"Opposition Is True Friendship" William Blake

[McCamy Taylor]

Let me make one thing clear. Democrats do not goosestep. That is a dance step that only Republicans know. Democrats chose to become what they are, because they enjoy expressing their opinions, and they are open minded enough to listen to the opinions of others and learn from them. They are members of the most popular party in America, and they win elections through high voter turn out, unlike the opposition, which must resort to voter suppression, apathy and other strategies aimed at decreasing turn out to "win" elections. I put the word win in quotations, because you can hardly call that a victory in a democracy.

The poet William Blakes wrote "Opposition is true friendship" in his work "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell." The Democratic members of Congress should be glad that they are members of a party in which the rank and file feel empowered to question their elected leaders. It keeps them on their toes. Complacency is the worst trap that a politician can fall into. If he starts getting used to poverty or injustice or one law for the rich and another for everyone else, then he is thinking like a Republican. If she tells herself "I really need the support of the telecommunications industry in this election, so let's compromise on some principles", yeah, maybe she needs to win that election in order to do good things. But being a Democrat, she had better be prepared to listen to her fellow Democrats tell her exactly what compromising her principles mean, in human terms. Because if a Democratic politician ever loses the ability to listen to the other side of the argument, then he or she might as well pack up and switch parties. If a leader starts getting really uncomfortable hearing criticism, he terms into the military leader of Burma.

The opinions expressed at Democratic Underground do not weaken the Democratic Party. We are engaged in the kind of discourse which the Founders practiced. Their ideas were revolutionary for their time. Some seemed too radical. Others seemed too subservient to the monarchy. The important thing is that they shared ideas. That is why free speech was such a priority when the Constitution was drawn up, and why they could say "I will defend to the death your right to say it" even when "it" was something the majority did not agree with.

When we can say those words, and mean them, then we are real members of the republic, practicing the eternal vigilance (even against our own elected Democratic leaders) with which we were charged.

Just be glad you are not a Republican. We argue over strategy, but we are all united in our goals. The GOP is divided between those who want to outlaw abortion and those who want to segregate schools and those who want to liberate other countries' oil and those who want to maximize their companies' profits. How on earth can they keep all those competing interests happy?

About solidarity, yes, I believe in it, when the arguments are being fanned by Freeper moles or when people start talking about third party splitters or when they talk the ultimate foolishness of staying home in November and not voting. Vote, Vote Democratic, present a united front to the world, and give each other hell. That is how to keep the party strong.

[Mythsaje]

1. Immensely proud to kick and recommend

Nice work.