Posted on 12/11/2004 9:42:12 PM PST by neverdem
To the Editor:
Re "Directions for the Democrats" (Op-Ed, Dec. 8):
We Democrats should start by recommitting ourselves to the party and what it stands for.
Rather than connect his campaign with the record of the Democratic Party, John Kerry constantly said that he and John Edwards "had a plan." Voters need to be reminded that the Democratic Party brought them Social Security, Medicare, environmental protection and civil rights. Because of these successes, the party can be counted on to deliver a foreign policy that develops peaceful relations with the international community, a domestic platform nurturing families young and old and a vigorous campaign to halt corporate welfare.
The obsession with finding the "electable" candidate has drained the Democratic Party of the vital energies needed to articulate the programs that demonstrate its "true blue" values.
Joyce Appleby Los Angeles, Dec. 8, 2004 The writer is emerita professor of history, U.C.L.A.
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To the Editor:
Donna Brazile ("Hook, Line and Sinker," Op-Ed, Dec. 8) fishes for answers but comes up with small ideas that should be thrown back into the abyss that we now call the Democratic Party.
Bill Clinton redefined the Democratic Party in his own image and won two terms. But there's only one Clinton who can carry that off, and his time is over.
It's about leadership, folks, and there's no one out there. Until we have a leader, we don't have a party.
Linda Feldman Los Angeles, Dec. 8, 2004
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To the Editor:
Yes, the Democratic Party has always been seen as the party of the American worker, the great middle class, but the last election clearly indicates that the Republicans have stolen the Democrats' thunder. The Republicans were able to touch something in the majority of the American electorate while deftly masking their failures on the domestic front.
The answer to the Democratic dilemma is actually quite simple. It will take reconnecting with the American people in the most basic of ways. Robert F. Kennedy reduced human need to its simplest root principle in 1968 when he said, "What everyone wants is a job and some hope." It really doesn't get any simpler than that.
Jobs, medical care, prescription drugs, poverty, all Democratic core issues, are still clearly on the table. These problems are likely to elude solution over the next four years with a Republican-dominated government. It's all about faith, belief and hope in those we elect to political office. The Democrats would be well advised to take these three words to heart and reconnect with Americans, again become one with the people and provide the hope we all need.
Jeffrey Winkler League City, Tex., Dec. 8, 2004
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To the Editor:
I have one simple recommendation for the Democrats who are now gathering in Orlando. And that recommendation is tell the nation what liberalism is. Tell our fellow misinformed countrymen how liberalism has affected them, and how they have benefited from it. That doesn't sound so difficult, does it?
Stop allowing the conservatives in the Republican Party to define what liberalism is. When you do that, you will see how the poor and working-class white community will begin to support the Democratic Party.
You could also tell the nation how conservative principles, especially economic, benefit the fat cats and wealthy elites.
Rudy Orozco North Bergen, N.J., Dec. 8, 2004
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To the Editor:
I am certain that the Democratic Party could benefit greatly from adopting at least a few elements of British political practice.
One is the annual party conference. For all that they may be said to accomplish little of substance, no political party in the United Kingdom would dream of dispensing with the conferences, because it is a fact that party leaders have to be present and must pay attention to the most important concerns of the rank and file.
Another has to do with continuity. It is inconceivable that the British counterparts of people like Madeleine Albright, Al Gore, Janet Reno, Robert Reich, Robert Rubin and Donna Shalala - men and women who have recently done distinguished work in cabinet positions but are now in private practice, as it were - would be so nearly invisible in party affairs as these people are over here. Although the idea of a formal "shadow cabinet" system cannot be adopted here for obvious reasons, the absence of a formal and prominent role for such major, and in many cases popular and effective, politicians as those named above is seriously detrimental to keeping the Democratic Party near the center of public consciousness.
Peter Smith Buffalo, Dec. 8, 2004
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To the Editor:
What we need is a "blue" version of Karl Rove. We need someone who can really think out of the box and develop a strategy that has a chance to win in the 2006 Congressional elections.
