Where Is My Party?

I looked to the left. I looked to the right. I looked at the center. The Democratic Party was flitting all about. When Clinton was elected President the Democratic Party was holding its traditional position slightly to the left of center. Then the Democrats suffered a painful mid-term election. Clinton responded to this by moving to the right. He was seeking the center ground. It was called triangulation, but it caused him to slip ever farther to the right. It did no Good. George W. Bush won the Presidential election after Clinton finished his second term. Bush then took the country so far to the right that he ran it off the road and into an economic ditch. With the election of Obama it looked like the Democrats were going to reclaim their traditional ground. The economy was so bad that it looked like the country was in desperate need of another Roosevelt.

Obama started off well. The TARP bill had already been passed, and he managed to add a stimulus bill as well as a bill that provided the loans the auto industry needed in order for it to get back on its feet. Over a million jobs were saved and thousands of jobs were added. Then came the health care bill, which required compromises that made it less effective than it should be. Furthermore, in spite of the jobs saved and added unemployment remained unacceptably high. The Democratic Party then suffered another painful mid-term election. The Republican Party was not content to stay in Bush’s ditch. Instead they made matters worse for this country by digging in ever farther to the right. Every attempt to compromise with the Republicans then nudged to Democrats farther to the right. The Bush tax cuts for the rich were extended and important social programs were cut. Then with control of the House of Representatives the Republicans did the unthinkable. They were actually stupid enough to pass the Ryan Plan that would enrich the rich while destroying Medicare by turning it into a voucher program. Congressman Sessions has even introduced a bill that would destroy Social Security by privatizing it.

If the Democrats think that the stupidity of the Republicans is enough to cause a landslide they had better think again. It is not enough for the Republicans to be out of touch with the voters if the Democrats try to work out compromises that make them appear to be out of touch with voters as well. The Democrats need to draw a sharp contrast between their party and the Republicans. The Democrats need to excite their base and get them campaigning for all they are worth. The failure to do this in the mid-term elections should tell them that. It is about Jobs! This is no time to be timid. We need to get to work on our infrastructure. We need to create jobs! We can pay for this by letting the Bush tax cuts for the rich expire, by eliminating or greatly reducing the subsidies paid to oil companies and farmers, by eliminating the loopholes that allow our most prosperous corporations to avoid paying taxes, and by eliminating the incentives to export our jobs. We can also reduce the cost of gasoline and food by cracking down on the greedy commodities traders. The Democrats really need to get behind labor and vigorously represent all of the people who are getting hosed by the interests the Republicans so ruthlessly represent.

I realize that very few of those things can be accomplished before the next elections, but the effort must be made. Obama and the other Democratic candidates must be able to run on those policies and against the Republican Congress and the filibusters that are preventing us from making this country prosperous again! If this is what the Democrats do there will be an overwhelming victory for the Democratic Party, and we will be able to get on the right track again! The people of this country need and want another Roosevelt. They want a President and a party that will inspire them and fight for them. Compromise is impossible when the Republicans are being so unreasonable. The Democrats have given up far more than they should have. Tax and spend is preferable to choke and starve. We must never indulge in appeasement or capitulation! This is the can do nation, and now is the time for resolute action.