Frank Eppes for Senate - SC - 5th Dist.

The great Frank Eppes is finally running for office. The fates have smiled on him and given the incumbent state senator a dibilitating condition, forcing his untimely resignation. And creating an open seat. Frank has swung into action and is the favorite to win the Democratic primary, and given good odds in the general. The retiring incumbent switched from "D" to "R" in 2000, so Frank's win would swing this conservative district back into the blue.

I've found some background on Frank's campaign in "Metrobeat," a section of the "Upstate Beat." Political writer and comumnist James Shannon provides good background in this August 22 piece:

According to Ecclesiastes, for everything there is a season – and our eyes and ears tell us this is so. When athletes remain on the field of play as their abilities wane, we suffer along with them. Visions of a hobbled Joe Namath in a Los Angeles Rams uniform or a depleted Willie Mays in the New York Mets outfield were all the more painful because we so vividly remembered them in their prime.

The same holds true in politics. Recall the final years of Strom Thurmond’s career in the US Senate, when as a colleague gently observed, he was “no longer mentally keen.” Another long-running political career ended recently when state Sen. Verne Smith of Greer resigned his seat after a storied career in the General Assembly that began when Richard Nixon was president. This was no long goodbye, however. Through the 2005 legislative session, Smith remained a force in Columbia. 2006 was a different story, as illness kept him away from the daily business of the Senate. Although his term would not expire until 2008, he decided to step down.

A special election will be held to pick his successor, with Democratic and Republican primaries on September 19. The winners will face off on November 7. Verne Smith often said his role in government “was to help the raggedy-ass children and frail elderly.” They can only hope whoever wins the seat has the same commitment to those without access to the corridors of power.

He leaves some big shoesto fill, and not just because he was a large man in physical size. In a political arena increasingly populated by narrow ideologues and self-interested sycophants, Verne Smith was a giant. This lends added importance to the choice voters will make in the Fifth Senate District, and an examination of the candidates reveals some curious undercurrents.

On the Republican side, Rep. Lewis Vaughn would have to be considered the front-runner. He has served in the House since 1989 and chaired the Greenville County delegation when he announced earlier this year that he would not seek reelection. His “retirement” quickly ended, and he announced he would seek the Senate seat on the day Smith resigned. Vaughn’s ambitions for higher office are no secret. In 2003, when Jim DeMint indicated he would give up his seat in Congress to run for the US Senate, Vaughn publicly said he wanted to run but garnered no real support despite a reputation as a rabid GOP partisan.

Expect to hear a lot between now and November about candidates embracing the legacy of Verne Smith, but one area where Vaughn and Smith part company concerns vouchers that transfer public money to private schools. Smith was a strong supporter of public education, while Vaughn was perhaps the leading promoter of “school choice” in the General Assembly. Although the initiative called Put Parents In Charge went down in flames in 2005 and was pulled off the legislative agenda in this election year by Gov. Mark Sanford, it has not gone away. Campaign finance records confirm an avalanche of cash flowing into the Sanford and Karen Floyd coffers from out-of-state voucher advocates, and there is a reasonable expectation that Vaughn will ride that same gravy train. In a district with excellent public schools in Greer, Travelers Rest and Blue Ridge, it will be interesting to watch Vaughn try to convince voters that tax money needs to be removed from those schools in favor of affluent private schools and Christian academies.

The other Republicans running in the primary have taken notice of Vaughn’s presumed front-runner status, and appear to be attempting to move even further to the right – if that’s possible. Kathleen Jennings Gresham describes herself as the first female prosecutor in the Upstate, but she was disbarred in 1996 following numerous allegations including misrepresentation and forging a signature on a document. She is waging an aggressive campaign, taking Vaughn to task for failing to sign a pledge not to raise taxes. This is a gimmick frequently trotted out by ultra-conservative candidates trying to put their opponents on the spot. Gresham’s yard signs contain the slogan “Share the Vision,” although what that vision is remains unclear. Her radio commercials emphasize her gender, asserting she is not part of the “old boy” network. Hey, she’s a woman.

Also on the ballot is Timothy Macko, described as an accountant and graduate of Bob Jones University. It turns out Macko has experience in elective office, serving six years in the New Mexico legislature. On the one hand, the Bob Jones connection should not be discounted, especially in a GOP primary in the Upstate. On the other hand, New Mexico may as well be France to more provincial area voters.

The fourth GOP candidate in the race is Michael Meilinger, reportedly a certified public accountant. Meilinger did not participate in a recent debate of GOP candidates at Greenville Tech, and no further information had surfaced at press time. Beyond Vaughn’s built-in advantage as a well-known incumbent who has secured the support of virtually all the establishment Republicans in the district, the primary race is difficult to handicap. But after 18 years in office, Vaughn has undoubtedly made some enemies. If Jennings or Macko can assemble enough malcontents and wing-nuts to push Vaughn into a run-off, then all bets are off. But Lewis Vaughn looks like a safe bet in the GOP primary.

Things get a little more complicated on the other side of the aisle, not least because Verne Smith was a Democrat until 2001. When he changed parties, the Senate was evenly divided among Republicans and Democrats, with Republican Lt. Gov. Bob Peeler holding the tie-breaking vote. Although many Democrats – reportedly including Smith’s son Jeff – disagreed with the decision, he believed he could more effectively serve the people of his district as a Republican. Verne Smith did not change his beliefs, only the letter after his name.

What makes this discussion interesting is the emergence of a Democratic candidate making his first run for public office who vows to implement a “pro-education, pro-business agenda that shuns partisan, political game-playing and puts people first.” His name is Frank Eppes, a well-known attorney and the son of former Circuit Court Judge Frank Eppes. The funeral of Judge Eppes in 2002 has been described as one of the watershed political events of the decade, as the meek and the mighty gathered in large numbers to pay tribute to a man who touched countless lives. “My father loved people, and he loved helping people,” says Frank Eppes. “If it was in his power to help them, he’d do it whether he knew them well or not. I hope I can live up to that legacy.” The wild card in this election is that voters may have a chance to choose a successor who embodies the core values of the man they seek to replace. “Strom Thurmond and Verne Smith shared one important trait that I always admired,” recounts Eppes. “When someone asked for their help, neither man ever applied any kind of litmus test or asked about political affiliation. An effective legislator shares our values, speaks our language and understands the things that matter most to us. An effective legislator does what is best and right for people because it is best and right. While no one will be able to fill Senator Smith’s shoes, we certainly have the right model to follow.” Eppes faces one challenger in the Democratic primary. Charles E. Winfield ran as a Republican in the June primary for the Greenville County Council seat being vacated by Mark Kingsbury, losing to Willis Meadows. Previously, he ran against Tommie Reece in the non-partisan school board elections, finishing third in a three candidate race. Now he has filed to run as a Democrat. The odds would appear to greatly favor Eppes in the primary, but he says he’s taking nothing for granted.

Should Eppes and Vaughn win their respective primaries, expect the November election to focus on the issues – especially education – to give voters a real choice. According to Eppes, “Public education is the most important function of state government. I support our public schools and the dedicated teachers, principals and parents who serve our children so tirelessly. Using tax dollars to fund private school vouchers steals from our public schools, which hurts our children and our future.”

Eppes is an imposing man, standing 6’10” tall and solid as a rock. But it is the solidity of his convictions that make him a worthy candidate to succeed Verne Smith in the South Carolina Senate. It’s not easy to fill the shoes of a giant.

Digby reminds us that the media are a part of the problem, and asks how do we fix it. My answer?

We ARE fixing it.
The media are easily led. Hell, even dopes like Dick Nixon and Karl Rove can do it.
It starts by constantly calling BS on them. Unfortunately, a bunch of bloggers aren't adequate to the job: we need elected officials to be on board. And that's why, just like the conservatives did starting the in 60s, we progressives are taking over the Democratic party. People like Biden and Clinton and Kerry and Edwards have been called losers so often they've started to believe it themselves. We need a new class of elected Dems who think of themselves as the next generation of American leadership. And they're on the way. (Ned Lamont, I'm talking to you!)
The other thing we have to start is to push a narrative that has nothing to do with the RNC's narrative. If we can get some elected Dems to start pushing our own talking points, the press will come along. How about a press conference with every Democratic governor, where they all pledge to deliver health care access to all their citizens? Or a group of Decocratic senators put out a press release calling for the implementation of a college education tax credit? And that's all they talk about for a while...coverage will come around at some point.
And the good news is that we are doing all these things already! We look around and see darkness and despair. But if we just look ahead a little, there is light and hope. The movement we're building is accelerating fast. The progess we've made -- the blogs, Air America, the tidal wave of smart liberal books, etc., etc. -- is paying off already.
Victory will not long be denied the righteous. Just ask President Lincoln.

The always wonderful Digby posts this today:

I think that until we grapple with the fact that this is the real nub of the problem we will get nowhere.

The question recurs, what will satisfy them? Simply this: We must not only let them alone, but we must somehow, convince them that we do let them alone. This, we know by experience, is no easy task. We have been so trying to convince them from the very beginning of our organization, but with no success. In all our platforms and speeches we have constantly protested our purpose to let them alone; but this has had no tendency to convince them. Alike unavailing to convince them, is the fact that they have never detected a man of us in any attempt to disturb them.These natural, and apparently adequate means all failing, what will convince them? This, and this only: cease to call slavery wrong, and join them in calling it right. And this must be done thoroughly - done in acts as well as in words. Silence will not be tolerated - we must place ourselves avowedly with them. Senator Douglas' new sedition law must be enacted and enforced, suppressing all declarations that slavery is wrong, whether made in politics, in presses, in pulpits, or in private. We must arrest and return their fugitive slaves with greedy pleasure. We must pull down our Free State constitutions. The whole atmosphere must be disinfected from all taint of opposition to slavery, before they will cease to believe that all their troubles proceed from us.

