On the 19th my post concerned the racism that helps define the Republican Party. Many thanks to Rick for his thoughtful comments on the post, and thanks to That Gay Conservative and the Queer Conservative for their excited responses.
When Johnson signed the Civil Rights Bill in 1964 he predicted that he had just lost the South for the Democratic Party for the next 50 years. Sen Russell of Georgia, a real powerhouse in the Senate at that time, was not so optimistic. When LBJ said he was determined to push the bill through, Russell said: "Mr President, you may well do that, but if you do, you will not always lose the South forever, you will lose this election." Russell was wrong about losing the 1964 Presidential election, but he was right about losing the South for many years.
Rick argues that our democracy needs two healthy political parties. He suggests that the Republican dominance of our government is not good for the future of our country. I agree with these points. But I can't sign on to a lot of his other statements.
- The Right has been winning (and I have noticed). But the spread is not so big. Gore got more votes than Bush did in 2000. 2004 was surprisingly close for an incumbent at war. The gain in House seats in 2004 was entirely the result of what seems to be some pretty crooked actions by Tom DeLay.
- As a liberal, I don't believe that the ends always justify the means. Particularly when that end is simply maintaining power. Winning is not everything.The civil rights bill LBJ pushed through Congress was the first since Reconstruction. I don't regret how very expensive that act was for the Democratic party.
- It's true that the Democratic party was once the party of New York firemen,as well as Pittsburgh and Birmingham steelworkers. Today's NY Firefighters are a mixed bag - certainly they are no longer so dominated by democrats as they once were. But the right has no monolithic hold on them either. Steelworkers are a different issue. There simply aren't very many of them left. In 1943 the U.S. Steel Company employed 340,498 people. In 2000 the number was 52,500. The population in the U.S. more than doubled in that period.
- The Republicans, and even guys like Rick, have become very fond of the smear. Rick says that I, and other democrats, employ language like "Bushitler, Nazis, Fascism, and on and on." This is the first time I've even seen the word "Bushitler" and I certainly have never said it. He says that my party is now the home of "George Soros, Cher, Ted Kennedy, Maxine Watters, Cynthia McKinney, Al Franken et al." First, I have to say that I know nothing of Cher's politics. I also don't know what is so bad about George Soros - he's an enormously successful guy who has done a lot of good in the world. I am aware that there are many African-Americans serving in Congress. McKinney and Watters are two of them. Even though there are more Republicans than Democrats in Congress, none of those Republicans in the House or in the Senate are Black. One may think that Al Franken is flaky, his show is unquestionably more accurate than either Rush or O'Reilly. What is true about all these people is that the right has managed to define them in pretty outrageous ways. (Think of the Swift Boating of Kerry and Murtha, while Bush ducked service. Whether or not technical arguments can be made about their receiving some of the medals they did - they were shot at. W was served shots. It's a big difference.)
- Rick proceeds to argue that the democratic party offers nothing. I have to disagree with this as well. Republicans have spent the last 50 years appealing to people on the basis of fear. Fear of Willie Horton. Fear of Saddam. Even though there is absolutely no evidence of any connection between Saddam and Al Qaeda, 22% of the population believes that Saddam helped plan 9/11. This is the result of the lousy job done by our media, and the intentional disinformation by the Bush administration.
Certainly the Democratic party must do a better job at selling it's agenda. But we have to find a way to do so without losing our beliefs. We need not lie as the Republicans do. We need not use an attack on our country as a political bludgeon. We need not blather about "values" while taking money from Abramoff. The Republican party owes its current success to an intentional strategy of dividing the country,instilling fear, and painting those who disagree as the enemy.
The Republican party made a Faustian bargain. Whether or not you liked Republicans such as Goldwater or Rockefeller; they actually believed in something. The only belief that guys like Bush and DeLay hold is that they should maintain their power. To the devil with them. And I hope that sooner, rather than later, they go.
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