Thursday, June 09, 2005
The Democratic Crisis
Some of you may mistake me for a liberal or Democrat as I loathe the current Republican control of our government all-around. But my ire goes to pretty much all of those in control of our politics.
Still, one has to ask what is wrong with the Democratic party? Clinton was a landslide and years that will deem nostalgic over time. They held power in blue collar, Catholic, Jewish, urban, rural and minority America. No more.
Well let's be honest. Even Bush hardly had his alleged mandate in 2004. He scraped by an uninspiring candidate with a dirty lying campaign and economic tricks that will haunt us for decades. He also rode in on the corpses of 9-11. He even lost the majority vote in 2000 and the Florida results are still suspect.
Still, Bush won. And they got control of both the House and Senate. Even California has The Terminator (per public servants). The Supreme Court is looking unbalanced too.
So what is the Democratic problem?
Certainly they are losing the spin battle. Rover is genius here. He could sell turds as yummy treats. Which is pretty much what he did. Talk about a failed presidency. Record trade deficits. Record federal deficits. Record household debt. Record low household equity. A stock market crash with job losses. Local governments and states are broke. Terrorists hit two of our main cities. We get in two wars. Our personal rights and privacy curtailed.
But no. The war hero who served dangerous duty is questioned about his service. While Bush skipped his guard duty. I don't care how you stack it up, a power boat with guns going down a jungle river getting shot at from the hidden vines sounds scary. The values bullshit was brilliant too. Gay marriage. I suppose God wants them to spread AIDS in bath houses rather than form committed stable unions.
So now the Dems are on this spin thing. I agree they need to do better PR. And if its dirty, well I don't see much clean in the Republican camp. I say go for it. But spin isn't enough. They need some kind of original agenda. Not being Bush wasn't enough for winning. And plenty of his voters were not that thrilled with him either.
The candidates need charisma. Bush is spun as one of the boys. A guy you could BBQ with. A good old Texas boy. Didn't fit in at Yale (Supposedly because he wasn't the spoiled rich kid?! More likely he wasn't that smart). But somehow this draft and then guard duty dodger is a macho tough guy. And this spoiled life served on a silver platter boy of priviledge is a regular one-of-us guy?
Kerry was no JFK. His rich wife didn't help. Nor his ambulance-chaser running mate, who was essentially invisible after the convention. Dean was a kick, but this exciting guy who did a great job as gov was relentlessly attacked by his own party.
But I digress. The Democratic liberal platform for decades has been socialism, litigation, race and feminism.
Race. Affirmative action. Discrimination. LBJ was right with civil rights in the sixties. The institutional racism than was deplorable. Unfortunately as LBJ predicted, the Dems lost the South. Wow! You reject candidates and party because they believe all men are created equal! Today there is still racism, but its more subtle. Sorry but you can't pass laws for everything. Some will not play nice. Most of us carry all sorts of prejudices. It's an ugly part of human nature and the better of us fight against it in ourselves. But the laws, programs and courts have now made it worse. Some of this crap inflames dormant racial tension. Many of us are sick and tired of the race card and race excuses. It's time to move on.
Litigation. Hostage to the trial lawyers. We even get Edwards the ambulance-chaser and Whitewater Hillary. Billions to the lawyers when the Nicotine Dealers were sued. The use of civil law to address every agenda is perversion of the law and our entire society based on a system of law. It is sucking up wealth into useless activity and money is transferred from those who earned it to those who cry and the lawyers. There is a visceral constriction of personal freedom from this.
Feminism. Like civil rights, it had merit. Voting. A chance to do things. But that tme has passed. Men in this country have been essentially castrated. But no, the politicians, especially the Dems, have made the workplace an Orwellian straightjacket. Better watch what you say. Don't want to offend anyone. Its a major crime. Then on to litigation. Divorce? She usually gets the house, kids, half the assets besides. Then he has to pay for the house and send both child support and alimony. Maybe he can see the kids-when she says. Grandpa is often eliminated from the picture.
Finally and most to the point is Socialism. Of course Bush escalated Medicare and Nixon added on LBJ's Welfare State. But the Dems have had the rights on this one. Funny how we spent a half-century fighting this shit while we kept moving that way ourselves. Our most socialistic presidents: Wilson, FDR and LBJ.
Well this shit need to be curtailed. All the regulations. All the government interference. The free market works. Leave it alone. Get out of all this nonsense. Its time to stop the corporate welfare. If a company fails, so be it. Get rid of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These are dangerous institutions that will destroy our economy. Stop FDIC. Its just a net for thrifts to take stupid risks. after all the feds, meaning taxpayers, will bail them out.
So what new ideas? I would probably hate them anyways, but politically: Tax the "rich." More middle-class welfare (like homeowner deductions). And of course socialized medicine.