So too, today, we must ask the question, "what will satisfy them?" Will it be to ban gay marriage? Outlaw abortion? Destroy the public schools? Institute mandatory prayer? Deport all non-English speakers? I don't think so. It certainly will not be enough to nominate a conservative, born again southern Democrat. We did that. His name was Jimmy Carter. Here's what they are still doing to him even 25 years later. We nominated a son of the "New South," modern, moderate and pro-business. They impeached his ass.

I think this analysis is wonderful, and parallels my own thinking in many ways. But the premise is not thought-through quite to the most basic level, namely that the reason our Red friends have this overpowering sense of resentment is not because they sense our disapprobation. It is because they sense their errors in themselves. It is they who insisted on the aristocratic electoral college/senate compromise as the price of admission. It is they who brutally oppressed a race of their fellow humans (don't think they were unawares, or believed for two seconds their fig leaf justifications). And now, it is they who don't educate their children, who don't refrain from child-bearing until later, who tolerate crushing poverty amongst their fellow citizens. And they get to be reminded every night when they watch tv or a movie that those of us in Blue America are better educated, have nicer homes, live better, etc. And their entirely understandable reaction is this sense of defensiveness, this way of projecting their feelings of inferiority onto us as a claim that we are lording it over them.
The reason why this is important is that it shows a key -- maybe even THE key -- to a successful strategy of getting them to join us in moving the nation forward. We must show empathy for their challenges. We must never gloat or lord it over them (as so many blog readers seem to). We must never, ever forget that there is no moving forward without these people. They are our friends and our colleagues. They are our loud brother-in-law at Thanksgiving. They are our, at the end of the day, our fellow citizens and our partners in building a national life, and we must respect them.
Which means respecting them enough to call bullshit on those that exploit them -- the Bushes, the Dobsons, the Robertsons. These people are cynical abusers of our fellow citizens, and we do them no favors by either emulating them by pandering, nor ignoring their crimes by being silent.
A successful national progressive candidate does not need to be from the South. He or she simply needs to be 100% free of any sense of condescension, and must demonstrate total empathy for the challenges of all Americans.

The Preznit on Border Security?

Sheesh. The Preznit goes on tee vee to Explain How Immigration Works. And we are treated to what I understand is a RNC infomercial. Shameless mugging for the racist ranks. And many in the press see right through the dog and pony show.

Oh, but not the NY Times' own Elisabeth Bumiller. She has ingested some powerful kool-ade. For her, not an effort to mend fences with the racist base. Oh no. To Elisabeth, the talk "reflected the subtle approach of a man shaped by Texas border-state politics and longtime personal views. reflected the subtle approach of a man shaped by Texas border-state politics and longtime personal views. "

Oh. I see. Not shameless pandering at all. Just reflective talk from the nation's deep thinker.

And here I thought he was an idiot. Thanks to the NY Times and Elisabeth Bumiller for clearing that up.

What To Think on Immigration

The President is a big fat lying faker.

There. I've said it. But how do I know it's true?

"Bush budget scraps 9,790 border patrol agents"

Instead of 2,000 new agents a year, the Preznit decided to cut 1,790 of them in his 2006 budget. And no commitment for the remaining 8,000.

So, sending a few coupla thousand National Guardsmen only partially restores his previous cuts.

Of course, expect plenty of media coverage of this interesting tidbit. (The foregoing statement was intended as a joke.)

So tonight the Preznit will explain to us How Immigration Policy Works. Should be entertaining.

And truthfully, it ought to help with his polling numbers. If it doesn't have much of an impact, or if it impacts him negatively, then Americans is large numbers will have arrived at this place I've been for a long time: they just can't stand the sight of the man.

The Deal on Colbert

All right already, I'll tell you What To Think about Colbert's massive diss of the Preznit. The video is available here.

If you make fun of a fat guy for being fat, it's may be funny-ish, but the yuck is tempered by the awkward feeling. If you make fun of a smart guy for being dumb, we can all enjoy the vitriol and hyperbole. Colbert is an American hero. I hope one day one of my grandchildren graduates from Colbert High. And I'm dee-lighted to say that he was not perceived as funny in the room and was terribly awkward.

He was making fun of the fat guy for being fat -- or, the dumb guy for being dumb. He spoke the truth to these people, and they knew it. They felt ashamed, deservedly so.

It may be that his performance is as close to a Have you no sense of decency, sir? moment as we are likely to ever get.

I do believe, for the 329th time in the last four years, that a corner has been turned culturally. The Preznit's little dog-and-pony show won't work any more. The next scary evil monster -- from Mexicans to a reprise of the evil Ruskies -- is likely to be met with incredulity.

And we can thank the valuable role of ridicule, sarcasm, satire and humor for some of this change in our culture. Dave Letterman banging away at Bush. Stewart, Colbert, the same.

The truth has always been a powerful ally, and we are seeing it in action once again.

Me again...

I've taken a significant hiatus from telling you What to Think, largely due to an overall cooling of the fires of the creative muse. I've been writing other things (none of your business, thank you) which are essentially non-political.

On the great wide swath of Public Affairs, my fires have been cooled somewhat by the apparent scales-falling-from-the-eyes of millions of Americans.

Perhaps the most frustrating newly enlightened Americans are those who voted for Bush in 04, and now regret it. I'm thrilled of course that they now regret supporting these people, but what were they thinking? It's not like there's a whole new side of Bush we've seen since the campaign. His ickiness was on display for all to see. The fact that so many Americans just didn't care enough to pay attention, or thought that Kerry was effete, or really truly believed that Bush was this strong silent type, is plenty troubling. Basically, we're wasting 8 years of our nation's life because some relatively small number of us didn't care enough to pay even the scantest attention. Americans. Sheesh.

So I think the worm has really truly turned. The insupportable foundations of the modern Republican movement are finally beginning to give way. A party can't harbor bigots and those they hate for long, nor practice economic warfare on the vast majority of voters and expect them to never react.

I feel like ranting about the President's cravenness no longer has any point. I am now only interested in things to do moving forward. Like providing health care, economic justice, basic civil rights, genuine concern for the environment, and while we're at it, using the English language in its original, non-Orwellian sense and believing in both science and the separation of church and state.

You know I'm an idea guy. Got a million of 'em. Here's one: there's no question that the first thing a Democrat president would do is call for a new Kyoto accord. (In truth the original had some fairly serious problems, though the right solution was to fix them rather than disparage the entire undertaking). So here's the idea: why wait? Why doesn't the Democratic party organize and sponsor a global conference for government officials from around the world to come together and hammer out a workable solution that we can all sign onto -- and the federal government can sign onto January 21, 2009.

Gotta show the leadership, folks. Can't just play defense.

Comedywise is on the air. In the air. On the internet. Whatever.

A 0:22 clip of train riding with James last summer with Uncle Bob and Uncle Tom in beautiful Lancaster County.

Click the play button to enjoy!

Happy Tuesday Everybody!

Tuesday dawns here in NYC, where it’s a bit cooler and decidedly rainy.

The news continues unremittingly bad. I now have to find office space within the next 30 days or so. Affordable office space in NYC – should be easy. Cheap, too.

But wait, there’s more. Oh, so much more. It turns out I have a new landlord. A very rich company, supposedly from Kentucky, has purchased our building. I’m sure it’ll be a matter of weeks before we’re faced with a rent increase or eviction. Neat.

You’re Shi***ng Me.

I like to think I’m running a family blog here, but now and then there’s something a bit ****** up that gets through.

For all of the harping we do, we spend relatively little time imagining what the future will look like. One of the fun daydreams I indulge is the one where furry-browed Senators are interrogating middle- aged people (white, well-to-do people) about their former association with the Republican Party: “Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the Republican Party?”

Here’s another. A tape from Osama bin Ladn is released. It contains a screed against the US and offers to open peace negotiations. A Republican operative is trotted out to comment on CNN, say the Vice President. After having the tape described by the reporter, the Vice President says, “Well, see, what’s sad is that this shows how the Democrats are actually on the same side as al-Quaida.”

At which point, the reporter would utter with dripping disbelief: “You’re sh****ng me.”

And then launch into a tirade to the effect of, “You’ve just seen America’s Most Wanted, the supposed mastermind of 9/11, taunt the US, and what you come up with is how this shows liberals are fools? Come on.”

See, the day that happens is the day the forces of evil will be on the run. Until then, we’ll get Wolf Blitzer saying, “Oh, I see, Mr. Vice President. Why do you think the Democrats are so out of touch with our all-new post 9/11 world?”

Machine Guns!

If we had Dem leadership, we wouldn't have hesitated to have some group turn the Alito nomination into a referendum on guns.

Does anyone think that the Repubs would hesitate to smear our candidate were the tables turned?

Oh my God! Alito is in favor of machine guns!!!

Alito

It's hard not to be depressed over the lame handling of the Democratic response to the Alito nomination. As much as we need to be fighting the good fight against the forces of evil, we also need to fight to reclaim our party from the current moribund leadership.

