Democrats lack a moral compass and wonder why people don't know what they stand for

Naturally, the Democrats Fear Backlash!

"Democrats, who have not controlled the White House since 2000 and the House in more than a decade, have tried over the past year to put aside deep philosophical differences and rally behind a two-pronged strategy to return to power: Highlight the growing number of GOP scandals and score Bush's unpopular war management."

When you try to play both ends against the middle, the results are usually unsatisfactory.

The two-pronged strategy? Legislate like the neoconservatives whenever you think you can get away with it. When your constituents notice, act like a "moderate" Democrat, which is what the liberal Republicans used to be. No wonder the Democratic Party has lost the battle for the hearts and minds of the people. If you do not have convictions, you can't expect people to follow you. Democrats are even afraid of being called liberal any more.

"'We have not blown our chance" of winning back the House but "we have jeopardized it," said a top strategist to House Democrats, who requested anonymity to speak freely about influential party leaders. "It raises questions about whether we are capable of seizing political opportunities or whether we cannot help ourselves and blow it" by playing to the liberal base of the party.'"

Oh heaven forbid that you play to the base of the party, the base that gives you life. Its the liberals who staff your phone banks, who walk precincts, who forward messages to their friends. As a matter of fact, most of the Democrats I work with on these sorts of projects tend more toward Green. Its your liberal base, the people with the conviction that human rights are more important than corporate profits, who keep the Democratic Party alive as a grassroots entity.

So go ahead, Democrats, ignore your so-called liberal base and watch yourselves continue to lose power.

Its just plain embarrassing to be a Democrat now. We have witnessed the Democratic Party blow TWO elections. These should have been a slam dunk. George Bush is a draft-dodging inarticulate child of the rich who mangles the English language and came into the political arena as a right-wing extremist.

Because the Democrats are unable to find a moral compass, Bush was able to take over the government of the United States, and to disastrous results. Stop trying to be like the Republicans, who have caused the deaths of over 2,000 innocent American young people in Iraq, the maiming of tens of thousands of same, and the deaths of over 100,000 Iraq innocents. Just for starters.

On the Two Libertarianisms

Let’s talk about libertarian conservatives for a bit, since David Broder, in Congress Finally Stands Up, mentions the phrase. There are two different kinds of libertarian, not just one. My friends like to joke that libertarians are Republicans who like to smoke pot. We met a few of those in law school.

I call myself a libertarian as well. But I am a social libertarian, not a capitalist libertarian. Libertarians often claim that they have no religion. I beg to differ. They are fundamentalists in the same way that religious conservatives are: they believe in the propaganda of capitalism whole-heartedly, without a clue as to what they are supporting.

Any student of Adam Smith, the so-called father of capitalism, would know that Smith supported public works and the public commons. He spoke of “enlightened” self-interest, not unmitigated greed and avarice, as a satisfactory social order. Paraphrasing Smith, any time you see three businessmen talking together, you can bet they are up to no good.*

The fact is: there are TWO political axes, not just one. There is left and right. Then there is libertarian and authoritarian. You can find out where you place on the grid of political thought by going to http://www.politicalcompass.org and answering a few simple questions.

After you take the test, let’s engage in dialog about what your placement on the grid really means.

*"People of the same trade seldom meet together", Smith writes, "even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the publick, or some contrivance to raise prices."