An open, angry, heartfelt, unedited letter to whomever is willing to listen (for a long ramble)...
Democratic Leadership:
There is no compromising with this WH. There is no third way out of this. There is no compromising with the GOP in its current incarnation. If you are too damned thick to have learned that from roughly 5 of the past 6 years, if not the past 12, then I no longer have much use for you (a point I am reaching faster than I thought possible).
In 1988, when I still somewhat thought of myself as a conservative in spite of not liking Reagan at all, I was so adamantly anti-Bush that I went out of my way to write in Dole in the election. In 1992, I voted for Perot, although soon after Bill Clinton became president I wish I had voted for him upon hearing of his late night study sessions in the rafters of Congress so he could learn better how DC worked. In 1994, I thought the GOP takeover of the Hill was a good thing since democracies are healthier through change. By 1996, I was on board and voted for Bill and very few Republicans. Not long after, I was starting to waiver on Bill. It had nothing to do with sex and everything to do with his persistent kowtowing to big business, supported by a bunch of tail-tucked, bought-and-paid-for Congressmen and women of both parties, because I have believed for a long, long time that monopoly/ oligarchy/ concentrated economic power are to a free market what apathy is to a democracy – death.
I am quickly becoming apathetic.
In 2000, I again found myself in an extremely strong anti-Bush mood. See, this is a family thing. Just as in 1988, it was a combination of my disgust with royalty as antithetical to America, and exactly what I see in the Bush family (and saw then) and I think they see in themselves, and, narrowing that down, disgust with people who want to call themselves leaders who have little or no intellectual curiosity and ability. Nonetheless, even if I thought the Supreme Court decision of 2000 was an absolute fraud perpetrated against the American people, I was willing to give W the benefit of the doubt. That benefit was lost within weeks, if not days. It has been too clear from the very beginning that W is in this for himself and, as he does consider himself royalty, his class (most importantly that group within that class known as the Bush family).
Whose side are you on?
I have never seen politics as bad as it is now (nor has my father who is finishing up his eighth decade as a US citizen) and it is not all on Bush. It is on you. You have had enough time to try to take the high road with this president only to be shown the metaphorical door time and time again. There is a time and a place for compromise, for negotiation, for twisting arms. That time has passed.
It is time to knock heads. It is time to stand on principle. If your choice is to get nothing done from now until the next election and allow Bush to have his way because you are afraid of the right wing rhetoric and the press that plays the same tune, I neither want you nor need you representing me in THE CAPITOL.
Get something done!!
It doesn’t have to be legislation. If you know it won’t pass, tough shit! Push it anyway if it represents the principles of the majority of Americans or even if it doesn’t and you know you’re right and just need to use it as a launching pad for explaining (y)our side.
Investigate the living hell out of the WH and out of the corrupt Capitol Hill elected and anyone else who may be damaging our democracy, acting against our Constitution, and prolonging the misery of our country.
Leadership
Here’s a hint: you are not who they say you are... at worst, I hope I am right; at best, I am. When I think of liberals, I don’t think of Donahue or Streisand or vegan nudists throwing free money away to the homeless while holding hands and singing "Kumbayah."
I think of Teddy Roosevelt (yes, a Republican) who knew how to give a tongue lashing and knew how to use the force of government to try to realize the fruition of our Constitutional principles.
I think of FDR who upset the whole order of what we were told to believe and through sufficient rhetorical magnitude enabled legislative changes that so upset the powerful they were ready to initiate a fascist overthrow of the American government.
I think of JFK, RFK, and MLK, who were so driven by their principles they were killed for them.
I think of LBJ who signed off on Civil Rights even though he knew the South was lost and it would damage the Democrats among white voters.
I think of Truman who beat back isolationist voices in 1945, realizing the mistakes made after WWI and their consequences and the possible threat of a newly-powerful Soviet Union.
I think of Lincoln who set in motion forces we are still battling today but did what was right.
I think of all those who died in the American Revolution for a better future for someone else.
I think of our Founding Fathers and how they beat back the most powerful monarchy of the day and wrote what is still one of the most beautiful political treatises ever to grace this planet.
I think some more of our Founding Fathers and remember that they knew all too well, and warned us in their writing, of George W. Bush, standing armies, weak representation of the public, powerful executives, public religious pronouncements of political leaders, random spying on those who pay for the spies, and unchecked arrests. They knew the weaknesses in the system they set up and they wrote about them as a warning.
Just as the PDBs in 2001 didn’t state the names of the terrorists and the flights they would take, the Founding Fathers didn’t name George W. Bush. But they knew.
Do you believe in America? Do you believe in our Constitution?
If the answer is "Yes"
WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?
I can damn well guarantee you that our president today asks that very same question every time he gets a glimpse of Capitol Hill.
It’s time to show him.
And if you do, I can also guarantee that there will be more than enough voices on the streets all across this country marching, yelling, screaming, singing, talking, lighting candles, painting banners, typing articles, applying bumper stickers, and generally raising hell to make sure that we are all heard together.
Quite frankly, I don’t care about anything else right now more than I care about the absolutely existential need of America, if she is to continue, that you do your duty and stand up to this WH and show them who is boss.
Is it Houston oil? Is it the Blackwater? Is it all those dirty, corporate dollars you’ve been taking in contributions? AIPAC? What is it?
I don’t care. If they all threaten to destroy this country should you do what you have to do per the Constitution, we are with you and trust me when I say that it isn’t just our words and our intellect that can kick ass.
If you continue to compromise, keep trying to find reason at 1600 Pennsylvania, continue to fear the yellow press’ acceptance of WH talking points, you are going to be very alone and history, what there will be of it, will not be kind.
So, please, realize that there has never been a bigger bunch of cowards, liars, and anti-intellectual, anti-American, obstinate, arrogant, traitorous, greedy, pukes in the WH than this group. There is no compromise. There is no reason. According to them, there is no Constitutional restraint on what they can do.
PROVE THEM WRONG!
And we’ll be right there with you.