Posted on 04/16/2003 10:05:21 AM PDT by Stand Watch Listen
Ideally, the functioning of a representative democracy calls for the losing party (or parties) to become what is commonly referred to in Britain as 'the loyal opposition.' As duly elected representatives of the people of the country, it is assumed the members of the minority party still hold to the common values and aspirations of the people they represent. Though they might quibble about methods and policies proposed, it is assumed that their ultimate purpose - as should be that of the majority party — is the good of the nation, first and foremost. They are still Americans (or Brits, or whatever), after all; that they would wish the nation ill simply for their own political benefit is unthinkable.
Well…start thinking it, especially about the Democrat Party.
Please spare me the label of partisan, for I am neither a Republican nor a Bush supporter. The obvious truth is that the Democrats, 'led' by Tom Daschle, Nancy Pelosi and Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe, must hope for the failure of the economy, bad news from the Iraqi front and all manner of other ills to befall this nation if they're to ever regain control of the Senate and House and, especially, the White House.
But isn't that what the 'out' party always does? No, at least not as brazenly as the Democrats do, and certainly not with the same dogged obstructionism and determination to cause those ills. The truth of the Democrats' programs and policies of the past forty years has become increasingly clear to a growing number of Americans, even as apathetic as they are. Citizens can see that the Democrat Party is bankrupt, morally, politically and intellectually, that they offer only a poorly disguised big-government socialism that is too expensive, too divisive and too destructive of human freedom, dignity and opportunity.
Faced with that reality, the Democrats have resorted to class and race politics, effectively dividing a nation that yearns to be united, perpetuating fear and distrust. They frighten senior citizens about Social Security, even though they know they've long since spent that 'trust fund' on social engineering programs and pork barrel projects. They continually stir the racial pot, promising more than they can possibly deliver to blacks and other minorities, while at the same time playing on Americans' compassion (and guilt?) for the downtrodden and the underdog. That despite the fact of more than thirty years of special programs for minorities, including hundreds of billions in 'education,' jobs and welfare programs that have afforded all who are willing to succeed the chance to do so.
In addition, feminists, homosexuals, environmentalists, unions, the rapidly growing Hispanic population - in short, any group that can possibly be identified as something other than just an American - are part of the polyglot of identity groups that make up the Democrat electoral base. They have, in effect, turned the original American motto on its head; instead of 'one out of many' (E Pluribus Unum), the Democrats have created many separate constituencies out of the American people, pitting them against the dead-horse villain 'the wealthy.' Nice bit of demagoguery there, considering that Democrat leaders, no less than Republican ones, are each far wealthier than even upper middle class Americans.
As I wrote in last year's Language of Deceit series, the Democrats have tried to promise different things, often conflicting things, to their various constituencies. This dangerous game, dependent upon the groups' blind faith, comes to an ugly end when the groups begin to realize they're being played, and for purposes not necessarily beneficial to them. That's what is happening today, even among black voters, long considered 'owned' by the Democrat Party. Americans of African descent are showing signs of awakening to the fact that continued dependence on big government and the Democrat Party is its own special kind of slavery. Though this disenchantment didn't translate into Republican votes in the last presidential election, the 'dependable' black vote for Democrats is becoming less certain.
Of course, narrow constituencies will continue to support the Democrat Party, thinking it's their guarantee of a place at the table when political spoils are divided. But with the spread of the Internet, the advent of talk radio and a more fair and balanced presentation of current events by FoxNews, et al, more and more people are coming to the realization that the modern Democrat Party has become a caricature of its former self.
Magnifying that fact is the flagrant anti-Americanism that is becoming the hallmark of the Democrats. Whatever their political beliefs, when it's clear that you seek to thwart, obstruct and delay needed actions, and especially when you consistently depict and proclaim the United States as evil, imperialistic, oppressive, war-mongering, etc., most Americans recognize anti-Americanism when they smell it…and the Democrat Party positively reeks of it.