Alito struck me in the hearings as a nominee squarely in the mold of Bush himself. Deeply conservative, yet reluctant to reveal that conservatism except through pap and meaningless platitudes. Strangely uncurious about the world around him. (Evidently, Mr. Alito seems to be one of the only Americans not to have given the current warrant-evasion scandal any thought.) He seems to specialize in explaining the obvious as a way of avoiding giving any detailed views -- indeed, he seems free of detailed views altogether. His record on the bench suggests that the most complicated set of facts will be reduced by him to a simple, predictable outcome: privileged, powerful interests yes, poor, defenseless interests no. Easy.

While I agree that a woman's constitutional right to choose is a transcendingly important issue, I think there will be many other issues that come before the court where we will see just how conservative the court will have become.

So that's the big picture. Of much more immediate concern is our side's pathetic response. We have succeeded by our efforts in further entrenching our opponents. They have had a chance to show the public that they are putting forth someone who is broadly acceptable, and the only warts on him are that extreme liberals grouse that he isn't sympatheic enough to the plight of the common man, and some beleive he's against Roe v. Wade.

We have shown that we have no point of view with any meaning. We took the nominee's plain dissembling on his membership in CAP and managed to make it seem like a quarrel about a line under "interests and hobbies" on a resume 20 years ago. Instead of making it seem like a brazen act of perjury, which is what is was.

We came off as picyune and petty for chastising Alito for not honoring his previous commitment not to hear Vanguard cases. (Instead of making him seem like someone who didn't take his commitment to the Senate seriously.) We failed to construct a meaningful narrative about this guy that anyone could relate to.

I hope at least the next generation of Democratic leaders will be able to use these proceedings to allow President Boxer the right to choose the most wild liberals imaginable. These days, "shoe on the other foot" comparisons seem to be somehow rude (think farting in an elevator), but the truth is that the more these clowns build up their power, the more power we'll have when we return.

Putzes.

Let's all look forward to Hillary Clinton's heartfelt speech about her serious -- serious, I tell you! -- concerns about the nominee, in which she will concede that he is smart, honorable and distinguished. Heck, maybe she'll even vote against him! Ah! Our leadership in action.

Death of Outrage

I can't get over the gap between the nation's reaction to not only the tragic deaths of twelve miners in West Virginia, but also to the bungling of the communication about those death, all on the one hand, and the death in the last 48 hours in Iraq of almost 150 people. In a country of about 28 million, 150 deaths would translate to 1,500 in the US.

And we can't (and shouldn't, of course) shut up about 9/11.

Iraq suffers a 9/11 tragedy at least monthly. Imagine if they were Swedes or Brits!

Pharo Kids Holiday Pic 2005

 
 

Caption Contest!
My entry: Stop singing!

Hey Republican Friends! Here's an idea

So, from the department of Just One More Clever Idea:

Ya know how the Repubs are so certain that the power of the free market is so potent that it can solve darn near any problem? From incenting poor people not to be so poor to getting low-grade earning students off their lazy butts, there's no problem for which a good Republican can't figure out a market solution for. Damn clever of them.

So, let's look at the way the Repubs have built a market-solution to war. Why, virtually every aspect of modern warfare has been turned over to the private sector.

So doesn't this mean that we've created a market for war? That there are market participants whose livelihood depends on a fairly steady stream of people and things getting blown up, burnt and shot? Won't they be expected to maximize their self-interest by ensuring that we're always at war somewhere, with someone?

So here's the thought: this seems like a very, very bad policy. How about we decide that war is a bad thing, one that ought to be avoided except in the most compelling cases. Which would mean that we should end these market forces, like we have whenever we've had a real war. Anyone remember the War Board telling Ford Motor Company exactly what it would do with its assembly lines, and exactly how much the tax payers would pay, on pain of having the government take it over if need be?

Pretty far cry from the head of Haliburton also being the head of the government and telling the government what it will pay when Haliburton decides we need to invade, say, Venezuela.

Hey MSM: It's a Dem Sweep, pure and simple. Even here in NYC.

It's nice to see the MSM taking a few steps out from behind their mothers' skirts and actually pointing things out.

Still, it irks me no end to hear about Bloomberg representing a Republican brightspot. Here's a guy who was a lifelong dem switching, he says, because the dem primary was too competitive. He governs from left of center -- he strengthens programs for the poor, he invests in our schools, he gave our teachers a sort-of-decent raise (after a tough negotiation with their union -- which by any reasonable measure he won for the benefit of the students). He's pro-choice, pro-gay equality, and anti school prayer.

Yeah, big Republican victory, all right.

Beautiful Friday

Unexpectedly nice November 3d Friday in NYC. High above 70. Nice.

Political news suddenly gone silent. Feels like a re-loading pause. For the moment, Dems have landed a few major blows in succession, and the Repubs are feeling it. A bit back on their heels, perhaps, and Dems leaning in to press their advantage.

Meantime, in the local NYC race for mayor, Bloomberg is starting to shade into "run up the score" territory. Of course he won't (shouldn't) let up -- who knows how much a last-minute stumble might cost him. It is conceivable if unlikely that he could blow through a 40 point cushion. But God bless the man. He is a classic benign dictator, whose only interest is that of the people of his city. God forbid something were to happen -- he's the one I'd want calling the shots. Sorry, Freddie. Maybe after the election Andy Stein, Mark Green, Ruth Messinger, Dave Dinkins and you can all get an apartment together.

Judicial Conservatism

The thing people are forgetting is that until the current conservative movement's ascendency, our judicial heritage, from something like 987A.D., has been one of more or less straight-line progress. Yes, progress.

At bottom, the idea of progressiveism is that once we move forward, we don't go back. We are always improving people's lives. Traditionally, convervatives have been in favor letting people fend for themselves. But the new "conservatives" actually want things to go backwards - judicially, legislatively, economically, socially. It is an extreme recoiling from the specter of ordinary people using the levers of power to improve their own lives.

Don't worry -- at the end of the day, we always win. We are, after all, the good guys.

The Thing Is

This is a link to a completely thoughtful analysis by Jack Balkin of the new SCOTUS nominee Alito.

We know that the new median Justice supports abortion rights claims a little less than O'Connor...supports gay rights claims a bit more than O'Connor...thinks affirmative action is largely unconstitutional..thinks most campaign finance regulation is unconstitutional...[and] has been more likely to permit government endorsements of religion and state financial support of religion than O'Connor.... On federalism, it's a mixed bag[ and o]n Presidential power, the position of the new median justice, interestingly enough, appears to be unchanged.

What I find illuminating is the list of issues in order:

abortion rights
gay rights
affirmative action
campaign finance
government endorsements of relegion
federalism
Predintial power

Certainly these are the hot issues before the Court. But what does it say about the monopolization of our public life by the Forces of Evil that abortion rights and gay rights are at the tippy-top of the list? Two absolutely crucial issues to be sure (and yes, I mean "to be sure" in that pundit-y way of dismissing something as less important as something else coming up). Where are the issues that affect tens of millions of Americans' lives? (And don't start by re-asserting how important and impactful abortion rights and gay rights are -- I already said they are, then did the dimissing "to be sure." So, 'nuff said, right?)

FDR went to the mat with the Court to protect his efforts to help millions of Americans end the cycle of poverty and dispair that his Republican predecessors had set up so devastatingly. He fought to protect the rights of Americans to enjoy safe work places and wholesome foods and drugs. He fought for things that impacted the lives of ordinary Americans. While reproductive freedom (might as well lump it together with Gray since many extra-kooky wingnuts do also), certainly impacts virtually all adult Americans deeply, there are other issues which are also deeply impactful: lack of proper healthcare, inadequate education, lack of support for families, checks on corporate-ism run amok -- in short, a lack of financial security that has gutted for many Americans any sense of hope or stability.

All of which is a long way of saying that let's fight the good fight against the Forces of Evil and their Cold Heartless Judges. But until we open up a strong offensive front of our own choosing -- i.e., without regard to the Forces of Evil's agenda -- we will continue not only to lose, but also to ignore the crying needs of our society. We won't prevail til we have a leader as dedicated and forceful as FDR (or, I hate to say, Reagan), but that's no reason to delay framing our own agenda as professionally and compellingly as we can in the meantime.

Yippie!

Hooray for Alita! Bush has just handed us a wonderful gift -- maybe we should get him a little something.

So, Bible Belt friends, you are about to receive a newsflash: America hates you! An overwhelming majority of Americans think you are buffoons. We think that women should have equal rights with men. We think the decision to have an abortion is no business of the federal government -- and if you get rid of Roe v. Wade, we'll just pass the laws we need. Of course, some of you Bible Belters may find your states in the thrall of religious kooks, so you may have some trouble with reproductive freedom.

Wanna knock down the Commerce Clause jurisprudence of the last 90 years? Fine. We'll still keep the liberal agenda, since it has, and will continue to have, the support of an overwhelming majority of Americans.

Maybe we'll let you pick a state -- Arkansas (sorry, Bill), Alabama, Tennessee -- and just go hog-wild with it: legalize feudalism, slavery, whatever you like. Just let people leave if they don't like it.

I think we are in for some good times, Dems.

Isn't this the Veep?

