Be it right or left, we are living in a delusional society. Both groups harbor a near religious belief in the possibility of quick fixes to long term problems. This delusional act of piety may be a result of mass media and fifty years of programming where our celluloid heroes solve even in the greatest problems of the world in one hour and forty-three minutes. We believe in this, as our video games and pundits explain there are simple solutions to complex problems.
The quick fix epidemic stands in direct conflict to all things scientific or logical. In the modern and allegedly developed age, there is a definite leaning toward holistic medicine. Holistic belief is that no single ailment stands alone but is the consequence of various causes and effects, a chain reaction of one part of our physical system malfunctioning or being deprived of nutrients or chemicals and then causing other parts of our body to shut down, resulting in subsequent disease. Many people buy into this, as they should. It is logical. It is a sound approach.
But when it comes to things like economics or foreign and domestic policies, the holistic approach goes out the window. To put it mildly, things just ain’t that simple. As a nation, we screwed up big time. Nevertheless, in keeping with our post-modern traditions, we are honor bound to simplify complexity so that we can find solace in blaming someone else for the little things in life, like the general breakdown of society. Rather than seek opportunity, we would rather explain our mistakes. Sadly, this is the case with the Democratic Party.
The hard right, the Tea Party, certain clusters of Independents, and all those associated partners has been viewed by the Democratic left largely as a bunch of ignorant racists. According to the pundits and critics who grace our air waves with their sage-like wisdom, this rising tide of voter unrest was for them confusing and obnoxious, an aberration on the national landscape. Rather than perceive the development of the Tea Party and other militant groups through the context of historical precedent, they took refuge in labeling them hate mongers acting out in their own worst interests, declaring their stupidity in loud and simple terms. By and large there was nary the remotest attempt to perceive the militant right as possessing any bona fide roots in American History. First, that would require actually knowing history. A tough call, these days. A quick glance and to some extent you can associate the Tea Party as at least a partial descendant of the Jackson administration. No, not Michael. Andrew Jackson. That guy, on the twenty dollar bill who introduced to a bunch of rowdy Americans the kind of populist ethic that for a century has been forever lauded as “Jacksonian Democracy.” There are other historical examples of such uncomfortable populist outbursts, but we will leave it go for the moment with Jackson.
Instead of embracing this group in some symbiotic fashion, the Democrats chose to ignore it or subject it to ridicule. This was the Democrats’ great mistake. For in their ignorance, the Democratic Party systematically failed to acknowledge at least part of the anger out there as legitimate and with cause. Instead of paying lip service to the general rage and offering tepid assurances to people had suffered grievous humiliation, the Democrats had the rare chance to galvanize that anger and direct it with purpose. Instead, the nascent Tea Party types were abandoned and left to their own devices. That anger that could have been directed effectively toward the perpetrators of economic debacle, those culpable of costing these people their houses, jobs, and dignity, the Democrats dropped the ball. They stood by with muddled doctrine while the this angry mob was co-opted by the very perpetrators of the economic debacle. There is some irony for you. And some absolute tactical and strategical stupidity. It is akin to letting the guy who mugged you talk you into lynching the sheriff.
Many critics will point to the racism and the narrow thought, claiming they couldn’t embrace the tea baggers or whatever because there just weren’t our kind. No doubt the racism was there. No doubt there are disconnects and a consuming defiance of logic, where Tea Party leaders can pronounce any variety of insane and inane statements and swear that they are true. They are indeed a hostile mob, messy and funky, and a long way from politically correct. They are volatile and rough, not the first people who you would expect to recycle. They are a crude group who often say what they want and think in ways that is far from keeping what we call polite society. They are blunt and many of them have spelling issue.. And sometimes they are bat shit crazy.
But these are the people. These are the people the Democrats claim to represent. The people. The motley bunch of Wal-Martians who suck down on the double big gulp and revel in bad taste. These are people who are often overweight and undereducated. They know little of fashion, fine dining, and have at best read only Cliff’s Notes on the Kama Sutra. They can be funny and caring, and they can damn annoying. They are white, mostly, and what Quixotic powers they possess in ruling the world is administered from a LA-Z-Boy.
Nevertheless, these are the people. These are the people the Party of the People claims to represent. They are not just the poor but the working people. The working class or middle class who seldom gripe and whose anger goes unseen until it reaches the boiling point. These are the people where the Party of the People failed to get its message across. All that mumbling and hemming and hawing, terms about public option and rebooting the country didn’t go over too well. Better to them that some idiot stood up and made some absurd statements in a clear voice that were embedded in neither fact or logic. At least they said it clearly. At least they were there, pissed off and unafraid to couch that sentiment.
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The Democrats failed to see this group as a valuable resource. They failed to sweep them up and redirect that anger. The Democrats failed to make examples of those who betrayed the public trust and committed financial malfeasance, which in this case meant those who stole hope and dreams, along with life savings, jobs, and retirement portfolios. The Democrats could have imposed draconian penalties on those who outsourced jobs, who could have threatened companies, as Roosevelt did in the Great Depression, with criminal and civil ass to threat investigation, if they did not financially step up to the plate.
Instead of handing out food stamps and welfare, the Democrats could have retooled the factories. Yes the investment may result in losses , but then working people would be returning at least some of the financial investment that was wasted in government give aways by renovating the infrastructure and retooling the factories. In short, they could have showed these people they were doing something for them. Something tangible. . They could have made believers out of them, as the old Democratic Party did back in the time when it didn’t deem itself too principled to slug it out with the opposition on the public stage or back alley. When twisting arms demonstrated that the Democratic Party was indeed the Party of the People. Hell, if I can think of this, why couldn’t they?
Instead, the Democratic Party makes its excuses. They try to explain this coming debacle at the polls by claiming they didn’t have enough time, and what was their President to do, wave a magic wand? What were they to do when the nasty old Republicans were so recalcitrant, obstructing them at every turn? After all, they were well intentioned and really thought they tried, and doesn’t that count for something?
No. We are a results oriented society. The excuses and the policy may resonate with a receding base, and some of the arguments may even be true and reasonable. But they don’t hold water. The Democratic Party came into power knowing they had a short window of opportunity with a population with a limited attention span and the sophistication that struggles with the exigencies of economics and foreign policy. They came into power on promises of big change and a new way of doing things. They promised a fresh new start. They delivered day old bread.
Two years later, the argument that they saved the country from complete disaster may have credibility. With some. The believers. Others wonder why unemployment is still the same, and why small businesses play hell with getting loans. Why banks are failing and factories are closing with the remaining nine jobs in this country going offshore. Why Wall Street operates as it always had and awards itself bonuses for economic failure
That motley group out there, be it the Tea Party or just the people trying to make a buck; they were the Democrats for the asking. Would they have won them all over to their side? Probably not. But they could have diluted Republican co-option and retained more of the more erratic independent voters then they have at present. The Democrats had to reach out and in plain language make clear the game plan. In fact, they had to have a game plan, clear, concise and most importantly put in motion. Here, this is how we are going to help yourself. Whether they ate with their hand and soiled the furniture, they were…an opportunity. As so many of the pop pundits are fond of saying…in any crisis there was opportunity. Well, here was opportunity for you, legions of it, chomping down on a bologna sandwich and showing the crack of its ass.
Instead, the Republicans picked them up and cleaned them off, gave them purpose and legitimacy. The purpose was to wreak havoc with the Democrats and the legitimacy was in a few candidates to call their own. The Republicans gave them the message, and the Democrats gave them the double talk. The Republicans will take they House if not the Senate, and the Democrats will have to satisfy themselves with excuses and explanations.
They could have once again been the Party of the People. But they blew it.
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