How we allowed gay marriage and the Vietnam War to become the "poster" grist for the G.O.P. mill is beyond mind-boggling to me. Most Democrats do not make gay marriage a litmus test for being a Democrat. How did we allow the Republicans to paint us that way?
We're about protecting the rights of women to choose, about stem cell research, about the environment and about opportunities for the poor. We're about family values, and we are as red-blooded and patriotic as anyone else. The reason we were defeated is that we were out-thought, plain and simply beaten by promoting John Kerry with a soft strategy or, worse yet, no strategy at all.
Joe Altschuler Kew Gardens, Queens, Dec. 8, 2004
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To the Editor:
There should be only one urgent direction for Democrats: count our votes.
Elizabeth Ferrari San Francisco, Dec. 8, 2004
An emerita professor of history @ UCLA writes that the dimocrats "brought them... civil rights".
What you need is not "blue" version of Karl Rove but a 'red version' of some decency. You then may get a real candidate on your hands that may win something...
What's mind-boggling to me is the utter cluelessness exhibited in these letters.
HEY YOU STUPID DEMOCRATS - YA KNOW WHAT THE REPUBLICANS GOT THAT YOU DON'T GOT?
<< Because of these successes, the party can be counted on to deliver a foreign policy that develops peaceful relations with the international community...>>
Why not peaceful relations with American Republicans? That would go a long way - we'd be so taken off guard we'd agree to whatever they wanted.
How?? Everytime I turned on the TV last summer all I saw were pictures of grinning dykes and faeries getting married. Next came John "reporting for duty" Kerry who began and ended every speech by talking about Nam.
They are the party that is against everything. Maybe they should define what they are FOR.
Gay Marriage
No Guns
No Religion
Raising the minority at the expense of the majority
Global Tests
Dismantling the military
Wholly subsidized health care
More money to solve problems but no accountability (education etc...)
Appeasement
No racial profiling, even in airports
Infinite state sponsored welfare
There are many, many more things that go on the list but I think that is a good start. If you agree with those things then you should vote Dimocrat. If you have a brain in your head, you won't.
<< What we need is a "blue" version of Karl Rove. >>
No, what you need is to start telling the truth.
That's just why I posted them. 6 of the 7 are from "blue" states, and they're supposed to be so much more intelligent. What conceited fools they are!
Amen. You could call it, "C'mon, beat me some more!" or, "Let's lose again in '06 and '08!" Democrats stand for abortion, homosexuality, and lots of government money programs for the poor. Either stand up and defend these (horrible) things, or else stop supporting them. Then you'll win! But quit trying to fool us!
No doubt Robert Byrd was leading that charge.
"To the Editor:
There should be only one urgent direction for Democrats: count our votes.
Elizabeth Ferrari San Francisco, Dec. 8, 2004"
--> Obviously, Elizabeth has spent a little bit too much time on DU reading Diebold conspiracies.
I noticed those lies right away, too. But then I saw who composed the letter. "Emerita professor" means "professor who is so old she soils herself and doesn't realize it". She is probably not lying deliberately - - I bet she's simply deteriorated. What is more disturbinbg is that the newspaper would print her embarrassing letter.
The person who wants a formal public role for Janet Reno needs to be made grand poobah of the Democrap party! Put her on TV every day! Hooray!
Im completely dumbfounded each and everytime I think of it.
" Voters need to be reminded that the Democratic Party brought them Social Security, Medicare, environmental protection and civil rights." The Professor needs to be kicked off of Gilligan's Island! The Republicans "brought them" civil rights, as the Southern and many Northern Democrats would not vote for it in 1964, LBJ had to ask the GOP to assist him. You are right, also, that President Nixon (whom history will show was a near-great president, along the lines of Truman, Eisenhower or McKinley)created the EPA. Social Security is a Ponzi Scheme that many of us will never see a dime from, so why is he so proud of that program? We need to adopt the Chilean model on that, and now.
BTTT
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