You know the old canard from Will Rogers - -
I am not a member of any organized political party.
I am a Democrat.
Well it’s worse than that.
The Democratic Party of old would look like synchronized swimming
compared to today’s Democrats.
Despite a Democrat in the White House –
Despite a 58 plus 2 seat majority in the Senate –
Despite a 258 to 177 majority in the House –
The Democrats cannot get to first base on anything remotely resembling progressive policy.
So why am I a Democrat?
Lieberman is a lot of things – but he is not stupid. He and other Blue Dogs know that Obama and the so-called Democratic leadership are desperate for anything on the health care bill. So they can easily extract the last ounce of blood. And they will.
So why am I a Democrat?
A few years ago, my sister asked me while visiting over the holidays why the Bush administration was doing something in Iraq that was sure to fail. I answered, "Because that is what they want to happen." At first she did not want to understand my reply, but then she realized that by creating failure in Iraq, the Bush administration could justify all sorts of additional assaults on the body politic.
So why am I a Democrat?
I work with many people who are dealing with substance abuse. The odds are not good. You spend weeks and weeks with someone – getting them sober, getting them in a safe place to live, getting them to look at their patterns. And what happens so often? They go back to drinking and using. Why? Yes there is the clinical definition of addiction, but there is also the simple fact that they want to. The desire to drink takes precedence over the desire not to.
So why am I a Democrat?
And the Democrats do the same thing over and over and over again. Isn’t it about time to stop making excuses for the Democrats? Isn’t the fact that they repeatedly fail to act in a coherent and progressive manner more the result of intent – even if subconscious, even if driven by something resembling addiction – then the nefarious machinations of this, that, or the other great force of evil – which if only we can get past we will reach Nirvana? For Democrats, the desire to fail to live up to even the smallest of expectations has been going on now for two generations.
So why am I a Democrat?
I have volunteered, donated, and voted Democratic since 1976. Hell, I volunteered in high school for the McGovern campaign – in North Carolina, no less. I have seen the Democrats surrender more and more of the polity to the right so that what once was a centrist position – such as banking regulation – is now seen as some extreme left-wing plot. It takes two to tango. Yes, the Republicans have been taken over by extreme social conservatives and neoliberal demagogues – but the Democrats have acquiesced to much of this.
So why am I a Democrat?
Probably half the people posting on Daily Kos have expressed exasperation with the Democrats – many threatening to leave, this diarist included. But we always come back to the well. Surely, the powers that be in the Democratic Party are more than aware of this. They can hold up photos of Richard Nixon or Ronald Reagan or Sarah Palin and we will come rushing back to volunteer, donate, and vote – just like the person in need of a fix.
What happens if that pattern is broken?