What is a Democrat?

Manifesto

So I've been more of a visitor than a contributor here for the last month or more. Thanks to Sergio for holding down the fort with what is so far the definitive moment in this blog's short history. And welcome to Monocle from In One Eye. He authored the first blog I ever read and is the reason I wanted to blog in the first place. (See the short lived Things that keep me up at night.) I could not be more honored that he is willing to contibute to this site.

One of the reasons for my incredible lack of posts has been my utter disillusionment with it all. There has been so much to talk about but never is it positive. Every day it just seems like the same mistakes are being made again and again. I've completely lost all capacity to criticize (quite an acheivement) because the criticism never leads anywhere. What's the point, right? Bush is an idiot. Obviously. Cheney supports torture. Really? Collectively the leadership is turning this country into an unrecognizable shell of its former self. Most striking is the fact that this administration has stolen the less objectionable pages from the Stalinist playbook (and occasionally some of the more objectionable). (Disclaimer: I do no think the Bushies are Stalinist, nor do I think they are as vile as Stalin. Thanks for not taking this out of context.) All of this is well-known. And none of it seemed to matter much.

It used to be that I thought the Democratic Party could be successful just by pointing all of this out; that America just didn't know, that Democrats should simply pull back the curtain and expose the "wizard." That has been done thanks not to Democrats but to a natural disaster and public's own realization that they were lied to about Iraq. And now Democrats have finally started to do what they should have been doing all along and attack the rot at the core of this administration. Good for us.

But I'm afraid that the delay in doing so tells us a lot about the modern Democratic Party. The Democratic Party lacks vision (and possibly courage since it took this long to stand up. It is quite easy to kick the bully when he is already on the ground.). Until recently when I would hear others say this I would object. I would point out all the obvious differences. But now, I think I was wrong.

Look, I know what I believe in. And the reality is that I'm a Democrat for one reason. The individual candidates that run for election and come closest to my views also happen to be Democrats. That is the reason. It has to be. Because when you think about it, other than Anybody But Bush, what is the Democratic platform? Oh we have ideas, but the Democratic Party expresses all of its ideas in some form of, "Aren't the Republicans horrible for doing X?" Lately, it seems like the Democrats can't define themselves without the Republicans. And that just makes me sad. Democrats need to be Democrats, not "not Republicans."

In short, Democrats need to find a vision and they need to promote that vision not in the first instance as a way to point out differences with the G.O.P. but as a way to point out what the Democrats believe this country is, what it represents, and what it could do if Democrats were in charge. This will necessarily be in opposition to the Republicans. That is to be expected and to be welcomed. But I think we need to stop saying, "Look the Republicans are horrible, we would be different." Democrats need to say, "This is what we believe in. Look at how the Republicans are destroying what we believe in. Why the hell would you ever want to vote for a Republican?" I think there is a subtle but distinct difference. The contrast remains. The whiny-ness is cut out.

So here is what I'm going to try to do. I'm going to try to post ideas for the Democratic Party's positive vision. These ideas are going to be rough and rudimentary. They are going to lack proper sourcing and be based solely on conjecture and my belief in how the world works. They will likely expose more of my ignorance than anything else. They may also be outlandish and mostly impossible. But hopefully they will get us all thinking about who Democrats are, what we believe in, and what this Country could do if we were in charge. I hope to post every time and good idea comes to me. So, unlike Sergio, I don't expect this to be a daily endeavor. And I invite anybody who wishes to do the same. Hopefully this will be something to get us talking and will be a way for me (us) to define our beliefs and the reason for those beliefs. And for that reason, maybe this post isn't about the Democrats lack of vision, but my own. This may be more of a chance for me to debate with myself (and anybody who wishes to comment or post) and try to justify what I believe it.