Posted on 11/05/2004 6:17:28 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
President Bush isn't a conservative. He's a radical - the leader of a coalition that deeply dislikes America as it is. Part of that coalition wants to tear down the legacy of Franklin Roosevelt, eviscerating Social Security and, eventually, Medicare. Another part wants to break down the barriers between church and state. And thanks to a heavy turnout by evangelical Christians, Mr. Bush has four more years to advance that radical agenda.
Democrats are now, understandably, engaged in self-examination. But while it's O.K. to think things over, those who abhor the direction Mr. Bush is taking the country must maintain their intensity; they must not succumb to defeatism.
This election did not prove the Republicans unbeatable. Mr. Bush did not win in a landslide. Without the fading but still potent aura of 9/11, when the nation was ready to rally around any leader, he wouldn't have won at all. And future events will almost surely offer opportunities for a Democratic comeback.
I don't hope for more and worse scandals and failures during Mr. Bush's second term, but I do expect them. The resurgence of Al Qaeda, the debacle in Iraq, the explosion of the budget deficit and the failure to create jobs weren't things that just happened to occur on Mr. Bush's watch. They were the consequences of bad policies made by people who let ideology trump reality.
Those people still have Mr. Bush's ear, and his election victory will only give them the confidence to make even bigger mistakes.
So what should the Democrats do?
One faction of the party is already calling for the Democrats to blur the differences between themselves and the Republicans. Or at least that's what I think Al From of the Democratic Leadership Council means when he says, "We've got to close the cultural gap." But that's a losing proposition.
Yes, Democrats need to make it clear that they support personal virtue, that they value fidelity, responsibility, honesty and faith. This shouldn't be a hard case to make: Democrats are as likely as Republicans to be faithful spouses and good parents, and Republicans are as likely as Democrats to be adulterers, gamblers or drug abusers. Massachusetts has the lowest divorce rate in the country; blue states, on average, have lower rates of out-of-wedlock births than red states.
But Democrats are not going to get the support of people whose votes are motivated, above all, by their opposition to abortion and gay rights (and, in the background, opposition to minority rights). All they will do if they try to cater to intolerance is alienate their own base.
Does this mean that the Democrats are condemned to permanent minority status? No. The religious right - not to be confused with religious Americans in general - isn't a majority, or even a dominant minority. It's just one bloc of voters, whom the Republican Party has learned to mobilize with wedge issues like this year's polarizing debate over gay marriage.
Rather than catering to voters who will never support them, the Democrats - who are doing pretty well at getting the votes of moderates and independents - need to become equally effective at mobilizing their own base.
In fact, they have made good strides, showing much more unity and intensity than anyone thought possible a year ago. But for the lingering aura of 9/11, they would have won.
What they need to do now is develop a political program aimed at maintaining and increasing the intensity. That means setting some realistic but critical goals for the next year.
Democrats shouldn't cave in to Mr. Bush when he tries to appoint highly partisan judges - even when the effort to block a bad appointment fails, it will show supporters that the party stands for something. They should gear up for a bid to retake the Senate or at least make a major dent in the Republican lead. They should keep the pressure on Mr. Bush when he makes terrible policy decisions, which he will.
It's all right to take a few weeks to think it over. (Heads up to readers: I'll be starting a long-planned break next week, to work on a economics textbook. I'll be back in January.) But Democrats mustn't give up the fight. What's at stake isn't just the fate of their party, but the fate of America as we know it.
I can't wait until they start jumping off of tall buildings.
I thought so too.
That is the biggest bunch of BS I have read in some time. I hope that the Rats keep up with their far leftest crap and we see how far that gets them.
Hangman to Dimocrat Party on the scaffold ...
Do you want this hood?
Dimocrat Party ...
Hell no. You aren't hanging me!
THUD ...
Silence
U.S. Economy Adds 337,000 Jobs, Most Since March; Unemployment Rate Rises http://www.bloomberg.com/
Krugman should just stick to being wrong about the economics.
Wow, an economics text book from this guy, that'll be one bassackwards treatise on how the world works.
another thought, all those red counties are somehow a coalition of diverse interests? Yeah right, RIGHT, Right?
We need lib's, without them life would be so much duller.
May the dems forever chase where there are none to persue. May their heads be comfortably deposited where the sun don't shine and stay there. They need to go the way of the Dodo bird.Hope no one suggests that the EPA declare them an endangered specie...
here is the writers email address. Let him know what you think.
krugman@nytimes.com
Having read the reactions of the LW MSM and the LW moonbats I am deeply concerned that the way democrats and liberals shall attack Bush over the next 4 years is by focusing on religion.
I sense their body language and the not no veiled hysteria over the religious right.
I am not a religious person but understand and respect those for whom religion is a vital part of their being and life. I understand the need for a separation between church and state. Personally I don't think Bush has gone over the line expressing his faith. He is comfortable with his faith, and the Bush haters are uncomfortable with their lack of faith or their own insecurities.
The left also mistakes the overwhelming rejection of gay marriage as something only white evangelicals support. But the left will mistakenly attack those same white evangelicals over the next 4 years with a ferocity that I fear will make the attacks on bush the last 4 years look tame.
An example of how the left wants to come together as a nation...
How about the annulment rate?
Yeah, right. The rubber room awaits...
Hey, that sounds like a winner:
KRUGMAN'S NEW DENIAL DIET -- LOSE THOSE UGLY BRAIN CELLS LIKE NEVER BEFORE.
(insert here apropriate before and after pictures)
This week is turning into a doom and gloom venting for the NY Times oped page.
See these for end of the liberal world proclamations from Tom Friedman and Maureen Dowd:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1271244/posts?page=21#21
Dear Krugman,
Here's a little violin,
For the state of mind you're in.
Play it when you're feeling blue,
Like the states that think like you.
(And if you'll notice, they are few).
So rant and rave to lift the gloom
In your mental rubber room.
And when you're done cheer up, and face
the truth; denial is such a lonely place.
The bashing of Christians drives on.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.