Keeping Perspective: What we have to reverse

I know some out there feel I am little more than a cheerleader for the Democratic Party. I think this just shows that they aren't paying close enough attention to what I write over all...but they are right that, fighting against a Republican Party that has become the worst threat to American democracy since the Civil War, I find myself very focused on supporting Democrats at almost every turn. The Democrats are currently all that stand between us and a one-party, right wing theocracy that would make the founding fathers furious.

Under Democratic leadership our basic democracy is not threatened and I don't feel that a budding theocracic dictatorship is at hand. Under Republicans today, that is exactly what I feel. So, given the choice, I cheer the party that best reflects my beliefs, my values and fights against theocratic dictatorship that Bush is foisting on us. And by and large, the vasy majority of Democratic politicians I have personally known are a pretty good bunch.

Doesn't mean I support all Democrats. My readers at Culture Kitchen don't see one side of my blogging that my NYC readers of Daily Gotham do see. I spend a great deal of time battling corrupt and anti-democracy Democrats right in my own community of Brooklyn and I get a lot of shit for it. I have my own infamy in Brooklyn as a rabble rouser AGAINST the mainstream Democrats and, in general, for a loose and inefficient group of "reform" and "progressive Democrats." I cut my blogging teeth on fighting WITHIN the Democratic Party and it is because of the response I got that Liza asked me to be managing editor at Culture Kitchen. But I keep it in perspective. Democratic politicians are, in my personal experience, generally (not always) good and Republican politicians are, in my personal experience, often (not always) a pretty sleazy, greedy bunch.

So when I come off a cheerleaer for the Democratic Party, it is as one who has also been a major critic. But the answer for me, when faced with political reality today, is not abandonment of the Democratic Party, scattershot attacks of the Democratic Party as a whole, calling the Democrats the equivalent of the Republican Party or any such approach. I have on occasion supported an independent or even Green candidate. But it is very rare because in general such efforts are doomed not just to fail, but to make the problem worse. To me all of the above reactions are easy answers that do no good. My answer is much harder and takes a lot more work.

And it entails fighting from WITHIN the ranks of the Democratic Party as one who IS a thoughtful but also enthusiastic member of the Democratic Party.

What about FISA, you ask? I will get to that in the near future, and when I do I will let you know that yes, I am pissed at those Democrats who, in their vote with the Republicans against the Constitution, are enabling the Republican march to theocratic dictatorship. I will also tell you what I think we should do about it and a wholesale attack on the Democratic Party will NOT be what I recommend. Fighting harder than ever to restore American democracy IS what I recommend. More on that later. Give me time to formulate what I want to say and to find the time in my schedule.

But once again I want to emphasize that the parties are NOT the same and there are genuine reasons, carefully thought out reasons, why I support the Democratic Party.

Let me start with this: in America, 99% of the time we have three choices: Democrat, Republican or political insignificance. Political insignificance is unacceptable to me, and does nothing but help the dominant party, whichever it is. Political insignificance is a very lame choice. In general, independents, Greens and lack of participation in the political process all lead to political insignificance. Those who WANT a one-party dictatorshop want us to commit to political insignificance. I refuse to do so.

What about Republicans? Today, the Republican Party is about the most irresponsible, damaging and un-American political party in American history. From illegal and irresponsible wars to direct attacks on the Constitution to ruining the American economy, the Republican Party represents all that is wrong with America today. They haven't always been that way, and I sure hope they become a responsible, reasonable party once again. But for now they are the party of extremism, theocracy, Big Brother and supporting the wealthiest 1%. The rest of us are nothing to them.

Literally, they are the party of the richest 1%, abandoning everyone else. This is the message of an article from the Economic Policy Institute. The bottom line of the article can be summed up in one line:

The increased inequality from 2001 to 2005â€”during a recovery no lessâ€”caused the bottom 90% of households to lose income (-$2,071) while the best-off 1% of households gained $183,902 on average.

You and I, on average, lost about $2,000 during a period that was in essence one-party rule of America. From top to bottom and into the press, the Republican Party called the shots during this period. And we all lost about $2000. By contrast, the richest 1% of America each gained about $180,000 worth of income. THAT is what Republicans represent. I reject that.

Our nation's infrastructure declined precipitously under Republican rule. In this case it started with Reagan, but has accelerated since Bush took office. And the decline is part and parcel of Republican policy that explicitly states that it wants to dismantle government. What happens when you dismantle government? Americans die needlessly.

The levees broke in New Orleans...and Bush claimed "no one could have predicted the levees would break."

That was a lie. It was predictable AND predicted in clear terms in a report that was on his desk. He ignored it. Money was withheld from upgrading the levees. People died because Republicans cut the budget so they could boost Halliburton profits and cut taxes on the richest 1% of Americans.

The Republicans have been cutting the budget for food inspections. The result: tainted products from China poisoning pets and quite possibly contaminating human food. Americans may have been poisoned because Republicans cut the budget so they could subsidize oil companies that charge us over $3/gallon for gas while making record-breaking profits.

