counted on? Labor and people of color.

The Dems abandonment of poverty and social justice issues leaves all of us exposed, because it is working people and people of color who are on the front lines of every battle we are fighting. They are the canaries in the mine. What happens to them is a harbinger of what's in store for the rest of us. They go to war, they fill our prisons, they lose their jobs first. So self-preservation as well as justice should make their battles our battles.

But the Dems have sold out to Corporate interests and some mythical middle-class swing voter. An honest Democrat would be telling a two-earner $60,000 household that they are a lot closer to the poor than to the upper 10%. An honest Democrat would be reminding people that we can't have safe communities when some of our neighbors are trapped in third-world conditions that offer nothing but crime as a way out of desperate poverty. That we can't build a safe world on the bodies of dismembered children. An honest Dem would not be afraid to invoke the language of brother- and sister- hood, of community, of our responsibility to the common good, of "love thy neighbor."

And even so, the Dem base turned out in droves this election. I think this election was stolen, whether we ever figure out how or not. But I also think that a more honest campaign - one that named the occupants of the WH for what they are: thieves of our labor, our rights, our hope for peace, of our children's future - might have increased the votes against the puppet-in-chief so much that the election couldn't be stolen. A lost opportunity.

[Q]

13. Labor and minorities are on our side...but for how long?

The party under the DLC has become anti-union and pro-corporation. It's as if they work for the corporations and not the people.

You're right: a lost opportunity. But the Democratic leadership MUST know this? Why is it that they seem to be working WITH the Bushies instead of fighting as a Democratic opposition?

[bread_and_roses]

16. I wish I knew the answers to those questions

but I don't. Corporate money and plain old cowardice seem likliest to me. Interesting that Dems who actually stand up for something - DK, Wellstone, Hinchey in upstate NY - actually WIN. One would think the others would learn something.

[GreenArrow]

18. Democrats? Hush child,

there is no such a thing!

[Lorien]

19. Maybe we need to encourage Gore, Dean, Kucinich, Clark

Edwards, etc. to start a new party-the Progressive Party, maybe? It seems like the Dems are done; our leadership at the DNC and DLC just wants to lead us into obscurity.

[Q]

24. Perhaps many are doing this...

...although they're reluctant to talk about it on DU? You can see what happens when even lifelong Dems talk about being a real opposition party. Apologists come out of the woodwork to say that the party is doing just fine and that all they need is a 'southern' Democrat or somesuch.

Is Edwards still DLC? He seems like the type (I may be wrong) that would throw them off for the good of the party.

[GreenInNC]

20. I've got a secret.....

I see Democrats