I think that this is a good argument, but I would be a lot happier if I thought that the Democrats were a bit stiffer in the spine. They have been played time and time again by the Republicans. It should be clear by now that Republicans define "bipartisanship" as "two parties doing it our way."
The Republicans had zero intent of doing anything positive on health care reform, but the Democrats let them string them along.
Hell, the Republicans have no intention of doing anything to help anyone who is not filthy rich already. Susan Collins of Maine was happy to continue to let the execrable "don't ask, don't tell" policy continue because she was oh, so offended at the process for enacting the repeal. In fact, they are openly talking about shutting down the Federal government, which will make all of those elderly Teabaggers really happy when their Social Security checks are not mailed out and when Medicare fails to pay their doctors. That'll really make the troops happy when they are not paid. It'll do wonders for the national economy when the air traffic control system shuts down.
The Democrats ought to be talking about how the stimulus, weak though it was (due to Republican and DINO intransigence), stopped the Bush Recession from becoming a depression. They ought to talk about how the bailout of GM and Chrysler saved the entire American auto industry, including Ford as well as the German and Japanese plants in this country, from shutting down.
They ought to confront the bank bailout head-on and ask people if a global collapse of the financial system would have been in their best interest. Yes, it sucks that the banksters, the most egregious of which has been Goldman Sachs, were able to escape the consequences of their actions. But anyone who thinks that the alternative of letting the largest banks in this country fail was a better one either has mush from brains or has been fully programed by too much Ayn Rand fiction.
But the Democratic party is unwilling, unable or too spineless to try and make the argument that they have been working in the national interest. Instead, they have been alternating between hectoring the base to get out and vote and saying that the Republicans will be worse. The latter is true enough. The former is idiotic, as bitching people out is about the worst motivational tactic one can use.
The Democrats arguably deserve to lose. This nation, however, will pay the price of letting the party of the Confederacy back into power.
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Dear Ms. Misfit,
You and I are on opposite sides of the aisle, politically speaking, but not in terms of parties - more of philosophies. Nevertheless, I have to agree with your opinion of the Republican Party. I apply the same criteria to the Democratic Party, and come up with the same problems. Both parties are so invested in the "system" that they're almost indistinguishable at times.
My solution? I long since stopped voting for the party. Instead, I vote for the individual. Which candidate best embodies and represents the values, principles and approaches that I want to see in my representative? Whoever that person is, irrespective of party, gets my vote. If no candidate is a perfect match, I vote for the person who comes closest to my standards.
If more of us did this, we might find the parties realizing that they can no longer treat us as small children, to be alternately cosseted and threatened until we fall into line behind the party banner. We might also find the parties genuinely listening to their members, instead of to the special interests and pressure groups that dominate both of them at this time.
*Sigh* . . .
Word verification: kibeetas. What both parties are trying to feed us, to keep us happy?
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