From today's indictment of Libby:

On or about July 10 or July 11, 2003, LIBBY spoke to a senior official in the White House (“Official A”) who advised LIBBY of a conversation Official A had earlier that week with columnist Robert Novak in which Wilson’s wife was discussed as a CIA employee involved in Wilson’s trip. LIBBY was advised by Official A that Novak would be writing a story about Wilson’s wife.

Didn't Libby learn of Plame's identity from the Veep? Isn't the Veep headed toward an indictment of the Protection of Secret Agents Act?

And now for a laugh...

Enjoy a little funny from Jest.com.



Enjoy a little funny from Jest.com
http://www.jest.com/content.cfm?id=84
http://www.jest.com/images/jestDOTcom_hadji.gif

What It All Means, And Where Do We Go From Here?

The time has come to take a long, hard look at two things of vital imprtance, but that we often overllok. Classic case of thh merely urgent (Delay indictment, e.g.) crowding out the important (say, healthcare for all Americans). So without further ado, here is 1) What It All Means, and 2)Where Do We Go From Here.

What It All Means.
I recently posted a top ten list of current bits of schaudefreude (Delay indictment, Plame-gate, Miers' nomination backlash, the failure of the Iraqi war as US policy, the failure of trickle-down economics (again!), and so on. All delicious tidbits for those of us who feel the Republicans long ago lost any claim on our sympathy.

But these items are powerful for two reasons, one often talked about and the other not. We often talk about the "drumbeat" effect: the idea that a series of negative things are occurring in quick (quickening?) succession for the Republicans. The code words you see in the media are things like, "mounting troubles," and "fresh allegations." (Look too for words like "beset" and "embattled." All code for drumbeat effect.)

The other we don't talk about is that these events confirm our pre-existing thoughts and concerns. Rumors that the President has recently returned to the bottle are unsettling because of concerns that his sobriety wasn't solid. The consternation over Miers plays into fears that the President has often picked people who are underqualified (calling Brownie, calling Bolton!). The Delay indictments give credence to a vague perception that the Republicans (and, sad to say, some Dems) are in an unholy alliance with business interests. And the doom and gloom from Iraq serves as a near-daily reminder that we all had doubts about going into Iraq, so much so that the President and his team had to pretend that we were only 45 minutes away from destruction if we failed to act.

So What This All Means is that conditions in the body politic are generally facorable to Democrats right now. The Katrina aftermath showed Americans that their concerns that starving the government of needed funding could have catatrophic consequences. Were we to experience a terrible financial crisis (a la Clusterfuck Nation), which I personally find a likely scenario, the nation would think, "ah, yes, there were many respected voices who said something like this would happen if we continued our profligate ways." Many of us on the left have been preaching for years the way of truth and light, and the reality-based world is now stepping up to show our positions for what they are: true and right.

Where Do We Go From Here
So if the country is finally headed in our direction, what do we do now? We have for so long been principally engaged in tearing down the edifices of deception and hatred erected by the other side. I often see in the comments here and elsewhere a sort of weariness with the fight and a concern about what we'll do when we don't have Tom Delay and George Bush to kick around any more. And therein lies the most Important Thing.

No one is going to vote for us just becuase we aren't George Bush. Sure, we might win an election or two, as Republicans did by not being Bill Clinton or Jimmy Carter. But to re-build a sustainable majority of voters who will support our policies over the long-haul, we need to focus on our constructive vision of a better future. (As an aside, this is again re-inforcing pre-existing perceptions: Democrats are supposed to be good at governing and good at proposing and implementing improvements in our lives through government. Our failure to do just that has been a key part of why voters think of us as weak and useless. The flip side of that coin is that Republicans are supposed to be in charge of criticizing us and tearing down proposals for change. When they act in accordance with those expectations, for example by constantly sneering at big government tax-and-spend liberals, they are acting within those pre-existing expectations. This is also why IOKIYAR exists: people hold the Dems to higher standards because they're supposed to be the good guys. Republicans cheating on their wives is simply par for the course.)

So Where We Go From Here is pretty clear. While some of us will forever be engaged in batting down the evilness of at least some on the right (a special detail will always have to be vigilant to gaurd against future Swift Boat Vets), the bulk of our guys need to go over to offense. That's why Pelosi's "contract with America" is being rushed out early. We need to coalesce around two or three basic, big ideas. And we all know what they are already: healthcare for all, education for all, a fair tax system, and a government allied with the needs of the voters, not the donors. The slogan I prefer is "Community, Opportunity and Responsibility." And there are a 1,000 ways we will show the voters exactly what we mean. We will embrace science. Our administration will be transparent. We will work with our allies overseas. We will invest in new industries to create new jobs. We will protect the dignity of even the poorest Americans.

The only thing missing from the equation is, alas, something that is absolutely necessary, a visionary, charismatic leader. There would have been no New Deal without FDR, no conservative takeover without Reagan. Our national nominee for President defines us as a brand. Mcovern, Dukakis, Mondale, Gore and Kerry all served us poorly in that regard. They were analytical, reserved, low-emotion and nealy charisma-free. Reagan, Clinton, much the other way: intuitive, charismatic, empathetic, etc. The lesson to be drawn is quite clear. No more Bidens, Clarks, Hillarys or, God forbid, Kerrys. What we need to find, and find yesterday, is someone more like Edwards (at least as he seems to be on occasion): someone who is empathetic, emotive, can speak plainly, is free of condescension, and in this televsion age, looks handsome. If someone has a better choice, I'm all ears. Carville said some time back that this mysterious person probably isn't even in politics at the moment, and that may be true. But wherever this person is (and wouldn't it be wonderful if it was a woman), we need him/her if we're going to get back to the promised land.

And now you know What To Think.

Jest.com

More Jest.com funny.



You really should check out the whole site.

Big Picture Round-Up

Time to give you the view from 50,000 feet up.

There are signs that the Great Republican Crack-Up is underway. I think the turning point was the media coverage of the hurricane Katrina.

Before we get all full of schadenfreude, let's remember that it seems to be the legacy of every lame duck presidential administration that the rest of the party -- the part that still has to face the electorate -- quickly realizes that ditching the lame duck is in their interests. So some of the conservative backlash we're seeing is simply regular Republicans distancing themselves from the lame duck W has certainly become.

But having been all cautious and everything, let's at least sample some of the Schadenfreude, vintage fall 05.

1. Katrina Aftermath
2. Iraq Quagmire
3. Record gas prices
4. Idiotic Supreme Court Nomination
5. Pending indictments in Plame-gate
6. Delay indictments (!!)
7. Stalled Economy
8. Social Security Privatization Blow-Up
9. Evidence of W's return to the bottle
10. Crony-ism (giving a hand to oil refiners, e.g., leave no billionaire behind, etc.)

OK, that's enough. But really, it IS enough. Even the slow-to-think press is starting to realize that these things all sort of add up to a story.

Here's my story:

The end is near for the corporate-ist party. The American people may be slow to catch on, but catch on they will. And I think we are seeing the beginning of that.

But all the tricks that the Repubs have used to get power are still there. They may be down but they are by no means out. There are a lot of smart and ambitious people on their side, and so far we are lacking the one necessary ingredient.

To put these guys down once and for all, we need a charismatic Democrat to lead the way. In fact, we probably need more than one. But we need someone who is muscular, who is positive, who is likable, and who has a positive vision for our country. Communications skills are a must, of course.

Without that person, we will continue to wander around in the wilderness. This person must be our nomineee in 08. Right now, the closest I see to the right person is Edwards.

And let's define what success looks like. I want the word Republican be like the word Communist was in McCarthy's day, as in, "I am not now, nor have I ever been, a member of the Republican party." Or, "Isn't it true, madame secretary, that for many years you were an open and avowed member of the Republican Party, and even had dinner on more than one occasion with impeached President Bush?" "Good heavens, no. I never even met the man!" "Thank you, Secretary Rice."

And so on.

This is Funny.

This is funny.
Check out the rest of the site, too.

Been A While...

It's been a while since I posted here. No particular reason, just didn't hear the muse.

Are we witnessing a watershed event in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina? I think the jury's still out, though there is some basis for thinking it might be true this time. Of course, it's hard not to be gun-shy, given how many times the right-wing has given cause for rejection. Tax cuts for the rich. Failure to re-build ground zero. Not really caring about catching Bin Ladn. Running huge budget deficits. Ignoring the UN. Invading a country that posed no threat to us or others. Spurning our allies. Destroying any chance of a good outcome in Iraq. Placing ideology above every other consideration. So, it's easy to see how adding one more to this list is going to make a difference.

And indeed it may not. This list may yet have room to grow, even though it seems obvious that the Right's grip on power seems aberrational.

Katrina has caused many voters to stop and think, without question. The initial news reporting was devastating -- local officials decrying the lack of support from the federal government, actually begging on-air for help. The WH spin machine finally sprung into action, laying the feds' failure as part of a broader governmental failure that knew no party ideology. (An effort reminiscent of blaming the intelligence for the failure to find WMD's in Iraq: it's not that we messed up, it's more that our mess up was caused by other people's failings. )

The good news here is that for years liberals have been saying that the Right does not care about government. The Right has been largely in agreement with this, preaching the gospel that the government is nothing more than a leach on the pocketbooks of decent hardworking people.

Katrina threw into high-relief the proper role of government as a life saver. And the dollar costs of the disaster -- a few billion in levees, etc. -- seem trivial compared to what we're spending in Iraq. It's hard to escape the conclusion that we're far more committed to rebuilding in the Middle East than we are in the Gulf.