Republicans have been cutting regulations on pollution emissions, so we see mercury levels in our fish rise, more and more lakes and rivers are now closed to fishing and recreation, asthma rates are increasing...and the companies that pollute our environment (because WE are the ones who drink the contaminated water, eat the contaminated fish and breathe the contaminated air) make record profits while polluting our neighborhoods.

And now Minnisota. A bridge that had CLEARLY become unsafe was ignored...until it collapsed. And there are many more bridges out there in the exact same state of neglect as the one in Minnisota.

Neglect. That is the word. Deliberate neglect of America.

The neglect of America. While we spend BILLIONS of dollars bogged down in a civil war in Iraq that really has nothing to do with American security, America itself is neglected. While Halliburton, Bechtel and Exxon/Mobil, whose CEOs are all close buddies of Cheney, make record profits, America's roads, levees, wetlands, lakes, rivers and bridges are all neglected. While taxes are cut for some of the richest men in the world, the rest of us suffer with America's neglected infrastructre.

This is not accidental. It is the POLICY of the modern Republican party to neglect America. I have written about this before, but it bears repeating. The Republican party has a POLICY of neglecting America and we all suffer for it.

Grover Norquist, one of the darlings of the extreme rightwing, Gingrich/Bush/McCain branch of the Republican party, once said, "I don't want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub." This statement has been the basis of Republican policy. Norquist went into more detail:

"Cutting the government in half in one generation is both an ambitious and reasonable goal," Norquist stated in May 2000. "If we work hard we will accomplish this and more by 2025. Then the conservative movement can set a new goal. I have a recommendation: To cut government in half again by 2050"

This is what happens when you drown government in the Norquist's bathtub: you put American lives at risk. Simple as that. Katrina was a very predictable consequence of the Republican Doctrine. The importation of contaminated food from China was a very predictable consequence of the Republican Doctrine. The collapse of the bridge in Minnisota was a very predictable consequence of the Republican Doctrine. And it won't end there. You weaken government until it can no longer do its job, and then shit like this happens. And will keep happening until we STOP SACRIFICING GOOD GOVERNMENT FOR HALLIBURTON PROFITS.

The Republican Doctrine of neglecting America has been in full swing. Halliburton and Exxon prosper. Working class and middle class Americans suffer. It is as simple as that.

THAT is what Republican rule gives us. And I reject that.

Republican rule under Bush has been the most corrupt government America has had. And I know Democratic corruption first hand and fight it. But Democrats are amateurs when it comes to corruption. One reader has compiled a list of corruption since Jan. 2000. You can see that list here. But let me give you the bottom line. Since 2000, this is the breakdown of corruption between the two parties:

Convicted: 102 Republicans. 1 Democrat
Indicted: 5 Republicans. 1 Democrats
Confessed under grant of Immunity: 1 Republican. 0 Democrats.
Under investigation: 21 Republicans. 1 Democrat.
implicated: 75 Republicans. 0 Democrats
Total: 204 Republicans. 3 Democrats.

Look at the difference. Clear cut. Democrats aren't perfect. But the Republicans are far worse.

The Republicans are unacceptable to me. Political insignificance is unacceptable to me.

So where does that leave me? With the Democrats. I have oftend expressed why Democrats seem like a GOOD choice to me. On the environment, stem cell research, energy policy, etc. the Democrats have a good record. But...

After the FISA vote I am not going to spend much time telling you why I am, generally, ENTHUSIASTIC in my support of the Democrats. I have my reasons for that enthusiasm and I do resent when people call it "bull" or mere cheerleading because I explicitly state why they are MY party of choice and I generally stand by that enthusiasm.

But now is not the time for me to be enthusiastic. The FISA fiasco deserves anger, condemnation. But that will be for later. I don't lash out blindly. I lash out calculatingly and with the intent to have an effect.

But let's keep one thing in mind, and here again is where there is a difference: a clear majority of Democrats voted for the Constitution and the vast majority of Republicans voted against it. The problem is NOT the majority of Democratic politicians. The majority of Democratic politicians vote by and large exactly the way I would want them to vote. They vote my values and that is why I support them.

To me the question is this: what to do about the Republicans, who almost always vote against my values, against the values of most Americans, and what to do about the Democrats who enable Republicans either actively like voting for FISA against the Constitution, or who wimp out too often. That is the question I will turn to soon. And it won't be an easy answer.

What can I do as a Democrat when something like FISA passes? I can fight. Fight the Republicans because they are the source of the decline of America today. And fight to strengthen those parts within the Democratic Party that has the spine to stand up for America. There are Democrats with spine out there, and they DO stand up for America. I know them and I know what they do to fight for America. But there aren't enough of them yet. There are more than there were before November 2006. But they still aren't enough. And THAT is where my attention will turn shortly.

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