The Iraqi war is simply the latest manifestation of this America-hating tendency. Daschle, Pelosi, McAuliffe, et al, were adamant about not going into Iraq without the approval of the United Nations. I guess national sovereignty and the right to protect ourselves are alien concepts to one-world socialists. But even now, when the joy and relief of the Iraqi people are so clearly evident, they're still carping about how the war was wrong, how the UN should be in charge of the rebuilding Iraq, how the equally obstructionist French and Germans - who, as will soon be revealed, made billions in illegal contracts with Saddam's regime since the Gulf War - should be in charge, etc.
The Democrats have re-made a once-proud political party into a divisive, anti-American tool of global socialism. They are so arrogant that they can't grasp that others don't share their infantile delusions about men and nations, and assume a moral and intellectual superiority clearly not warranted, but one necessary to maintain their illusions of compassionate caretakers of the great unwashed masses who are too ignorant to know what's good for them. The trouble for the Democrats is, even if we don't know what's good for us, Americans are beginning to recognize what's not good for us, and at the top of the list is that hodgepodge of socialist dogma and deceit the Democrats try to pass off as American values.
With the emptiness and hypocrisy of their politics becoming more evident daily, the Democrats have become more strident and pugnacious in desperate attempts to rally the troops. But their divisive tactics have worked too well, and the identity groups that once held together in lockstep to the Democrat beat are no longer so malleable. Perhaps they are beginning to realize that at the foundation of our liberties there must be a cohesive unity of values and standards, a bedrock of shared principles, if any of us are to be free and prosper. It's a sad thing that, over 200 years after this republic was established on solid principles, we've come so near to destroying those foundations, led by the Democrat Party in their quest for power. But better late than never.
For the Democrat Party faithful, though, there can be no 'compromise' with that reality. They have gone too far down the divide-and-conquer path to give more than lip service to traditional Founding values and principles, for they know those principles don't support their socialist agenda. So they're left with hoping our troops do badly in the field, while saying all the right things about supporting them. (How does one 'support the troops,' after all, while opposing their commander at every turn?) If the war turns out badly, then Bush is vulnerable at the ballot box. Even better, for Democrats, if the economy continues to stagger, more people will listen to their demagoguery and tax-and-spend foolishness (note that the Democrats, at first opportunity, forced a 50% reduction in Bush's tax cut…so much for their 'concern' for American taxpayers), making Bush even more vulnerable at the polls.
Thus our 'loyal opposition' is not so loyal; they're in the position where they can only gain the thing they value most - political power, in the Congress and the White House - if the war and the economy both go badly. Now that it appears the war, fought to free the Iraqi people from a horrible tyrant and to prevent Saddam from arming and sponsoring terrorists against the U.S., has been successful, look for more focus on the economy. For if it recovers, the Democrats know they haven't a chance to practice the obstructionism they've shown in the Judiciary Committee on a national scale.
What an unseemly bunch, vicious, spiteful, ungracious…wishing the nation ill just so they can regain power. And for what? To implement the failed and deadly socialism that has failed everywhere it's been tried. But that's the politics they've chosen, so let them rot in their mess until saner heads can rebuild the party into something worthy of Americans' trust and respect. But today, no less than Iraq, the Democrat Party is in desperate need of housecleaning and reconstruction.
Related ArticleLiberal Quagmires Or Why There Will Be A Second Bush Term
Source: Toogood Reports; Published: April 16, 2003; Authro: Lisa Fabrizio
Probably the same thing happened in Maryland to its first Republican Governor in 35 years by the overwhelmingly Dem state legislature. During the recently ended legislative session, the Dems seemed much more interested in obstructing Ehrlich than in promoting the good of the state.
...to God's ear.
The jig is up.
"I would have done everything Bush did -I agreed with him against my party, remember? But I also would have done more to preventing the looting. Now, back to domestic policy: It's still the economy, stupid." (repeat 1,000 times)
Let it not be said that Freepers have the literacy of DU. ;-)
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