It's tough to be a Dem these days, because Bush has squeezed us/them out of the center.
As they drift, or are squeezed, Leftward, they alienate voters both on the "social" issues and on defense. (Don't ask me what I mean by "leftward," since much of it isn't really "Left:" there is nothing intrinsically Left about Jihad-denial, for example.)
Or is there? Our bred-in-the-bone Repub Mrs. Chairman feels that it is always a tactical imperative of the Left to disparage the US, because they have an agenda of social change. Thus anything that smells of nationalism, patriotism, pride, or which focuses on external rather than internal evils, delays the movement towards their quasi-socialist agenda, which can only be based on the "What's wrong with America?" question. For the country that everyone in the world wants to come to, and to be like, it is a bit odd. When we Dems begin standing up for America, and abandon socialism, we can begin winning national elections again.
Most honest people who take risks to come here, and do so legally, want economic and political and personal freedom, not hand-outs, and not an easy lfe. Indeed, it is remarkable to what extent the Dems no longer tout the US as the bastion of individual freedom, opportunity, and good values, the way JFK always did. (Mrs. Chairman is smarter than me, but she will not blog.)
We need two lively parties to make a good game of "Capture the Flag." In the end, the struggle is always for the non-ideological "center," (which has always been fairly conservative outside of the MSM, academia, union loyalists, California, and New England/New York, and the ridiculously wealthy for whom redistributional taxes are no concern), but which has slowly drifted "rightward" - I think mainly in reaction to the alarming "Leftward" drift of the Dems since JFK - and the high visibility of their irrational and often wackily colorful fringe elements and "lens lice," as Curtis Sliwa terms them.
That "Leftward" drift is a major political error, especially in a time when the rest of the decadent and spoiled Western World is so visibly and desperately trying to undo their socialist errors of the past. I call it "trying to take candy from babies." You get a lot of "boo hoo hoo" from the dependency voters - but they are not the centrist voters the Dems need. Nor are the Mexican illegals. Shameful. We (yes) Dems should be a proud patriotic party - not sycophants and ass-kissers and vote-buyers for whoever wants a free ride on somebody else's nickel and effort.
And we should be the party of JFK and Truman - not limp surrenderists but tough against threat, and tough administrators at home. Not socialist - but helping to spread opportunity. Not negative - cheerful. Not hateful - appreciative and respectful - normal. I have little respect for JFK as a person, but as a politican, the guy was damn good for an amateur rich kid. In Vietnam, we all failed his vision of freedom. I was there, opposing desperate totalitarian Marxist loonies. But we were undercut by our surrenderist Marxist "hate America" loonies at home, and it has taken Vietnam many years, many deaths, much sorrow - to finally come around.
I should remind our readers that I worked for JFK's campaign, and made my mother come with me to drive an hour to the Bridgeport, CT train station to hear him on a campaign stop. I remember how red his hair was, in the sun, and how my Mom, and the other ladies, all said "He's so young and handsome." He was elected by women (if he was, in fact, elected: Daly had quite a powerful dead-voter Chicago scam going then, and I remember how he proudly "guaranteed" Illinois - "whatever it takes." I confess, at the time, I thought that was pretty cool. Not now, not funny.).
If anyone recalls, JFK "won" that election by appearing stronger on defense and anti-Soviet, and just as conservative and Federal tax-cutting, as Nixon - who won the guy vote. Yes, I remain a Dem - Bird Dog calls me a limo liberal - but I am not a liberal. I just want my party to give me candidates that I can vote for. Why still a Dem? Don't ask: it is personal.
Well, want I want to do is to direct you to an excellent and thoughtful piece by Shulman at American Future on the struggles going on in the Dem party. It deserves to be an op-ed in the NYT, along with another must-read which Shulman links - Beinart's piece A Fighting Faith in the always-interesting New Republic.