The biggest impact of this on politics may well be the effect on the press. A lot of news people got an education that what the politicians say is happening and what is actually happening may not be the same. I think, sadly, for a lot of news people, the experience of seeing for themselves what was happening, and then having Bush lackeys say that what they saw happening wasn't happening, turned on a light which is not easily shut off. I think from here on out the press' credulity won't be quite so freely given, which cannot but lead to a better outcome in politics for Americans.

James in Philadelphia 

The Most Chilling Story

Today's NY Times has a long-ish piece about the ex-urbs which is nothing short of bone-chilling. Here's the bits that popped out at me:

In its most recent survey of Tampa home buyers, KB asked people what they valued the most in their home and community. They wanted more space and a greater sense of security. Safety always ranks second, even in communities where there is virtually no crime. Asked what they wanted in a home, 88 percent said a home security system, 93 percent said they preferred neighborhoods with "more streetlights" and 96 percent insisted on deadbolt locks or security doors.

...

So KB Home offers them all. "It's up to us to figure out what people really want and to translate that into architecture," said Erik Kough, KB's vice president for architecture. And the company designs its communities with winding streets with sidewalks and cul-de-sacs to keep traffic slow, to give a sense of containment and to give an appearance distinctly unlike the urban grid that the young, middle-class families instinctively associate with crime. "I definitely feel safe here. I feel protected," said Lisa Crawford, who moved to New River about a year ago with her husband, Steve, and their two children.

These communities are ballooning all over the US. They are based on an appeal to fear. Look at how these communities are designed: locks, security systems, a "sense of containment," an appearance that repels the notion of crime-y urban grids, etc.

And of course, these areas are way Republican. What I'm finding so scary is I am at a loss to figure out what to say to these people. These folks have voted with their feet, saying, "we want out. You diverse society is too scary for us, and we want no part of it. We want to hole up with poeple like ourselves and be left alone."

How do you respond to that?

Plame-gate

Is it possible that the WH is really in trouble? It seems that the prosecutor is fixin' to issue some indictments.

But of course, it's not like the WH is new to this game, or suddenly stupid or something.

Little said the Senate committee would also review the probe of special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, who has been investigating the Plame case for nearly two years.

So there it is then. When the prsocecutor starts to sling the slime, the WH will point to the ogoing investigation of the investigation to throw up its traditional smear-the-messenger defense.

I suspect that in their usual fashion they will say Americans had enough of politicially charged special investigators with Bill Clinton, and want no more Clintonian scandal mongering. In other words, it'll all be Bill Clinton's fault. Again.

Guess I Better Post Something

I've been busy posting on other sites, but not here. But the nomination of a S.Ct. Justice is a big enough deal to cross-post here.

My thoughts on Roberts are the same as Leader Reid's: seems OK on paper, let's see what we learn. Open mind.But I can't help but look at this politically. I am offended to the core that Bush's pick is touted on the front page of the NYT as being based on Roberts' "fairness and civility."

My problem is not with Roberts as much as it is with Bush's ongoing lack of candor. If Bush was looking for fairness and civility, I've got dozens of liberal jurists who would fit the bill. In conflating his real reasons for picking Roberts (really conservative, really reliable, really thin record, past confirmations) with these fake reasons (man of character, fairness, etc.), he is making a not-too-subtle rebuke to us libruls: we lack civility, lack fairness, don't know from character, etc.

All of which, I suppose is to be expected from this punk. But why oh why must our press go along with this nonsense? They bear a heavy responsibility for the terrible road we're now on.For ourselves, let's not lose sight of the victory we can make if we're smart.

Forget filibustering. They've got the votes. Period. Roberts is in.

Let's make sure that we use this process to let the American people know first that even a conservative kook like Roberts largely subscribes to the basic liberal core of our modern jurisprudence, and secondly, where he is out of the American mainstream, let's make sure people know just how he is out of step, and what it will mean for our fellow citizens.

The Intrepid Travellers in the Badlands 

Just a Few Short Months Ago 

"Where are you going, Grandpa?" 

Handsome Boys. 

Last Day Assembly 

Final Middle School Assembly 

Oh Me Oh My!

I seem to have discovered how to post photos. Beautiful children now on-line. Enjoy!

Terrific Tom. 

William. Wonderful William. 

The Fantastic Four 

Handsome, long-haired James 

Beautiful Caitlin 

Ygleias Asks is America #1?

Over at TPM Cafe, the amazingly talented Matt Yglesias reports on some research that says most Americans believe that "America is the Greatest Country in the World," but less than half think "Democrats believe that America is the Greatest Country in the World." Matt wonders if the poll isn't reflecting correctly that many on the left are uncomfortable with the idea that America is "the Greatest." Here's my comment, cross-posted at the "Matt Yglesias" section of TPM Cafe:

From what I hear, most of the Left's discomfort with the "America, the Greatest" idea derives from concern about what the Right has been doing here the last 10-15 years or so (with the growing support of a majority of Americans). From that perspective, I am certainly in the "not comfortable" category regarding America #1.

But if I take a step back, and think about the many things we still do right in this country (at least until the Repubs push us back even more), I get totally comfortable. No country on earth embraces diversity and tolerance to the extent that we do. No country on earth values free speech more than we do. No country on earth has higher hopes and dreams for itself and the other nations on the globe.

Now, I know the Right is hacking away at this. But our day will come. We will stop their effort to take us back to the 19th century (or even further), and will reverse the damage they have done. I know we will even re-start the progressive march our society had been until they made progress their sworn enemy.

How do I know this? Because no nation on earth has a better system for allowing its people to work out their differences. Corrupt media blocking voters from real information? Well, our good old American ingenuity and spirit is devising ways around that. Corrupt politicians gaming the system and stacking the courts? We are starting with local school boards and working our way up. One way or another, we will overcome adversity. We always have, and I believe we always will.

Boiled down, I see us as suffering a crisis of leadership. I love Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi as much as the next America-hating liberal, but they are not leaders in any transcendant way. I'm not sure we've had real leaders since Kennedy. The right's veneration of W shows how much people want strong leaders. He's an idiot and they worship him.

Carville said sometime in the last year or two that our next great leader probably isn't even in politics at this point. He or she may be 17 years old right now, or working as an inner city math teacher. What I do know for sure is that without Ronald Reagan the Right wouldn't be where it is today. (Nor would we have had the success we did without FDR.) The next leader of that stature is coming -- I have enough faith in my fellow Americans to believe that such a person will rise up in due course. And that that leader will restore our confidence that America is indeed the greatest nation on earth.

Until then, we'll just continue with the business of finding political cannon fodder.

Being Poor

Cross-posted to Senator Edwards' guest blog at TPM Cafe. (Yay! -- So far it seems great!)


Senator Edwards, you are a) my hero, and b) spot-on, but still nibbling around the edges. I was raised upper-middle class, briefly had an upper-middle class lifestyle, then faced real poverty and financial need for several years before crawling back to lower-class.
While the ridiculous costs imposed on poor people solely because they are poor are an important part of the problem, the deeper evil is in society's current mindset that the poor deserve to be poor. As Denzel Washington's character in Cry Freedom, Steven Biko, explained about the grinding-down of apartheid, the genius of the belief system is in convincing poor people themselves that it is their own fault.
Far too many poor people get the idea that they don't deserve better than they've got. Government seems to have exited the business of helping poor people and gone into the business of humiliating them. Everything the government does is heavily dosed with the idea tha you have failed and need remedial life help. Plus, if we help you too much, you won't have learned your lesson about just how horribly you have failed.
Here's a newsflash: the poor New Yorkers I've met are not any smarter or dumber, harder-working or lazier, taller or shorter, than the rich New Yorkers I once worked with. Like Americans generally, they are people of infinite variety, strength and weakness.
When Ronald Reagan asked, "are you better now than you were four years ago," he started us on a path of "me-ism" which has wrecked our Great Society. Our society shouldn't be "every-man-for-himself," nor should it be about which government programs can be shown to be the most efficacious; rather, our society should reflect our Judeo-Christian-Islamo heritage and be premised on the belief that until we are all doing well, none of us are doing well enough.
Senator Edwards, let me know what I can do to help you in 08! Can't wait to see you as a blogger!

Ronald Reagan – Father of the “Me” Generation

Twenty-Four Years Ago candidate Ronald Reagan launched our society on its present course when he asked Americans, “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?”

I am increasingly convinced that this marks a decisive turning point in the public life of our American society. From this remark to the present day, our society has been defined by a single-minded emphasis on this one question: “How am I doing?” While this insight is by no means original to me, I am struck more and more every day how much it explains about the sorry state of our national civic life.

WARNING: OFFICIAL CURMUDGEON MATERIAL FOLLOWS.

When I was a kid, the news would report on how we as a society was doing. Our average income was up! For the 24th year in a row! Our standard of living, already undeniably the highest in the world, was up again! Our literacy rate had achieved near-impossible levels of success. Our government was focused on improving the lives of what we called the “less fortunate.” It seemed to matter how the least amongst us were doing, and what those who were called “fortunate” worried about doing enough to give back to society.

Today, of course, under the insidious guide of personal responsibility, poor people are poor because they have made bad choices: either they failed to get the education they should have, or they took jobs in shaky businesses, or they failed to prevent terrible injury, or whatever. Any reason that someone might be poor today comes back to one thing in our modern era of personal responsibility: the individual involved must have made a mistake at some point.

