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Underground > Switchboard >

Make it Official?

13:42 / 11.11.04

Bear with me, I know it's a scary thought. I'd been thinking about it a bit and then saw this:

Link

Here's a short exerpt:

What's my point? It's a simple one, really. Democrats need to accept that they are the opposition party in the United States, not the governing party. The Republicans are the governing party, and they must be held accountable for it. But as long as the Democrats continue to feel, in their heart of hearts, like they should be in charge, and will be again very soon, and ought to defend the government even though they don't run it, the Republicans will be free to pummel them for all the mistakes the government is making--even though it's the Republicans who are making them. ?

Can the Democrats actually increase their power by becoming the opposition? Another point of the article is that it would let them stand by their convictions on issues that are still losers on a national level, like gay rights, for example. Do we want a Democratic candidate who is unwilling to be firmly in favor of such a simple, to us admitedly, issue as gay marriage?

Another potential benefit: it would allow us to instead of trying to match the bullying mob (7 out of the last ten presidential elections went Republican) to concentrate on finding the divisions within the Republican Party. They are there, as difficult as this may believe.

13:58 / 11.11.04

Dammit, I can't get the link to work. Go here:

http://indyweek.com/durham/2004-11-10/citizen.html

Don't worry, it's short.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

16:35 / 11.11.04

He's right in that the Democrats should act like an opposition party now, and should stop trying to appeal to people whose values are such that they should never be Democrat supporters. If they do that, then they might be in the Government again one day (I was appalled by Clinton who seemed to say the other week the key to a Democrat victory was to go more for spin and even less for substance, but that's another thread). But to accept and settle forever into second place is to say that the values of the Republican party and right and best, and I don't accept that even when it's someone to the left of Bush in charge.

16:45 / 11.11.04

Can the Democrats actually increase their power by becoming the opposition? Another point of the article is that it would let them stand by their convictions on issues that are still losers on a national level, like gay rights, for example. Do we want a Democratic candidate who is unwilling to be firmly in favor of such a simple, to us admitedly, issue as gay marriage?

Well, hold on, I think there are two different questions getting mixed up together here. I think, yes, Democrats should be the opposition party in relation to the Republican party, which clearly has a firm grip on governmental power.

But it's not accurate to say that Democratic issues are "losers on a national level." That's buying into Repub spin. In actual fact, almost two-thirds of Americans favor at least gay civil unions, and about the same portion is pro-choice. A majority would allow partial-birth abortions if the life of the mother were at risk - the Dem position. Most Americans are against outsourcing jobs - the Dem position.

The only overwhelming national-level loser of the Democratic platform is taxation, and that's nothing new, nor is it a "moral values" issue, nor is it an insurmountable problem.

And yet the Repubs have convinced most Americans of this great lie - that the Democrats differ from them on nearly every issue. That's where opposition is needed, against their truly stunning ability to lie convincingly.