As usual the two parties don't give us much choice.
Still, one has to ask what is wrong with the Democratic party? Clinton was a landslide and years that will deem nostalgic over time. They held power in blue collar, Catholic, Jewish, urban, rural and minority America. No more.
Well let's be honest. Even Bush hardly had his alleged mandate in 2004. He scraped by an uninspiring candidate with a dirty lying campaign and economic tricks that will haunt us for decades. He also rode in on the corpses of 9-11. He even lost the majority vote in 2000 and the Florida results are still suspect.
Still, Bush won. And they got control of both the House and Senate. Even California has The Terminator (per public servants). The Supreme Court is looking unbalanced too.
So what is the Democratic problem?
Certainly they are losing the spin battle. Rover is genius here. He could sell turds as yummy treats. Which is pretty much what he did. Talk about a failed presidency. Record trade deficits. Record federal deficits. Record household debt. Record low household equity. A stock market crash with job losses. Local governments and states are broke. Terrorists hit two of our main cities. We get in two wars. Our personal rights and privacy curtailed.
But no. The war hero who served dangerous duty is questioned about his service. While Bush skipped his guard duty. I don't care how you stack it up, a power boat with guns going down a jungle river getting shot at from the hidden vines sounds scary. The values bullshit was brilliant too. Gay marriage. I suppose God wants them to spread AIDS in bath houses rather than form committed stable unions.
So now the Dems are on this spin thing. I agree they need to do better PR. And if its dirty, well I don't see much clean in the Republican camp. I say go for it. But spin isn't enough. They need some kind of original agenda. Not being Bush wasn't enough for winning. And plenty of his voters were not that thrilled with him either.
The candidates need charisma. Bush is spun as one of the boys. A guy you could BBQ with. A good old Texas boy. Didn't fit in at Yale (Supposedly because he wasn't the spoiled rich kid?! More likely he wasn't that smart). But somehow this draft and then guard duty dodger is a macho tough guy. And this spoiled life served on a silver platter boy of priviledge is a regular one-of-us guy?
Kerry was no JFK. His rich wife didn't help. Nor his ambulance-chaser running mate, who was essentially invisible after the convention. Dean was a kick, but this exciting guy who did a great job as gov was relentlessly attacked by his own party.
But I digress. The Democratic liberal platform for decades has been socialism, litigation, race and feminism.
Race. Affirmative action. Discrimination. LBJ was right with civil rights in the sixties. The institutional racism than was deplorable. Unfortunately as LBJ predicted, the Dems lost the South. Wow! You reject candidates and party because they believe all men are created equal! Today there is still racism, but its more subtle. Sorry but you can't pass laws for everything. Some will not play nice. Most of us carry all sorts of prejudices. It's an ugly part of human nature and the better of us fight against it in ourselves. But the laws, programs and courts have now made it worse. Some of this crap inflames dormant racial tension. Many of us are sick and tired of the race card and race excuses. It's time to move on.
Litigation. Hostage to the trial lawyers. We even get Edwards the ambulance-chaser and Whitewater Hillary. Billions to the lawyers when the Nicotine Dealers were sued. The use of civil law to address every agenda is perversion of the law and our entire society based on a system of law. It is sucking up wealth into useless activity and money is transferred from those who earned it to those who cry and the lawyers. There is a visceral constriction of personal freedom from this.
Feminism. Like civil rights, it had merit. Voting. A chance to do things. But that tme has passed. Men in this country have been essentially castrated. But no, the politicians, especially the Dems, have made the workplace an Orwellian straightjacket. Better watch what you say. Don't want to offend anyone. Its a major crime. Then on to litigation. Divorce? She usually gets the house, kids, half the assets besides. Then he has to pay for the house and send both child support and alimony. Maybe he can see the kids-when she says. Grandpa is often eliminated from the picture.
Finally and most to the point is Socialism. Of course Bush escalated Medicare and Nixon added on LBJ's Welfare State. But the Dems have had the rights on this one. Funny how we spent a half-century fighting this shit while we kept moving that way ourselves. Our most socialistic presidents: Wilson, FDR and LBJ.
Well this shit need to be curtailed. All the regulations. All the government interference. The free market works. Leave it alone. Get out of all this nonsense. Its time to stop the corporate welfare. If a company fails, so be it. Get rid of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These are dangerous institutions that will destroy our economy. Stop FDIC. Its just a net for thrifts to take stupid risks. after all the feds, meaning taxpayers, will bail them out.
So what new ideas? I would probably hate them anyways, but politically: Tax the "rich." More middle-class welfare (like homeowner deductions). And of course socialized medicine.
As usual the two parties don't give us much choice.
