Posted by
stringtheory on Monday, July 31, 2006 4:08:57 AM
There is a large number of Americans who feel unrepresented by the
leaders of America today. They are Democrats at heart, but hardly ever
vote for a Democrat for federal office. They identify with the
religious right in that they are spiritual, and traditional, but don't
accept a rigid ideology incapable of self-examination. These people,
myself among them, are curious to see if the newly forming religious
left becomes a legitimate voice and a legitimate vehicle for change.
If Democrats ever want to return their former position as the dominant political party, they will need to advocate a bold platform for changing America. They will need to embrace taking America in a very different
direction in several key areas, among them: Healthcare; Public
Education; Immigration; the Welfare System; Corporate Responsibility
and God.
The Democrats will want to dismiss the suggested proposals, but should keep two things in mind:
First, the Democratic Party (and whatever is left of Ross Perot's
party) has demonstrated itself incapable of leading this country in a
bold new direction. That must be because the ruling members of the
organization (i.e., big unions, big bureaucracies, big trial lawyers)
all profit from the status quo. However, the status quo Democratic Party will never return as the dominant political party. That is proven over and over again each November. Eventually, the Democrats will have to get bold, or they will just wither and die as a national party.
Second, at first blush, the proposals may look and sound like they
are coming from the Republicans, or from the religious right, and for
that reason Democrats will want to reject them outright. But therein lies the
beauty. The proposals may look right-wing, but in fact they are
decidedly left wing because they are broad minded, progressive, and
directly empower the least fortunate among us. To embrace some, but not
all, of the ideas of the other side, and make them your own, is the key
to any successful social endeavor. For example, FDR historians brag
about his ability to "co-op" the other side; Clinton fans have invented
their own word for the same political art form: "triangulation." Or, to
give you an example from religious history, rather than starting from
scratch, didn't Christianity borrow heavily from Jewish theology. And
didn't Christianity "co-op" festivals celebrating Mithra and Ishtar and
make them their own Christmas and Easter?
The Democratic Party cannot just be "against" everything that the other side is "for". And Democrats cannot
continue to offer the tired old solutions from the past century. (For
example, throwing more money at a problem doesn't always fix it. If it
did, the NY Yankees would never lose a World Series). Even if the
solutions applied during the past century were successful, they are
tired and ineffective going forward.
Democrats must have their own bold vision and it must involve change. Let's have at it.