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February 6, 2007
The Deliberative, Democratic Body
I haven't really known what to think about the resolutions in the Senate. I do know that this liberal-lovefest with Chuck Hagel will come to an end eventually; the guy's a conservative, not a maverick. But he's not a Bushite and so he sounds heroic at the moment.
How many of those suckers, er, GOP senators, will have the balls to stay with Bush until '08? I say many will. The GOP is the party that praises loyalty and partyline above everything else. That's really all they care about, isn't it?
I'm not for bipartisanship. I'm really not. There are good people in the GOP but John Dean is right. They have a dictator-loving streak a mile long. Follow the leader. And that's where Hagel and Collins and Warner, to some extent, are brave... because apparently they didn't get the memo about what the GOP really is about.
There's a lot of reasons to squirm about the Dems, especially if you're on the left, left, left like me, but Nader's argument seems 1,000 years ago. Gush and Bore make me want to puke? Well, maybe in 2000. But I'm going to cry when Al Gore wins his Oscar; tears of pain to see him finally win the prize when he wins the popular vote.
We Dems are disorganized. We're vulgar. We're the party of abortion, gays, Al Sharpton, house music, pot smokers, swear words, Government cheese, big society, multiculturalism, Reggae music, yoga, stem cells, Buddhist monks, Dennis Kucinich, hippies, sensitivity, socialism, Marxism, "from each according to his means, to each according to his needs", Jane Fonda in a tank, Clinton's blow jobs (received, not given), peanut farmers, "We Shall Overcome", tax the rich, give to the poor, rip the goddamn creche from city hall... and Gary Hart.
I am a Democrat because I approve of all of the above, especially the Reggae music. I believe government can be the answer, not the problem. I don't believe the market solves everything; I believe the market works to better the market, not the people. I believe in people, not business. But that doesn't mean I think business is evil. I just think its not the end-all, be-all of what America is about, what American can do. I think we all have an obligation to take care of the sick and the poor. I believe in a level playing field.
But those aren't the reasons a lot of people nowadays lean Dem. George W. Bush has been the gift that keeps on giving for us. But to just be offended by the GOP's stance on many social issues (and most people I know who are my age are, to some extent, put off by the anti-gay) and the Iraq war does not a Democrat make. We can argue the size of government till the blue chips come home... but I think the real debate is not the size, but what it does. Government is going to remain huge; just deal with it. The FDA and FCC and the Fed are not going away. So what is it do you want them to do? Nothing? Sit there and collect a salary while e-coli goes into our Spinich? (and for you conservatives: Sit there and collect a salery while vulgarity and Janet Jackson's breast™ go into our airwaves?)
So, getting back to Chuck Hagel... I disagree with him on 99%, but right now is, to use Dick Cheney's evil mind, a 1% doctorine time. He won't get rewareded in the GOP for this. He'll get shunned. Because while they say "shrink government", "free market", that's not what they're really about... the modern GOP is about loyalty. You can say you're a pro-choice, pro-gay rights, pro-gun control New Yorker and as long as you haul Bush's skanky Iraq water, you'll be on top of the polls (IE: Rudy Guiliani).
Posted by emily at February 6, 2007 1:17 PM