And of course, the happy people of means have much to be proud of: their entrepreneurial spirit, their hardwork, their brains their innovation, whatever. Rich people are rich because they deserve to be. Money has become an almost perfect substitute for human and/or moral worth.

The pre-Reagan era of collective responsibility was an easy target. To hear the Republicans tell the tale, nothing was ever anybody’s fault. Can’t get cable tv? It’s the government’s fault, the right would have their strawmen cry. Can’t get a job, the strawman would ask? Blame corporate America.

To make this new paradigm work, the right needed to disengage government from a decades-long reliance on social science. Social science promised to use the best methods from the world of hard science to help us discern and alleviate the problems of society. Data collection was of course central to the enterprise. For the right, this meant playing the left’s game.

So we chucked social science in favor of anecdotal evidence. Reagan’s welfare queens. Militant gays. The rise of the living proof in the form of an ordinary person attending the State of the Union.

And so, the social scientists have continued to labor in obscurity, collecting data that the right deems irrelevant. What’s important they say is not the world as is exists (the derisively named “Reality-based world”), but the world as we imagine it should exist (a world they might like to call the “Leadership World”).

I’m a big believer in the productive power of balance – proportional levels reality and imagination. And I do believe that we on the left have forgotten the power of imagination and thought leadership, and relied too heavily on the value of measuring and managing reality as we find it. But while we may be weak, we at least are on the side of angels. And we do not spurn outright the other half of these particular paired opposites. The right rejects the notion that data and reality is even relevant. I’m not sure why they even fund the National Institutes of Health or the National Science Foundation. I’m sure there are people on the right who would turn the funding off on these tomorrow.

My formulation of our “brand DNA” has been “Community. Responsibility. Opportunity.” And the phrase that typifies it for me is, “Are we better off than we were four years ago?”

If the never-varying cycle of generational partisan shifts is 36 years, the question is whendo we start measuring. If we take it from 1980, we've got a ways to go. But I'd be excited about helping to build a movement that culminates with our candidateushering in the "We" generation. I just hope it won't take til 2016 for it to happen.

To my thousands of readers:

I haven't posted in some time cause I haven't felt like it. Too bad. Buy a comic book. Read the newspaper. Get a life.

From Josh Marshall:

Add to this the fact that the president is clocking in at under 30% support on Social Security and most Americans now understand that he wants to dismantle the program and the whole thing really becomes a no-brainer.

In fact, Dems should really start making the point now that they are the ones who stopped President Bush from phasing out Social Security this year.

Be loud, be proud.

Here's a chance to take a negative (opposing the idiot President) and turn it into a positive: Democrats, the people who saved Social Security. Again.

How come if this is so easy for me it's darn near impossible for the likes of Joe Biden?

When will we ever learn?

When we learn that fighting the fight on the battleground of the enemy’s choosing is a dumb idea?

Surely Sun Tzu or von Clausewitz or somebody pronounced this idea memorably enough for us to learn it. Grant? Lee? Patton? Ike? Anybody?

Today I read that my friends are fighting the culture wars staged by the Republicans. I think it has something to do with filibustering and judges. Maybe faith, too.

In any case, it is a classic case where we have taken their bait, hook, line and sinker. Maybe even the pole.

The sole discernible purpose of Justice Sunday (or whatever they called their revival meeting this past weekend) was to paint us as Godless, amoral and out of touch with real American values. And boy, have we risen to the occasion!

If I hear one more Air America personality/caller (Randi excepted, of course) whine about how the red-state evangelicals are crazy, I’ll scream. If I read one more post on Kos or Atrios about how the red-staters are crazy because they keep voting against their own interests, EVEN THOUGH WE HAVE PATIENTLY EXPLAINED THIS TO THEM 3,000 TIMES, I’ll scream.

The red-staters, evangelicals, blue-collar voters, etc. (let’s call them swing voters) are not following us because we are not leading. The only people pulling the lever for us are people who aren’t likely to vote for the other team no matter what. Except of course for the future swing voters who will swing away from us if we don’t start to lead.

Today, Kos wonders what’s wrong with the D-Brand of “Democrats are the party for people who work for a living.” In the ad biz, this would be positioned as a campaign tag, not an actual tag line. In other words, it’s the key insight for all our thinking about the brand, but not necessarily the framing that’ll be used in speaking with consumers.

My own view is that Kos’ line is too limiting. It also still resonates in a negative way with now-ancient-but-not-forgotten communist bashing. (Remember, the hatred spewed by the right will be ricocheting around our culture for decades!) I do, however, think the general direction is about right.

We need to come up with an even bigger idea. I’ve been thinking that the campaign tag line is something like “Community. Responsibility. Opportunity.” What’s missing is the emotional subtext to turn this into our equivalent of “smaller government” or “lower taxes.”

I think our framing must tap into our core strength, which is that we all believe that by collective action we can as a society improve our lives significantly. Which includes things besides letting market forces sort everything out. (Every time we try this market-rules-all approach, we get total crap. Like now.)

This is in contrast to the Republicans’ core strength, which is identifying and voicing all of the potential problems of our program for progress. We should never forget that this is a useful and important role, which deserves just as much credit and weight as our “change-or-die” approach. Our society works best when these two forces are in balance. And right now, we are terribly out of balance.

I suspect that the Republicans never dreamed they’d have the kind of success they’re having. In their general tirades about us, they touched on the nerve of taxes being too high. This, despite any evidence to that effect.

But plenty of swing voters bought into it, 100%. Of course, not based on any real evidence, but based solely on the reports of their own two eyes, gazing at their pay stubs every two weeks, with a seeming fortune going to the government. Hell, with that much money most of us could buy a car. (This anecdotal approach to analysis persists, flourishing, in our current society. Terry Schiavo, for example.)

Ben Franklin’s principal objection to a republican form of government was that it would collapse as soon as the people figured out they had the power to raid the treasury. It may be that the Republicans have unleashed that exact genie, never again to be returned.

For my part, I’m with the overwhelming majority of founding fathers who thought the constitution was not worth having for very long. I think many of them thought that whatever they crafted, time and changing circumstance would moot before too long. And I think they were unassailability right in this.

But instead of chucking it out every half century or so, we developed this fluid notion of what the constitution meant, and resorting to amendments from time to time. But as I read the current tea leaves, we are embarked, irrevocably I believe, on a course which will lead us to a new constitutional order.

Republicans (conservatives, really) object that we Democrats have stretched the constitution beyond all recognition in pursuit of our (worthy) goals. There may be truth in this. (There may not.) But I think the right has drawn fault lines in our country that will lead us to re-visit the basic deal on which our civil institutions rest.

We have had small-minded, bible-thumping intolerant jerks from the day after the Mayflower arrived. (By the sheer power of genealogical mathematics, I am a Mayflwer descendant. In a few more generations, every human will be.) They were in Massachusetts Bay colony (Rhode Island, any one?). They were present in Philadelphia in 1775-6. They were certainly around for abolition, and for temperance.

But we have had to, from time to time, re-visit our deal with these (American) folk. I live in New York, which from the start celebrated its diversity (OK, not when it jailed Quakers, but come on), and every day continues to show the inherent strength of the proposition that we are better together.

The time is nigh when we must once again re-new our deal: we let them have intolerant, closed communities where they feel sanctimoniously superior, they let us have the rest as an open, tolerant and secular society.

For us to be able to strike this deal anew, we need to be in touch with our own ideas. Tolerance. Secular government. And right now, we can barely remember these ideas.
So to begin our journey back to our roots, we need to re-visit first principles, convince each other of their continued value, then go about selling them to the swing voters. And all of that is likely to take some time. But to the extent that I am permitted a megaphone for cheerleading purposes (George Buch and Trent Lott, fellow Cheerleaders, of course in college), I urge us to develop a clean emotional pitch for our values. The formula is easy: authenticity + cultural relevance = emotional resonance. But filling in the equation’s values can be daunting. So we better get started.

Lead, dammit!

So, Mr. DeLay thinks we need to re-think judicial review, does he? Not too comfortable with judges having lifetime appointments? Wants to define “good behavior” (the condition of judges’ tenure) as “agrees with me,” does he?

Well, let’s of course unleash the full fury of the academy on him.

But as for a political response, I think this is clearly an instance where we should employ the “Don’t Take the Bait” strategy I’ve been advocating for quite some time.

What are supposed to do, argue in favor of judges ignoring the will of the people? Make the case that judges shouldn’t be concerned with the will of the majority? Once again, for the millionth time, argue in favor of the rights of the minorities?

Can’t we see this one coming and avoid it? Are we truly Wile E. Coyote?

Let’s launch the “sore losers” meme, if you will. But let’s put it in a frame that has broad, unassailable support. For example, when discussing Mr. DeLay’s ideas, we can say,

“Judicial review and independence is part of our shared traditions as Americans and we certainly want no part of meddling with the system of checks and balances that has served us so well for over two centuries. Just because things don't go your way is no reason to cry foul and try to change the well-settled rules that all Americans support.”

Now, was that so hard? And no matter what they say, just keep saying those words over and over. Let them explain Marbury to the American people.

