I have never voted for a Republican in my life. The closest I ever came was in 1980 when I became so disenchanted with President Carter that I voted for the former Republican Congressman from Illinois, John Anderson, the Independent Party candidate. I regretted that vote for a long time...still do.
I have never voted for a Republican in my life. The closest I ever came was in 1980 when I became so disenchanted with President Carter that I voted for the former Republican Congressman from Illinois, John Anderson, the Independent Party candidate. I regretted that vote for a long time...still do.
My first campaign was canvassing for Eugene McCarthy in 1968. Since then, I have worked in various degrees for Democratic candidates and donated money to both the Party and individual office seekers.
I have been a loyal Democrat all these years because I believed in what the Party stood for. I have always believed in change and the ability to make things better through that change. I have always believed that it is the government's responsibility to initiate that change if society is slow to act. That has always been what Democrats have stood for as well. Often, I have urged more change than "mainstream" Democrats but the difference between us was never too great. The exception was Vietnam and I fought against LBJ's war with all my heart and soul. That said, I also never forget that while LBJ was sinking 500,000 men into the quagmire that Vietnam would become, he was also passing the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, and the various aspects of the Great Society.
We stood up to Nixon's escalation of that war and finally brought it to an end and when Nixon tried to summon up the "Silent Majority" against us, we held our ground. We were vindicated when Nixon was found to be the crook he had always denied being.
I struggled during the Reagan years as the "Moral Majority" cynically yet successfully claimed patriotism as a Conservative virtue. I fought like hell when the Republicans attempted a coup against President Clinton and after having failed in that sleazy endeavor, they stole the election in 2000 - and you know I do not use hyperbole, they stole the damned election! Still full of venom from the attack on Clinton and longing to "take my country back", I, like so many others, was determined to right a constitutional wrong. With hard work , constant political action, and the aid of the worst President in American History, we won back the Congress in 2006 and won a landslide in both houses of Congress as well as the presidency in 2008!
Now, after 40 years of loyalty and activism, 16 years of fighting a conservative majority and barely one year after seemingly reclaiming that majority...I wash my hands of the Democratic Party. You ask why and correctly point out that the Republicans are a despicable lot. They are fear mongers, merchants of hate, sanctimonious morons and philosophically barren. They are the "Party of No." They are a caricature.
But what have Democrats become? Given a super majority to rule, to reclaim what the Republicans have stolen, to return the country to what it should be, the Democrats have shown themselves incapable of governing. They no longer stand for anything. Far too many are Democrats in name only. Far too many are apologists of the status quo...not agents of change. Had the Democrats that we all elected behaved like the Party that we all supported, we would have a Health Care Reform Act with a public option NOW! We would have Cap and Trade legislation NOW! But, instead, Cap and Trade is dead and Health Care is comatose. Why?
Why Am I No Longer A Democrat? Evan Bayh, Mary Landrieu, Blanche Lincoln, Ben Nelson, and Joe Lieberman (who is allowed to caucus with Democrats!)...to name but a few.
I am registered to vote in the state of Arkansas this fall and I will help defeat Blanche Lincoln and I will vote against Mike Ross (leader of the so-called "Blue Dogs" in the House) in the 4th Congressional District. "Blue Dogs" indeed! Give me a break...
And that's just the beginning. No longer will I support a party or a candidate that doesn't stand for what the historical Democratic Party has stood for. Don't misunderstand. I don't mean to imply that we sign a covenant in blood. There are issues we will always disagree on. This is a diverse party with social and cultural differences that reflect the same diversity within our country...but this Party does not compromise on universal health care, on the environment, on civil rights, on a woman's basic right to choose.
We thought we had won in 2008 but now we know there is still hard work to do. We must be willing to take a political hit in November and begin to assemble a real Democratic Party once again. Let the Republicans shout with glee and celebrate their "win"...Meanwhile, we must be firm in letting the Democrats whom we elect know what we expect. We must demand that they meet those expectations and we must be firm in dismissing those who prove to be faux Democrats. Until then...I no longer wear the label of Democrat.