What Democrats Want in Their Politicians

by muon

In a word:  Backbone.

Granted, I'm basing this on a poll of the two dozen or so registered democrats I know personally, though I can guarantee that poll-wise, they're all virgins.  Gallup, Pew?  They never call this part of the country.

Even if you violently disagree with everything Republicans stand for, you have to admire them for their backbone.  They'll stubbornly take stands against abortion, gay rights, Islam, healthcare reform, global warming--in fact, standing up against the most people possible is what Republicans do best.  What do they stand for?  They say things like "family values" and "the American way"--vague, subjective phrases that mean different things to different people.  They don't come out and say it, but they have a solid record of standing up for Big Oil and Big Medicine and campaign contributors. They stand up for deregulation, so American businesses can cut corners and create disasters like oil spills and airplanes that come apart in midair.  They work hard to gather up every last dollar bill in America to put into the pockets of the wealthiest 1%.  Republicans excel at scamming a quarter of the remaining Americans into believing that this is somehow all good for them when it isn't.  Then they claim that this quarter represents the "majority of Americans."  Okay, so their math isn't perfect, but they have enough hutzpa to make up for it.

The other side of the aisle?  Even when Democrats had a
substantial majority of the House, they caved to the GOP. They don't understand that this is why they lost the majority, not to mention a load of governors and state legislators. Now Mr. Obama has announced his candidacy for the next presidential election.  His voter base is still waiting for him to act on the most important promises from the last election. "Change" was a word you heard a lot from his camp in 2008. They aren't using it so much this year, but they need to. Very little has changed in two and a half years. There's still no end in sight to our wars, Guantanamo is still open, too many Americans are out of work, too many lost their houses, too many are living in poverty, too many can't afford health care. Our schools are still substandard to the rest of the world. And possibly most frightening of all, irreversible climate change is two and a half years closer.  If you like to eat and breathe, this is a bad thing.

So, all you Democratic politicians out there, start standing up for what the voters of your base believe in. If you want support and enthusiasm, if you want donations, you have to stop being a bunch of wusses.

muon