At the same time, in the event there are other progressives who want to regain power, let me suggest that we need to demonstrate leadership on this. I’d like some enterprising politician out there (paging Democratic Congressmen, ambitious Democratic Congressmen) to propose a new federal initiative to adequately fund the courts in this country. After years of Republicans starving the courts, the time has arrived to provide the courts with the funding they need, for amongst other things, security. I believe we’ll have no trouble getting a whole gaggle of Republican judges on board this program. It should specify a large, inspiring amount of money ($5 billion, for example, over 3 years), and direct that the funds be used as directed by the US Judicial Conference, which is an administrative body within the judiciary. We should suggest that the funds be used of course to provide adequate security to all judges and judicial branch personnel, but also to allow for judges to study, to hold conferences, to get continuing judicial education, to hire and train adequate staff, and finally to computerize and open up technologically the US courts. Hell, I’d even mandate that we put cameras in the courts and make C-SPAN add C-SPAN IV. But that’s me – I actually like democracy.

If we got the Democratic machine on board, we could start to give reporters something to talk about besides how wonderful dear leader is. We could elevate judges at just the time the other side wants to reduce them formally to the role of lapdog. We could move off of the ridiculous “activist judges” meme, which is so ridiculous even I won’t bother explaining it again. At least not today.

Now there are potential pitfalls here. We might end up packing the federal courts with a whole bunch of newly created judgeships held by kooky Bushies. So be it. Isn’t that about where we are already? And when we regain control of the government, we can pack it right back. Truth is, judges are cheap in the scheme of things. We can always hire more.

So here’s the bottom line. Let the academy handle the defense of Marbury. They love that stuff. Democratic politicians should chastise Republicans for being sore losers and trying to re-write the rules that are part of our shared heritage thathas served us so well for over two hundred years. And some ambitious Democratic Congressmen should propose an initiative to save the judiciary by providing it with enough funding to Keep Our Judges Safe.

Easy, huh?

Another New Idea.

I have long advocated the need for Progressives to start controlling the agenda by proposing wholly new and original ideas. I’ve proposed advocating for a cap on CEO salaries, for example, or pushing for a real national pension system.

Here’s a new one.

Remember how the Repubs made so much hay from the idea of a “balanced budget amendment” years ago? Of course it was nutty from a policy perspective, but it enabled them to portray themselves as being in favor of fiscal restraint and discipline, and quite opposed to the free-spending Washington spenders (which were thought in those days to be Dems, since we controlled the Congress).

I have an idea for something similar. How about a constitutional amendment prohibiting any state from receiving more in federal benefits than it pays into the federal treasury in taxes?

This would allow us to portray ourselves as in favor of state-level fiscal responsibility, and against free-loading states whose grip on the federal treasury allows them to take advantage of the hard working folks of the states that pay their fair share.

Now, one problem with this strategy is that it doesn’t do much to bolster the confidence and stature of red-staters, given that the main point is to show these folks that without help from their blue state neighbors, they wouldn’t be able to afford stop signs. But I wonder if there’s a way to re-work this idea so that it would serve the purpose of showing how detrimental it would be to the Repubs’ base if they actually got their wish – a federal government that only spent on defense, and also of showing how re-distribution of wealth is not evil or inherently unfair (as we will no doubt be hearing when the Pres chucks Soc. Sec. “reform”/phase-out in favor of “tax refom”/middle class tax increases.

Just throwing this one out there.

A correspondent to Eric Alterman's blog says of Al Smith's 1928 run:

In 1928 Hoover carried 200 Southern counties for the first time in Republican history. The 1928 election showed that with the right cultural issue (Prohibition, anti-Catholicism, something along those lines) the GOP could court the white South.

In short 1928 marked a shift toward the urban/rural partisan split we see today.

I will therefore add anti-drinking and anti-Catholicism (reprised in 1960) to the the incredibly lengthy list of shibboleths the right has used to cajole people into voting against their own interests (states' rights, anti-ERA, bussing, school prayer, flag burning, pledge of allegiance, gay marriage, killing the brain dead, etc., etc., etc.). I'd love for someone to pull them altogether and just list them. I think the sheer fatuousness of the list would do some damage...

I recently posted a comment on Kos a post on Ed Kilgore's piece about the Civil War. I said

I think this piece speaks to our current situation today quit directly. This strain in our culture is very much alive in our current political debate. And for my money, we're not going to get power back until we acknowledge that people who cling to the romance of their lost cause do so because they are otherwise totally and utterly beaten. Fought a war for an evil cause. Fought bitterly, and won nothing but heartache. It reminds me too of some of the folks in Germany following WWI -- defeated, but not broken, nursing a wound.

We need to support and help our red-state brethern see that we share the same dreams and hopes for the future, and that the past is both glorious and terrible for us both.

I was asked if I meant the Civil War as an analogy or as an actual ongoing issue.

I think the Civil War riffs is no mere analogy but very much alive and at the heart of the division that still afflicts us. It is most emphatically NOT about getting people in the South (and parts of the West) to understand anything. It is about getting us Yankees to understand that the res states operate with a deeply ingrained inferiority complex. Where are the Academy Awards? Does J. Lo. live in Indiana? Where the hell is Harvard?

Red staters are trying to do nothing so much as make themselves feel better about their generally second-class status. To help our nation progress, the best thing we blue-staters can do is to first recognize that sense of inferiority (which fuels all the senseless lashing out -- at femininsts, secularists, judges, etc.) See, if your problems are everybody else's fault, you're probably just trying to protect yourself from the hard reality that the problems are mostly your own damn fault. So piling on, constantly pointing out what maroons and rubes these folks are is terribly
counter-productive. No one is going to join with someone who makes them feel even worse about themselves when they are already struggling.

So to the second thing we need to do. We need to help red staters see the wonderful
strengths they have, and we need to help them address their very real problems.

Finally, we need to convince them that we are on their side, that we want them to succeed, and that we harbor no animosity or condecension toward them whatsoever.

Easy, huh?

Our Mantra

There’s a mini-cottage industry of people trying to figure out the Democratic version of “smaller government, lower taxes.” Lord knows I’ve tried. Here’s the thought of the day, a version of What We Stand For:

Peace, Freedom and Hope.

If we hammer all of our wonky positions into this frame, we’d get somewhere. No? Try it yourself and see.

Missing the Point on Schiavo

I don't think we'd be going down this road if Rove & Co. hadn't figured out the "win" strategy. And I think it's this: all the judges who rule "against life" will be used as the reason that the public has to get behind the upcoming slate of judges "who respect life."

And the media will promote the heck out of it, and the public will be herded into Rove's desired belief-print.

The other point that I think is strangely absent is the Bush brothers aspect: W is surely impelled by a sense of family loyalty to Jeb, who stuck his neck out (and perhaps pledged his honor to those poor parents) for this.

From Liquid List, this pretty much says it all...

From Liquid Listvia Eschaton, this CNN.com screen grab pretty much says it all...

These Guys Have Some 'Splainin' To Do

Somewhere there are about 65,000 people in Ohio who have some 'splainin' to do.

We've witnessed a flurry of unwise and unpopular policy moves in just the last few days. We've decided that drilling in the acrtic wildlife preserves really is a good idea after all. We've decided that Amtrak is a useless drain on the taxpayers' resources and should be cut off. We've decided to saddle the UN with a US ambassador who is openly hostile to the UN's mission. We've decided that the World Bank should be led by a senior defense department official who'se judgment about foreign affairs has been startlingly bad for decades, and who has never shown the slightest interest in helping poor people around the world. We've decided that Americans who face financial ruin should be punished more, not less, except of course if they were previously very rich. We've decided that the rights of America's corporations are too important to leave to state-by-state experimentation when it comes to potential class liability for their screw-ups. We've found out that those injured by the negligence of America's corporations and wealthy individuals have been getting a free-ride and must stop. We've also discovered that the best source of judicial nominees is the pool of already-rejected nominees.

And that's just in the last week or two.

Now, almost all of this stuff is wildly unpopular. And, almost all of this stuff is what the losers of the 2004 election said would happen if they lost. And yet, some 65,000 people in Ohio (and, oh, many millions more elsewhere) voted for this any way. Maybe they thought it was like voting on American Idol, where it didn't really matter. Or viting for a favorite flavor of ice cream. Or student council president. Or something else where the vote was disconnected from real world consequences.

Who knows what millions of voters "thought." What I know is that our country has been betrayed by nothing so much as its own citizens giving themselves permission to ignore reality.

Before too long, the Social Security debate will devolve into something about tax fairness, and then Bush will drop the other bomb, as he promised he would in the election. He will propose a tax overhaul that will place more of the burden of paying for government on those that can least afford it, while giving those with the most means even more wealth and even less responsibility for taking care of their fellow citizens. And it will be deeply unpopular. Just like Social Security Benefit Cuts has been.

And the press will all scratch their heads wondering why so many people voted for the president and then are diappointed when he acts as he said he would. Is it their desire for "split government" (a fabled cunard that we had to deal with while the Dems held the WH). Is it they trust him on the big issues, and don't really object all that much to these policy choices? Is it that they are really conservative in name only? Oh, Timmy R. and company will really scratch their heads. But the answer seems to me quite simple: too many Americans are uninterested and self-deceiving about what's happened to this country, and are unwilling to admit that the political leadership of this country is deeply corrosive and serves only the interests of the very rich.

Meanwhile…A Cure for What Ails Us

I’ve taken a break to deal with some serious personal stuff the last few weeks. If you knew, you’d understand (which you will any way – I hereby command you as the World Most Reasonable Man to do so).

Any hoo…

I’ve spent a non-trivial amount of time thinking about politics and government. I even joined my local Democratic “club.” (A dangerous step on the road to Actual Action, I know, I know.)

