radical, dude 2005.Jun.09 07:00

I really don't understand why Howard Dean is getting so much shit for calling a spade a spade. Is not the Republican Party essentially white and Christian? Is not the Republican Party the haven for the intolerant? The ideological home of the wingnut racist who believes in an exclusionary afterlife that damns all the "non-believers"?

All you centrist pussies can whine all you like, but, come on, why can't we call it like it is?

The centrists continue to miss the singular lesson of the 2000 election. Think back. Remember who the spoiler was? Remember why Florida went to the GOP? (Besides the irregularities and the Republican thuggery and Jim Crow reborn.) Do any of you people remember a dude named Nader?

Were Naderites centrist, namby-pamby, I-don't-want-to-offend-anybody, especially not my white Christian CEO overlords, kind of folk?

Hell, no.

Look, folks. Let me spell it out for you. Corruption aside (and you don't need to tell me twice that there was a shitload of corruption), the Democratic Party in 2000 failed to capture the radical Left's vote, plain and simple.

Oh, and do you think the youth of our nation are moved by people who want to compromise with the GOP? Do you think they're really all that interested about going out to Iraq and dying for no good reason? Have you ever heard the phrase "keeping it real"? Come on. Young people have pretty good bullshit detectors (so much so that perhaps everything seems like bullshit.) If you're going to hem and haw and refuse to tell it like it is, you are not going to get the youth vote.

And, yeah, I appreciate the criticism that we should stop comparing ourselves to the Republic Party, and yeah, I appreciate the criticism that we need to focus on the message and not take pot shots at our rivals, but, shit, look how well the strategy is working for the GOP! The loudest voices are way right, and no one even bats an eye when they sanction the killing of judges, or the practice of torture, or when they discriminate brazenly against homosexuals, ethnic minorities, and women.

Look, the center is going to vote for their interests. They're really not all that interested in ideology. Those who continue to do well in the current climate will likely vote Republican. Those who are eating shit will likely vote Democratic. And given the ever-widening gap between rich and poor, you can see mathematically where the center is probably going to go.

The margins, on the other hand, are looking for a cause.

Think about it. Do you really think that an enormous majority of centrists voted for Bush in 2004? Come on, even with all the corruption and thuggery, Bush narrowly captured a majority. Chances are, it was pretty much 50-50.

But who would've tipped the balance to the Right? Yup, the wingnuts. The radical right. Those are the guys running the show, not the centrists, whatever you think. The centrists are starting to pee in their pants and some of them are considering jumping ship. The centrists will come in their due time.

Besides, the center is such a moving target. Does anyone really have a tried and true formula that'll capture the center? Of course not. It's much easier to pander to the radical wing of your party. And when it comes to the Left, these are the folk who won't vote otherwise. These are the people we need to mobilize, even if in the end, we don't want them running the entire agenda.

Look, people. We've got to fight fire with fire. We have to stop with this appeasement bullshit. Anyone who thinks that Democrats can get people to defect from the Republican party is smoking way too much weed. The people who matter are the ones who didn't vote. The youth, for one. The disenchanted activists. The minorities who don't really see much hope in a centrist message that is targeted to, yup, white Christians.

The center will take care of itself. You really think that middle class folks whose bank accounts and retirement plans are tanking right now are going to defect from the Democratic Party and vote Republican so that they can even be poorer than they already are? (And shit, if they do, who needs morons like that anyway!?!) Look to the Left. Look to the idealogues, the folks actually interested in change, the people who actually look at the big picture, who have ideas. The centrist agenda is simple and impossible to tack down: all they want to be is comfortable, and that is a horrifically vague target. But the radical Left tend to have concrete ideas. Show them that the world doesn't have to be as shitty as it is. Stop trying to be Republican-Lite. Stand up for your party for chrissake!

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Name/Blog: Huy
URL: h@daicaDOTcom
Title: The Monster You Chase
Comment/Excerpt: You remind me, of a political Dagny Taggart. So long.

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