I received a response from leftyblog regarding my little rant about the wimpiness and conservatism of the Democratic Party and its supporters, but I just now had enough time to write my response. The beginning shows up on the main page of the site, but I don't think I can link directly to it.
leftyblog says:Leftyblog has discerned, bloggy baby, that although you do share our noble desire to advance the progressive agenda, you also share something unfortunate with St. Ralph and the Greens: difficulty accepting that "politics is the art of the possible" as von Bismarck observed, and not the art of the just, or of the fair, or the sane, sensible or perfect. Politics is often a dirty, dishonest, cutthroat business.
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With things the way they are now, the Democratic Party is the vehicle for the advancement of the left's progressive agenda and the Republican Party is the vehicle for the right's regressive agenda. The Green Party has become another vehicle for the regressive agenda, as it's [sic] thoughtless electoral politics have resulted in the election of that Scion of Regression, George W. Bush.
I think this approach to politics is what is destroying the Democratic Party. This "struggle for the middle" has caused the party to move further and further to the right, staying just to the left of the GOP. Nixon, with his support for the EPA, might be a moderate Democrat today. The fight for votes becomes an issue of tactics and fund raising, not ideology, and if the public sees the two parties as almost the same on most issues, the Democrats lose, because they will not be able to raise the amount of money that the GOP can.
They have allowed the GOP to act as if its positions come from a moral standpoint -- less government, low taxes (e.g., "it's your money"), opposition to abortion and gay rights -- rather than based on what its rich funders (and well-organized religious fundamentalists) desire. I am quite frankly appalled to watch the incompetence of the Democrats that has allowed the GOP to pretend to be the "party of the average man". Public education, health care, and workers' rights issues have effectively been abandoned by the Democratic Party, even though those should be vital issues for its constituencies.
I think leftyblog, and a similar site called Media Whores Online, are too obsessed with Nader and the Greens. I don't think blaming them for Gore's loss is particularly constructive, or even relevant. No candidate or party is "entitled" to votes -- they must earn them. A look at the statistics on voter turnout over the last 40 years would seem to indicate that the 2-party system (which has no basis in our Constitution, and neither does the "winner take all" process by which most elections are decided) is hearing "none of the above" more and more.
I also must place the blame of the loss of Florida squarely with Gore's (and his teams's) incompetence and unwillingness to fight as if this really mattered. I think the problem comes back to what I said above: The Democrats no longer believe they stand for anything, so they are unable to work up outrage over anything that actually matters -- it's all about tactics and tiny victories at the margins. This is a party that supposedly cares about both poor people and abortion rights, but states it won't support public funding of abortions!
On the issues that you list as important to you, bloggmeister, the Democratic position is superior to the Republican on every single one, no? Surely not perfect, but better, right? Yet we still share your disappointment that the Democratic position still often stinks. It doesn't mean that we have to like it when Democrats do stupid, self-serving, sleazy things. And we should give them hell when they do. And it doesn't mean that we shouldn't try to persuade them to do the right thing even when it isn't politically expedient for them. But struggles within the left shouldn't occur on Election Day in November, as the Greens seem to think. These struggles must occur at the local level and during the primary season, and before.
I agree with this paragraph, but I don't see a place for people on the left in the Democratic Party any more. Until quite recently I was someone who wrote to my elected representatives, such as Senators Clinton and Schumer, and Representative Nadler. I have written several times since 9/11 regarding the USA Patriot Act, our policy towards Israel, and other issues related to the "War on Terrorism". I have never heard a response from any of them. My mother recently ran the district office for a Member of Congress in my home state, and they were quite diligent in responding to constituents' comments and concerns, even if they disagreed. The current state of the world is that anyone outside of the stupid 70%+ of Americans that think the President and his cronies can do whatever they want to "make us safe" is voiceless. I fear for a country that allows the Attorney General to imply that democratically elected Senators are flirting with treason for asking any questions about this so-called war.
We also can't remember a Green who was anything other than a spoiler.
There are Green elected officials in some places, typically City Council members. I will also admit that I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't been in a "safe" state for the 2000 election. I knew Gore would take NY, and that my vote was "useful" without actually changing anything because of the winner-take-all approach to Electoral College votes. It never occurred to me that the national race would even be close! The fact that it was made me wonder if I should work more on Green Party issues, since the Democratic Party seems less and less viable if they are unable to defeat a candidate as weak as G.W. Bush.
I was also impressed by the ability of the Greens to hold large events in various cities. I attended the Madison Square Garden event, and it was wonderful. I have rarely seen a political event in my lifetime (I'm 36) that had such a mix of young college-educated people and working class people. I wish it had been a little less white, but it was no more so than a typical Democratic party event in many parts of NYC.
Bloggy, you have it exactly backwards, you MUST vote for the Democrat precisely because they are better than the Republican. Often in politics, that is as good as it gets for us. Here in the real world. On Election Day, you have few choices: between a Democratic Party that is so-so on our issues, a Republican Party that is hostile to our concerns, or a Green Party who is great on the issues, but will help elect the Republican every time.
This is the language of an abused spouse -- I'll vote for you no matter what you do, no matter how badly you behave -- not the language of someone who cares about politics as something other than a game. I can understand the idea of holding your nose and voting for them in the privacy of the voting booth, but to constantly publicize the idea that people like Hillary Clinton will get your vote no matter what their behavior (as long as they call themselves Democrats) is counter-productive at best and immoral at worst. As I said earlier, they are not entitled to our votes. I'm not surprised that voter participation rates are falling, and I really hate the message that such behavior sends to younger voters. We are telling them that they will never, ever, be able to vote their conscience. It will always be a case of the lesser of two evils. In the end, that lesser evil is still evil, as I watch the Democrats crumble before Ashcroft and Bush, and before one nation "under God".
I am also very aware that the history of progress in this country often involves activism outside of electoral politics. The civil rights, abortion rights, and gay rights movements (plus opposition to the Viet Nam War) showed that relying on cowardly politicians and the lesser of two evils are rarely sufficient. Remember the Democrats' approach to these movements has always been "but you have to vote for us -- the other guys are worse", while failing to act.
I realize that leftyblog isn't the enemy. I'm just showing my frustration with the Democratic Party, but Democrats like Hillary Clinton are the enemy. They take our votes but they do nothing to advance the progressive agenda.
Frankly, short of campaign finance reform, I don't see an answer.
Note: I wrote most of this before the latest wave of scandals involving WorldCom, ImClone, etc. I think my arguments against the Democratic Party are even stronger now, given their inability to seize the issue of corporate accountability. Senator Lieberman and other members of the Democratic Leadership Council have argued that the party must be careful not to appear too "anti-business".