As anyone who has read my stuff knows, I am passionately convinced that the key to our electoral failures lies in our failure to provide meaningful leadership. Of course, we’ve been correct in all our arguments (well, most of them, any way). We’ve presented bright, experienced and appealing candidates (OK, just go with me here). But we have wholly failed to demonstrate enough voters that we have real leadership ability.

Right now, we are as reactive as Republicans ever were. We have an agenda free of meaningful ideas and littered with half-measures on the margins, the political equivalent of pushing peas around on your plate. We are tied down with preserving our past victories against the onslaught of the Evil Repubs. All of which is, of course, fine by them.

To break the current cycle (which I’ve thought of as our “wondering in the woods” period, which seemed to do Jesus a world of good), we need, of course, a charismatic leader or two. Our Ronald Reagan as it were (but hopefully not evil).

The other thing we need to move forward is to get off of defense and go on offense by staking out issues that lead us forward. Rather than chasing voters with issues we think they’ll they like, we need to unveil new ideas that we think voters will gravitate toward, both from the left and the right. We have to make them want to like us. We can’t talk them into it.

For us to be the rulers, we must convince people that we are real leaders. Think about where we are today. Bush’s ideas are unquestionably out of step with a majority of voters. (So says the NY Times in a recent poll). Logically, for Bush to have won re-election, he had to have millions of voters vote against any rational definition of their own self-interest.

And yet they did. Think about that. Why would people do that? One part of the explanation, no doubt, is the extent to which people are horribly misinformed about what Bush actually has done and has said he’ll do. But what I heard over and over in the run-up to the election is that Bush is resolute, says what he means and means what he says, and won’t waver in his commitment.

And in fact, that is the Bush campaign’s own meme. Not that if Bush is elected he’ll find Osama. Or he’ll whack your social security benefits. Or raise your taxes (he will, just wait). Or embarrass our Canadian friends. Or bully our European allies. No, those things weren’t front and center.

Character. Strength. Resolute. Won’t waiver. Straight-shooter. All these things are what they wanted to telegraph into voters’ skulls, and they were (by my lights) plenty successful.

In fact, though a reasonably hard-core progressive liberal, I have found myself attracted to Bush’s aura of strength. And why not? It’s appealing. Too bad it’s in the cause of evil and not good.

John Kerry was certainly by any measure a strong man. Downright muscular for a 60 something year old guy. And I think in many ways he did project leadership.

But I think he was ill-served by his party’s agenda (and here we can put aside the notion that he likely had it in his power to redefine that agenda). His agenda was primarily that Bush is a failure (which of course he is), and if elected, I (Kerry) will be successful.

But he did not stake out any bold new ideas that voters connected with. What would we as voters get if we voted for Kerry? A more accommodating posture viz. our allies? Many more incremental government programs to help address our loss of economic competitiveness? Lower deficits? Higher taxes on the rich?

None of these are things voters can relate to on a gut level. (And watch out, because here’s the other Big Insight.) To succeed, we need to take positions that voters connect with on a basic emotional level. I can just about hear John Kerry saying, “How about sending your kid to college? Can you connect with that? Because I’m going to help you do that.” Or, “How about affordable health care? Is that something basic enough? Because I’ve got a plan to make sure we cover most of the Americans not currently covered by health insurance.”

Blah. And I’m one of his most ardent supporters!

Bill Clinton used to talk about the need to understand “gateway” issues. In his book he writes eloquently (the whole thing is quite eloquent in my view) about how the voters would never take him seriously about the 1001 government programs he wanted to implement until they were convinced he wasn’t going to spend them out of house and home. And that meant convincing them that his #1 priority was getting the federal budget deficit under control. And in office, he made sure to produce a plan that would deliver on that promise from the get-go. And deliver he did (over the screaming protests of the (almost-always-wrong) Repubs).

Now the federal deficit is back. And the winner of our next presidential election will surely promote his or her plan to reduce that deficit. I’m not sure if this is the issue we should put at the center of our agenda, but it’s certainly up there.

But the larger point is that we will surely be losers if we don’t build the emotional subtext to support that (or any other) policy position. The Repubs subtext is so clear that it ain’t so “sub” any more: bad people who are different than you think you’re a boob and want to take your freedom away because they think they know what’s good for you better than you do.

What’s ours? It seems to me that it ought to be something like, “Hey, we’re all in this together, and we need to make some decisions and share some resources so we can be there for each other when we need it. And someone has to watch the bosses.” Of course, I’m sure there are professionals who could do much better. Actually, at age 44 and a varied career across several industries, I’m pretty sure a professional would do no better. Either way…

Repubs have developed a talking point around taxes that is in many ways the defining issue for their subtext. All taxes are bad, because they allow evil government bureaucrats in far away places to decide what’s best for you. Besides, they just piss the money away on fraud and waste, and payments to people too stupid not to need help.

So I think I’ve come up with an issue that will allow us to start telegraphing our position. (Can anyone say, “drop the dead donkey?”)

Civil service reform.

This issue has been a fruitful area for well over a hundred years. If we don’t grab it, they will. Here’s how it would work. We would be appalled, shocked and appalled I tell you, at the amazing inefficiency of the government at all levels under the Repub’s watch. (We should probably just own up to, or ignore, our own role in devising the system.) Can anyone else hear Professor Harold Hill’s song about “Pool with a capital P” in their head?

We would then get every single Democrat in the country to start espousing the need for the following simple program: introduction into the civil service of the basic evaluation tools of private enterprise at all levels. We would call for bonuses for the top, say, 5% of performers, and remedial action leading to termination for the bottom 10%, with raises and promotions for everyone else depending on their reviews.

I can’t see how anyone could really be against this. Of course, I can imagine constituents on our side, notably those who in fact labor for the taxpayers, being anywhere from deeply concerned to outraged by this. OK, so right there, that’s benefit one. Having corps of civil servants righteously mad at us will get us at least a million new net voters. Don’t forget, as much as this proposal may irk these government worker-voters, we are likely to keep a lot of them any way. And those we lose we may well have lost in any case.

But to me this position has many additional benefits. First of course is the introduction (OK, a lot of this may already be place), of the same system of sticks and carrots that so many voters face in their work lives -- the direct policy benefit. Second, it equates government workers with all other workers, a door which swings both ways. In other words, if the government workers should be managed the same as me, maybe they are not in fact evil aliens from planet Tax’n’Spend who want to take my gun or my bible. Maybe they're just a bit like me after all.

Third, it massively shifts the discussion onto territory that is good for us – the government. It puts the working of the government at the center of our thinking. And that is a good thing for our society, and not half-bad for the Dems. We should be all about making the government deliver real value for the voters. That is, after all, what it is for. Plus its terrific politics.

Finally, it would put us on the offensive while putting the Repubs in the not-very-enviable position of having to argue against it. And, heaven forfend if they join us, we will have improved government while showing leadership. Nothin’ wrong with that. Declare victory and move on to the next one.

I would introduce another similar issue. Call it “Salary and Wage Fairness.” (Add/delete some synonyms, play with the initials and maybe we can get a catchy acronym out of it.) The idea is to call for legislation requiring that in all companies, the total pay of the CEO may be no more than 20 times the total pay of the least compensated employee.

There are probably about a thousand sharp edges to this one, maybe some fatal. We'll see. First, as one who at least completed law school, there are likely jurisdictional limits on what the government can do here. But surely we could get at federal and state contractors and others who receive direct government benefits. In fact, why couldn’t we reach the same companies who are reached by the minimum wage law? Just askin’.

Second, there will undoubtedly be problems with figuring out what any given individual’s pay actually is. Options, health club fees, employee cafeteria’s, etc. So many challenges, so little time!

A third concern is the very real prospect that potential CEO talent will refuse to serve in companies affected by this law. Actually, I’m not troubled by this one at all. I don’t think our current CEO class has performed all that admirably, do you? And in my experience, most CEO’s come to the job rich as Croceus in the first place. Maybe some CEO’s who actually need the money is exactly what our businesses need.

There are universities and governments all over the place that labor under this kind of wage ratio restriction. For all I know there are companies too who already live by this.

I’d think we’d be able to get a bunch of shareholder rights types like TIAA-CREF on board. Most importantly, it’s hard to see the downside here. I love the prospect of putting Repubs in the totally-not-enviable position of defending astronomical CEO pay. Or, conversely, horribly underpaying our lowest paid people. Either way, we win.

These are the sort of “wedge issues” we should be exploring.

Two more quick thoughts:
We on the left
1. need to start a dialog with the business community about globalization, focusing on two main points. One is health care. We should make the lack of access to affordable health care a key point in our thinking about globalization. Our competitors in Europe and Asia are beating us on this, one of the largest costs most businesses face.

The other point we need to start to talking to businesses about is energy independence. American businesses are too dependent on cheap foreign oil, and that has got to stop.

2. Which leads me into #2. We need to develop our next technology-leading businesses, and the area most ripe is alternative energy, which is already attracting billions of investment capital. We can be the world leaders on this, giving us not only lots of jobs as this industry grows and prospers, but giving all American businesses a leading-edge advantage in the use of cheaper and better energy supplies.


All of these issues, however, have to be positioned into a narrative that the government is not some far-away foreign influence, but is our chance to do the right thing for ourselves and for us to be the boss for once.

Another post coming soon on Things We Agree On. (Hint: there are more than you think!)