How the Democrats are destroying America
Aug. 10th, 2003 06:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
richardf8I am getting sick and tired of the Democratic Party. They think that they can win hearts and minds by appealing to conscience and reason. And they're afraid of being called bad names. And that, in a nutshell, is how George W. Bush is able to effect the Nazification of America.
Republicans fight dirty. They do everything they can to change the rules to favor them, and even so, they cheat to win. And Democrats are too afraid to call them on it. I read recently that the Democrats who voted for the Patriot act hated doing so. So why, why did they vote for it? They were elected because their constituents had faith in them. Why then, did they second guess themselves? Because they are wimps!
Why did these Democrats vote for the use of force in Iraq? Because in the face of a blustering bully of a president they cowered.
In every election, it seems, the Republicans gain ground. Are democratic voters turning GOP? No. But they are voting for candidates from the Reformed party and the Green Party. Why? Because the Democrats have by and large ceased to stand up for the values of Democrats. When Paul Wellstone voted for the hate crime known as the "Defense of Marriage Act" and Bill Clinton signed it into law, they sacrifiiced votes to Ralph Nader. In signing a bill banning "partial birth abortion" more would be Dems lost faith. The party of Kennedy, Carter, and the Clintons (remember Bill's promises of National Health Care, and equal treatment of gays in the military?) has, in the name of fear, sold out the very people who built it.
Give us a Warrior for the Left! Give us someone with a sincere, puppy-dog face and an inspiring voice who will repeat over and over that Bush engineered 9/11 to consolidate his own power. Point to the fact that Al Qaeda had its start in Reagan Era monkey-wrenching of the Soviet campaign in Afghanistan, and that Osama "owed" the Bushies a few favors. Repeat it and repeat it. Bush has proven that truth does not matter and that this method works. Repeat that the Bushies got Osama and Saddam to safety before the campaigns against them even began. And if challenged repeat louder, and pout a bit. Link Bush to terrorism and totalitarianism. Fight the dirtiest fight possible.
And campaign on repealing the DOMA, repealing the DMCA, ensuring the right of women to seek abortions (and use the word abortion, for crying out loud) without road blocks, ensuring that partnerships between consenting adults (gay straight or otherwise) are treated no differently than marriages for the purposes of Health Insurance, Medicare Eligibility, Eligibility to collect a spouse's Social Security Benefits, and legal assumptions regarding probate. Campaign on providing decent post-secondary education to all Americans who can maintain an average of "C" or better.
When Jesse Ventura won the Minnesota Governorship, the world was shocked. Why should they have been? Ventura was a man who believed in gay rights, gun rights, and abortion rights. He did not present Minnesotans with the dilemma "Do I want guns at the expense of abortion and gay rights, or do I give those things up for guns and fiscal conservatism?" He won on the same platform of his Republican (not the GOP's anointed Quist but the popularly nominated Carlson) predecessor. So why is it a surprise that he won? He campaigned on, and stood by, that promise of self determination that is such a core component of the American psyche.
These then are the values we need to support if we are to uproot the GOP Reich that threatens to strangle democracy, stifle freedom, and criminalize compassion. If only the Democrats would focus on democracy, they might win some voters back from the Greens. Until then, I guess it's Mourning in America.
Republicans fight dirty. They do everything they can to change the rules to favor them, and even so, they cheat to win. And Democrats are too afraid to call them on it. I read recently that the Democrats who voted for the Patriot act hated doing so. So why, why did they vote for it? They were elected because their constituents had faith in them. Why then, did they second guess themselves? Because they are wimps!
Why did these Democrats vote for the use of force in Iraq? Because in the face of a blustering bully of a president they cowered.
In every election, it seems, the Republicans gain ground. Are democratic voters turning GOP? No. But they are voting for candidates from the Reformed party and the Green Party. Why? Because the Democrats have by and large ceased to stand up for the values of Democrats. When Paul Wellstone voted for the hate crime known as the "Defense of Marriage Act" and Bill Clinton signed it into law, they sacrifiiced votes to Ralph Nader. In signing a bill banning "partial birth abortion" more would be Dems lost faith. The party of Kennedy, Carter, and the Clintons (remember Bill's promises of National Health Care, and equal treatment of gays in the military?) has, in the name of fear, sold out the very people who built it.
Give us a Warrior for the Left! Give us someone with a sincere, puppy-dog face and an inspiring voice who will repeat over and over that Bush engineered 9/11 to consolidate his own power. Point to the fact that Al Qaeda had its start in Reagan Era monkey-wrenching of the Soviet campaign in Afghanistan, and that Osama "owed" the Bushies a few favors. Repeat it and repeat it. Bush has proven that truth does not matter and that this method works. Repeat that the Bushies got Osama and Saddam to safety before the campaigns against them even began. And if challenged repeat louder, and pout a bit. Link Bush to terrorism and totalitarianism. Fight the dirtiest fight possible.
And campaign on repealing the DOMA, repealing the DMCA, ensuring the right of women to seek abortions (and use the word abortion, for crying out loud) without road blocks, ensuring that partnerships between consenting adults (gay straight or otherwise) are treated no differently than marriages for the purposes of Health Insurance, Medicare Eligibility, Eligibility to collect a spouse's Social Security Benefits, and legal assumptions regarding probate. Campaign on providing decent post-secondary education to all Americans who can maintain an average of "C" or better.
When Jesse Ventura won the Minnesota Governorship, the world was shocked. Why should they have been? Ventura was a man who believed in gay rights, gun rights, and abortion rights. He did not present Minnesotans with the dilemma "Do I want guns at the expense of abortion and gay rights, or do I give those things up for guns and fiscal conservatism?" He won on the same platform of his Republican (not the GOP's anointed Quist but the popularly nominated Carlson) predecessor. So why is it a surprise that he won? He campaigned on, and stood by, that promise of self determination that is such a core component of the American psyche.
These then are the values we need to support if we are to uproot the GOP Reich that threatens to strangle democracy, stifle freedom, and criminalize compassion. If only the Democrats would focus on democracy, they might win some voters back from the Greens. Until then, I guess it's Mourning in America.
