Dear Democrats,
In fall 2006, right before you took back the House and the Senate from the Republicans, I was having a heated debate with an employee of mine. Normally, I don't debate politics at work, but "Kyle", my employee, had strong liberal views and noticed the Ned Lamont bumper sticker on my car (I don't know if you remember Ned - you gave tepid support to him during the election despite the fact that he ran on your party's label.) I was trying to get Kyle to vote; not necessarily to vote for Mr. Lamont, although I would have preferred that, but simply to get him out and vote for
anyone. Kyle thought that there was no point to voting, since "no matter what they say, they all do the same thing once they get to Washington." I begged and pleaded with him, saying that that wasn't true and that this time everything was going to be different.
Kyle did not vote. Ned Lamont was defeated. And I was proven wrong, as Kyle has ruefully pointed out to me a couple of weeks ago.
A couple of weeks ago you made a disastrous mistake. I am not going to rehash the details of your mistake, because I feel certain that you have heard loud and clear from many, many people what you did wrong. But this mistake hashad the effect of proving every negative stereotype that exists about the Democratic Party: we're weak, we're wishy-washy, we back down, we say one thing and then do another. If you have bothered to talk to the common person, the man or woman on the street, you know that this is true. And if you haven't, there are a couple of polls out that prove this very point. You can check them out here:
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=3242551&page=1 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19037437You don't have very much time. The economy is going south quicker than is being reported in the press. Gas prices are skyrocketing. And it still looks like we will never get out of the expensive, deadly, immoral quagmire that is Iraq. You may think that Americans will blame all of this on their President, but you're wrong.
Democrats, you need to remember that you are not running against George W. Bush in 2008. You will be running against a new breed of Republicans, many of whom will have taken the hint and will promise to end the war and the policies of the unpopular President. They will promise to do something about gas prices and the economy. And while it's true that liberal Democrats will not believe them, the Independents, who you will need to win the next election, will. Not only that, those independents are
more likely to vote Republican because they'll feel that at least Republicans keep their promises.
2008 is not a done deal. YOU CAN LOSE THE HOUSE AND THE SENATE. In fact, if things continue on the current path, I would bet that you
will. Here is what the American people are going to need you to do in order for you to earn back their trust by November 2008:
1. Take steps to correct the massive disparity in wealth between the richest 1% and everyone else;
2. Hold the oil companies accountable for the high gas prices. If there is a reason why you can't do that, such as peak oil, you need to explain the concept to us;
3. You must begin impeachment proceedings against George W. Bush and Dick Cheney;
4. At your next opportunity, you MUST get us out of Iraq.
Failure to any of the above will convince the common person, the independent voter, that everything that they've heard about Democrats is true, and that there is really no difference between the two parties. You will be blamed, whether you think it's your fault or not. You will, in short, lose the only advantage we have.
Sincerely,
Finnfan (a concerned lifelong Democrat)
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