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Honestly, how many of us are really happy with the way the Dem leadership seems to be handling Bushco's obstinancy and obvious disdain not only for we, the People, but the branch of government charged with its oversight?
All over the blogosphere, liberal voices are crying out for justice. "Impeach the bastards!" we read. But, unfortunately, impeachment's "off the table." But, well, maybe it isn't. The investigations are being stonewalled (at some point their guilt is going to be so transparent that they'll be down to their last twenty percent of knuckle-dragging knuckleheads) and it looks as though the media is actually starting to turn.
We're watching everything they're doing with some level of impatience, wondering why it's taking so long to do ANYTHING notable. Our qualms are not calmed by one of those we expect to take on the administration publicly declaring what sounds suspiciously like admiration for someone we've grown to both distrust and despise.
We wonder how many of our "representatives" are too beholden to corporate interests to work on OUR behalf. Not just the Repugs, but some of the Dems as well. Some people blame the DLC for this. Others rise up to defend the DLC.
I don't know WHAT organization was behind the Dems voting "aye" on the damn bankruptcy bill, but those who did should be ashamed of themselves, if not tarred and feathered and ran out of D.C. on a rail.
Those who were elected to take on this administration better damn well be putting everything they got into the effort. If they can't wrest the evidence from Bushco's toxic grasp, maybe they should just start publicly extrapolating what they THINK that evidence might be. Sure, the RW pundits will castigate them for it, but it seems pretty obvious Bushco is hiding something that would cause them, and their party, some serious damage.
If this is played correctly, and to the end, we could paint nearly all the Republicans with a GW brush and cripple the party for a generation, at least. The people need to be reminded, as each new thing comes to light, that not only did Bushco do all this, but the Republican controlled congress stood by and LET them do it without a single word of protest. In many cases, they helped by pushing things like the IWR and the Patriot Act.
Most of Congress, with a few notable exceptions, was so caught up in the post 9/11 panic and rush to war that they never stopped to ask a single real question about what they were being told. How is it that WE, the outsiders, the bloggers, the citizen-activists on the other side of a electronic connection, could see the truth when all these "insiders" could not?
It looks like capitulation, cowardice, and (dare I say it) corruption at very heart of our Democracy. It used to be that the Dems stood for the People, or, at least, that was the perception. In the past couple decades, more and more people have come of age truly believing that NO ONE actually represented them. We can revile them for their "apathy," perhaps, but maybe it's not so much apathy as political despair.
Nader caught a lot of heat for (among other things) saying that there was no discernable difference between the parties. I'm happy to say that I don't agree with that statement. Problem is that there isn't a more noticable difference between many of the individual members on both sides of the aisle.
Part of that's the way Congress is structured. More conservative Dems have a better chance of winning in certain districts, and need to vote that way. Maybe there should be a general litmus test for claiming status as a Democrat, however, and maybe, just maybe, some of these people wouldn't pass it.
If I had my druthers, the criteria would be as follows--
Support for:
Universal, single-payer healthcare in America.
A formal apology to Iraq, the withdrawal of the vast majority of troops upon negotiation with the U.N. to step in to take up the slack, and the payment of war reparations.
The ejection of all war profiteering American corporations from Iraq, with foreign companies being brought in to take over the rebuilding once the peacekeeping forces had helped stabilize it somewhat.
Investigation, impeachment, and prosecution of Bushco for not only high crimes and misdemeanors, but also for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The restoration of rights lost through the passage of Patriot Acts I and II.
The repeal of corporate personhood.
Public financing of elections.
Transparent elections with verifiable ballots.
Equal rights for ALL adult citizens, regardless of race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation.
An end to the Drug War as we know it.
A resolution to do everything possible to make sure abortion becomes or remains, indeed, "safe, legal, and rare."
Vastly increased funding for education, from head start to the university and everything in between.
A resolve to pursue clean sources of alternate energy and to combat global warming on every possible level.
I could add more, but I'd settle for these.
So. The Democratic Party is by far preferable to the Republican Party. But it sure as hell isn't what it should be and I think we all know it. So we can continue to stand here and watch while collaborators and enablers allow the Republicans to skate from their crimes yet again, or we can exert as much pressure as we possibly can to make them realize that we, the People, deserve better than that.
And, as a last note, I'd like to gently recommend that anyone who's in actual contact with Cindy ask her to plunge her dagger a bit more carefully next time. Assault not the Dem Party as a whole (for those are a lot of us associated with it who aren't playing the game by Republican rules) but those who deserve it the most.
And she should double-check her historical facts as well, and explain things like "Party of Slavery" a bit more clearly.
'Course, that's just the opinion of someone who's been behind her the whole way, and thinks she would be far better off if she were a bit more careful in her methods at this point in time.
So if I'm a Dem, and if I'm here posting as a Dem, and am expected to follow the rules regarding supporting Democratic candidates and the Democratic Party as a whole, well, I expect the same respect and loyalty from the party in turn.
Otherwise, it's my damn Party too, and I'll cry and bitch and moan about it if I damn well want to.
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