YAA!
Posted on 06/12/2005 9:31:16 PM PDT by Libloather
Democratic Party goes on offensive
By Phil Dean
It seems odd to those of us who remember the Democratic Party in its heyday: It was the party of ideas, the party that set the agenda, the party that created the New Deal and the Great Society. But something happened on the "Bridge to the 21st Century" and the Democratic Party is today struggling for relevancy and appeal in an age of conservative ascendancy.
The great European socialist experiments have not succeeded in creating an alternative to free-market capitalism for which the progressive movement had hoped. For the Democratic Party born in the 1960s, this failure has left it with a vacancy that is striking in its totality. It literally has nothing to offer, nothing to rally behind, no real reason to ask the American voter to put it into power once more.
The impact of all this is seen in the speeches made by senior Democratic Party officials and elected leaders. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., gave a speech recently in which she railed against Republicans without expressing a single thought about what she would recommend as an alternative approach. Even Newt Gingrich has called Sen. Clinton "smart" and "hard working." But all she had to talk about was stopping the Republican agenda. "We can’t ever, ever give in to the Republican agenda," she said.
What about the Republican agenda is Sen. Clinton so upset about? The only specifics she could itemize were Social Security reform and judicial appointments. And so, she is frustrated. In spite of the McCain compromise, Republicans will get the president’s judicial appointments approved for the most part. And Democrats have failed to offer a solution to the problem of solvency or long-term stability for the Social Security system. (Yes, personal retirement accounts are an important part of the solution for the solvency of the Social Security system because they prevent Congress from spending money set aside for your retirement.)
Without ideas that appeal to most Americans, Democrats are left with a two-pronged strategy: Working to hold on to voters they have and waiting for Republicans or the Bush administration to make a serious mistake, creating an opportunity for them to get elected.
As chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Gov. Howard Dean is in charge of the first part of this strategy: Holding on to the core Democratic voter. Unfortunately, his appeal to the minority community has been anything but subtle. Without ideas to offer African-Americans or Hispanics on how to make their lives better, Dean has launched a hateful, fear-based attack designed to divide Americans, white versus minority, Christian versus non-Christian. This past week, in a speech widely reported, Dean explained Republicans are "pretty much a white Christian party." Later on the "Today Show," he expanded and defended this statement, explaining the Republican Party is narrow and "unfriendly to different kinds of people" and "pretty monolithic."
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was a little uncomfortable with the language, but claimed Dean is doing a great job for the party. Rather than ask for his resignation, Pelosi is supporting Dean even after these race-bating statements. Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., made similar statements of support for Dean on the "Imus in the Morning" program Wednesday morning. As of this writing, no Democratic leader or elected federal official has asked for Dean to step down.
So, Dean’s appeal to the minority community is that the Republican Party is bad because it is filled with white people and Christians. Of course, the Democratic Party is also filled with white people and Christians. But Dean’s message is targeted at the minority community and it says, "The Republican Party is not for you because it is white and you are not." It is a pretty sad state of affairs that this is the only message the Democratic Party has for its most loyal voting bloc.
What makes it kind of funny is that Dean’s counterpart in the Republican Party is Jewish and was surprised to learn he is running a "Christian" party.
It is hard to see how this Democratic Party is going to succeed over time defending a large and bloated government that wastes more and more money, delivering less and less value. What we can hope for is that Bush does just what Sen. Clinton fears: consolidates power and exercises it, reducing government, cutting taxes, rebuilding Social Security, aggressively fighting the war on terror, and filling the judiciary with people who follow the Constitution instead of trying to rewrite it.
I've heard that there maybe a Euro recall. Germans want the pfennig, Italians want the Lira...
I've heard that there maybe a Euro recall. Germans want the pfennig, Italians want the Lira.
The Germans have met their mark.
I'd like the dims to know that I've always found them offensive, and, it shows no sign of letting up.
True. The last complete German failure at this was 1945.
The Democratic party is dysfunctional on the national level, their leadership is lost and their only plan is to obstruct.
Bottom line, here's the deal:
Most Democrats are about as focused, stable and unemotional as a twenty-year-old hooker with a crack habit. That's an awful thing to say about another human being but in this situation it's completely accurate.
If I were advising the Democrats, I'd tell the Kennedys to call Kate Michelman, Eleanor Smeal, Kim Gandy, Patricia Ireland, David Geffen, Martin Sheen and Barbra Streisand into a hotel conference room at the Waldorf Astoria and basically shoot them...asking them to take their mentally ill supporters and money, go down the street and become Greens because that's what they are.
I saw a DNC meeting on C-SPAN over the weekend, hosted by Howard Dean, and I swear...all they wanted to talk about for an hour was the gay thing. I thought the whole meeting was gonna turn into a circle jerk. If that's what the party has become, there *is* no party because they'll never be able to penetrate enough red states to be viable again. They're out of business and should be treated as such.
Then...I'd completely realign the party, getting rid of the alternative values thing and start speaking out exclusively about middle class, Rust Belt-type issues: rebuilding our infrastructure and rebuilding our manufacturing base and permanently fixing our tax system. We have the lowest savings rate in the civilized world and it HAS to change. If that means people don't spend every waking moment at the mall, then so be it. There are other priorities.
We must truly fix public education including primary, secondary and post-secondary at all levels in all states in all regions! If a kid didn't quite measure up in math or science, we'd get him there...boot camp style, because that's what it's gonna take. I would not give him or her a choice. Take the damn X-box and hit it with a sledgehammer.
How do we pay for this? Well...maybe we need a tax increase, but not before cutting a lot of other trash that we sure as hell do NOT need. They're called priorities and making the hard choices...something we haven't done a lot of lately. That would also change.
We need a healthy dose of 1948, Truman-Kennedy style activism. There are problems to be solved and goals to be met...and our future depends upon it. I don't care and will never care about race, color or creed. I don't give a damn because it doesn't matter. There's too much else to worry about, and if we don't bind together we're all screwed anyway.
Today's Democrats sure as hell aren't going to get us there and I have my doubts about the Bush Republicans even though I voted for them.
I'm angry and I'm worried about my country. Really worried.
When the tax man takes 15% off the top, before income tax, "savings" are going to be minimal.
But convert our FICA contribution into "personal accounts" and you'd have real savings -- of a massive order.
In sum: our perennially low savings rate is an illusion, created by Social Security as we know it.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
I have always found the Democratic Party very offensive.
A Bridge To Far
That, my friend, was profound.
For a party that is morally, spiritually, ethically and intellectually bankrupt, the Rats seem to do pretty good in the polls. Even when you factor out the votes of the dead, illegal aliens and convicted felons the Rats can still do pretty good. It appears to that large segments of America still need to wake up and realize what the party they vote for represents.
As usual, the do-nothing dems are all big talk and no action.
Thanks for the ping!
Consider the following:
http://www.victorhanson.com/articles/hanson050605.html
I'm not the only one saying these things. Far from it, in fact.
They have some warts I will admit, but they are much, much better than the alternative.
The choice is not between the republicans and perfection. The choice is between the republicans and the democrat socialist party.
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