Letters to the Editor
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The Democrats are not lame.
Neither are they spineless, incompetent, stupid or any of the other epithets hurled their way. What they are is conservative, and, with a sizeable liberal base and a history of FDR and the New Deal, and LBJ and the Great Society, they face a daunting challenge, one that could prove difficult for almost anyone. That challenge is how to keep liberals voting for them while remaining true to their Warfare State principles. It happens every two years just before election time. Democratic candidates are trotted out and run the horror-show film showing the evils of Republicans and all the terrible things that will happen if we don't stop them. And of course, most of what they say is true, so it's an easy sell. What they don't say, of course is that, if elected, Democrats will do precisely nothing to impede Republican initiatives or the ever-rightward drift of politics in America.
Now we find ourselves between elections and all those liberals who last November thrilled to the prospect of a Democratic congressional majority are apoplectic because their heroes are once again proving that they differ very little from their Republican betters (i.e. better in the sense of more politically effective). It's a highwire act - balancing the reality of their politics with the appearance of providing a real alternative to radical conservatism. I don't envy them the task.
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Not lame - past their peak
I've got a van full of future conservative voters and I'm
not alone. Hillary is smart - she has to play to the middle
and ignore the nutroots (Kos, etc.)
Democrats will look more and more like Republicans - if they
want to get elected. Here's some supporting evidence:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2006-03-13-babybust_x.htm
"It's a pattern found throughout the world, and it augers a far more conservative future — one in which patriarchy and other traditional values make a comeback, if only by default. Childlessness and small families are increasingly the norm today among progressive secularists. As a consequence, an increasing share of all children born into the world are descended from a share of the population whose conservative values have led them to raise large families."
Rob
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alpharob1
Oh you are so right. 'cause kids never grow up to rebel. And young people aren't more progressive than their elders. Nope! They all just become exactly like their parents. After all, that's why Hoover got his second term and Goldwater was elected over and over.
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correction to previous post...eeek
Make that social programs (not social problems). Democrats should support social programs to help build infrastructure AND employ Americans, giving them decent wages. This work should not be contracted out the private contractors who don't employ Americans or who are beholden to stockholders to produce bottom line profits. We need to create some middle class jobs..and have government manage and pay for these jobs....public works programs. Sometimes big government can help hurting citizens.
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Are Democrats really so lame?
Unfortunately, yes.
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Lynx - read the USA article
Here is an appropriate snippet:
"Why couldn't tomorrow's Americans and Europeans, even if they are disproportionately raised in patriarchal, religiously minded households, turn out to be another generation of '68? The key difference is that during the post-World War II era, nearly all segments of society married and had children. Some had more than others, but there was much more conformity in family size between the religious and the secular. Meanwhile, thanks mostly to improvements in social conditions, there is no longer much difference in survival rates for children born into large families and those who have few if any siblings.
Tomorrow's children, therefore, unlike members of the postwar baby boom generation, will be for the most part descendants of a comparatively narrow and culturally conservative segment of society. To be sure, some members of the rising generation may reject their parents' values, as often happens. But when they look for fellow secularists with whom to make common cause, they will find that most of their would-be fellow travelers were quite literally never born."
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Elsewhere, if you look into similar studies, you see about
an 80% conservative retention rate.
Rob
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This is good; Please keep it going!
Boy, it takes a liberal to really tell the Big Lie. Now granted, this is an Elite type discussing internal Democratic politics, but Ms Walsh should at least get basic facts right (right at the getgo, she blasts Bush popularity - Totally ignoring the Democratic Congress' "greater than Bush" negative popularity as a problem). One item in her story... Pres Carter... In fact, he was universally detested. MS Walsh must have been asleep at the time, or too young to remember. The other distortions and/or lies just go on and on. I'll leave em' there.
This long-time Republicans's bottom line: The Republican party is handing you the 2008 election because we drifted away from conservative values, morals, and principles. We have rebuilding to do, and a woodshed to be put to use. Then we will get our Party back on track, and start winning elections.
Frankly, tho, if you Democrats keep going to the hard left, we won't have to work very hard at all to start winning elections. Your Soros Billions, hate messaging, and socialism does not register well with the American majority and when we compete on the issues, I believe we will win. So, Please keep it going!
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I switched parties,...
...because I became so disgusted with the Dems and thier stupid outrage politics. They attack the president, the country, the troops - anything. It's pointless and destructive. They'll destroy anything for their "feelings", which are usually wrong. The whole idea of integrity is alien to them. They never apologize, or even acknowledge, when they're wrong - they just move to another topic and attack - it's disgusting. They seem crazy.
The question, "What's wrong with Bush Derangement Syndrome?" is a perfect example: don't they get that "derangement" means "insane"? And, if you're insane, you should stop and re-think what you're doing? That you don't actually have your facts down? That what you call "lies" is actually you not being able to process reality? How many times can you be wrong before you decide to reassess the situation - challenge yourself - and your ideas?
I've talked to a lot of Dems and it always goes the same way: I let them spew their nonsense. Then, when it's my turn and I start to rebut a single point, they shut the conversation down, saying talking about this stuff is too intense for them (BDS). They're more like cultists.
Like Bai, I don't think the Dems are going to win the next election. The Democratic blooper reel is too long, and ugly, by now. What Dems see as their strengths will be exposed for the madness it is once the conventions start and the whole country - not just the coasts - have their say. I don't know who the Republicans will have but I'll take almost any of them over the Democratic choices, and especially over the Daily Kos view of the world.
It's over.