Sometimes even I don't Listen to Me

Journal DumbSwede's Journal: Sometimes even I don't Listen to Me 3

Journal by DumbSwede on Monday April 25, 2005 @06:42PM

I had had it mind for sometime to do an essay on the deterioration of civility if political discourse over the years. I have recently been a part of an at times acrimonious thread of discussion on homeland security, so now seems the time to put pen to paper (err, um, fingers to keyboard). I'm not sure that my views on the subject of homeland security where correct, but I am sure the originator of the thread started with a very polarizing subject title.

Everywhere I look in political life these days it seems to be an all or nothing affair. Republicans and Democrats roundly lining up on party lines on all issues. Since the Republicans are the current majority they often get their way, while the Democrats currently never get their way. If one were a Democrat this would no doubt lead to high levels of frustration -- frustration that often manifests itself in name-calling.

When ever the President delivers an official address the minority party feels compelled to issue an opposing opinion. I have nothing against minority parties being against some number of the President's agenda items, but when you immediately have a negative minority response after every Presidential address, it begins to seem like Monty Python's "I came here for an argument" skit. The minority taking its position not based on what is right or wrong, only that in some fashion it is opposite to what is proposed.

Republicans and Democrats both play this game, but of late the Democrats seem to have taken to fighting a no holds barred obstructionist approach to politics. Of course it is possible that the Republicans have merely been able to paint the Democrats as obstructionists.

Now what I am about to say is going to get me in hot water with some, but hear me out and realize that I am most likely not on the side you think I am. I think the Democrats should abandon strategies like Filibustering nominations. Currently Democrats are trying to portray themselves as the last defense before America descends into chaos and anarchy. Every issue is a crisis, any change the last straw before America regresses to some oppressive dictatorship.

The trouble is the Democrats are less and less being seen as the party of the people and more the party opposing the majority will. Now granted there is such a thing as Tyranny of the Majority, but I find that the courts in general are better defenses for this than the Congress, despite the fact that this is from where all Laws flow. You could argue that Republicans packing the Federal courts today will have implications in the courts down the road and the way the laws are applied. This is true, but the Democrats lost and this is how our system works. Republicans will almost certainly go too far in their reforms if they haven't already, and when the Dems are back in the majority, if nothing changes, it will almost certainly be a tit-for-tat game, making corrective changes even harder.

Here is the main thing I'm trying to get across, by making stopping-the-Republicans the raison detra for the Democratic party, they are probably delaying the swing of the pendulum back to favoring themselves and the issues they champion.

To win in the long run you need to stick to your core issues and not be manipulated into being in opposition for opposition's sake. Don't treat every battle as if it is the last decisive one, just another exercise in a long string of exercises in give and take that move America to where it needs to be in the long run, even if it takes a little backtracking from time to time. Don't shout the sky is falling when it's not, and be a good loser when things don't go your way.

Like a scab that won't heal I'll pick at an issue that got me in hot water with some people I would like to consider friends. Democrats and Liberals have of late had a knack for picking the wrong poster boys/girls for their causes. This would include comparing right-wing-nut-jobs to left-wing-nut-jobs in severity (nuts is nuts). I won't go into specifics, but seemingly gone are the days of the Martin Luther King Jr. Perhaps someone could set me straight, but I can think of no Democrat or Liberal that currently exudes Gandhi like qualities of self-sacrifice and austerity. Prominent Democratic mouthpieces jet from coast to coast first class while railing about the evils of the little man's love for SUVs. Don't get me wrong, I think there should be fewer SUVs and that they shouldn't be exempt from the CAFE standards. But SUV owners don't see Democrats as leading by example, they just see people who want to take things away from them.

Both Republicans and Democrats are lax in enforcing the borders, but the Democrats tend to be hysterical about defending how much good immigrants bring to this country. This may be true, but whether or not it is racial prejudice motivating opposition to illegal immigration, immigrants can and could bring just as much good by coming in legally. That a Liberal might feel some moral satisfaction and smugness in sharing America's bounty with those less fortunate, they are engaging in this charity by stealth by opposing the wishes of the Majority in obstructing change with regard to boarder policy. This is the very sort of thing that makes being a Liberal considered a pejorative by many.

Sometimes also you have to learn when you've won and move on. Again I won't go into specifics, but I look around and do not see the hate or intolerance in the main to many minorities that existed years ago. Yes there are pockets of hate and intolerance, but the desire to stamp out prejudice in all areas has become so rabid that it sometimes it borders on thought control and begins to have the opposite effect. I oppose having hate-crimes laws for this reason. Crime is crime, motivation has always been a factor in sentencing, and it doesn't need to be slapped on as a separate crime of its own. I say you need to allow people the freedom to be stupid. Legislate fairness, sure. Force re-education of unfashionable beliefs? I would say no. While I am for allowing homosexual marriage and see nothing wrong with whatever sexual lifestyle a person chooses, I cringe at certain Liberal and Democratic initiatives to "educate" the unenlightened as to the fact the homosexuality is as moral a choice as heterosexuality. Right and wrong in social matters are all in some sense matters of opinion. I detest bible-thumpers' certainty in their moral outrage, but I likewise feel they have a right to this opinion. My ideal solution would be to get the government out of the marriage business period. Let everyone get civil unions for legal purposes of inheritance, hospital visitation, and power of attorney at end of life. Let the Churches do whatever they want with marriage, they invented it anyway. This would be real separation of Church and State in my opinion.

Maybe I am just naïve or stupid, but I do believe we live in perilous times, more so from abroad than from at home, and I think this is the point that has truly polarized our nation. Liberals in general I believe think that terrorists worldwide are less a threat to us than our own tendency to overreact. It would lengthen this essay too much to go into all my reasons for believing we are not overreacting to external threats, but why is the Left so willing to believe the rest of the world has nothing but benign intentions towards us? The world has always been a messy place to live, few countries are governed by Lotus Eaters. Most countries are looking for a leg up at their neighbors' expense.

Being a Democrat need not be synonymous with being Liberal, but by allowing the word Liberal to become a pejorative and by trying to distance themselves from the label, Democrats are left without an identity. I have a natural tendency to want to vote Democratic, if only the Democrats would make it easier for me. I will not vote for people that do a wink-wink-nudge-nudge, but not really stand up for things, even if they are winking and nudging for the things I believe in.

I fear I have gotten a bit rambling. I pretty much scatter shot a lot of things political that had been on my mind. If I had more sense I would carve this up into three or four more manageable chunks. For those of you that disagree with my views, perhaps you can take it as a sign that since I don't even follow my own advice that I have no advice worth taking.

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