For the past two years, I have TRIED hard to be a reasonable observer of the national political scene. Politics are politics and sometimes you need to take it with a grain of salt. Sometimes, it takes a truckload of salt to get through the day. Republicans = good, Democrats = bad seems to be the minority party’s mantra, regardless of facts and logic.
After today’s lack of vote in the Senate, I am seriously pissed off. The majority of Americans want to see DADT repealed, despite an ongoing dismissive attitude towards gays and lesbians. By any logical reasoning, gays should be allowed to serve in our all-volunteer Armed Services without having to lie about their orientation.
Today’s non-vote was the last straw for the Republican’s “Party of No!” agenda. Granted, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is a political idiot and he handled the repeal vote very poorly, as he has with many procedural and political issues.. That is hardly an excuse for not dealing with a fundamental right for gays and lesbians in a manner that would discard an antiquated and unnecessary statute.
The Democrats are going to be the minority party in at least one of the Houses of Congress come January. The first order of business for the Democrats must be to replace Reid with someone who can play the game of politics with an equal measure of skill that the Republicans have done.
The next on the agenda is to obtain a spine – either grow one, steal one or pick up one on eBay. The time for playing nice ended long ago, but the Democrats have never shown the nerve to fight fire with fire. The Republicans have no compulsions about taking an obviously partisan stance, defying logic and fairness.
The Democrats need to become the “New Party of No!” despite any misgivings about appearances. Largely, the Republicans have not suffered ill effects from their obstructionist policies. When the Republicans are in charge, the Democrats must take a page from the Republican playbook.
When the Republicans push their right-wing agenda, every Democrat must stand united, as the GOP has, and resist any and all attempts to push through a new version of the same old platform that got us into this mess in the first place.
After all, if it is fair for the Republicans, it is fair for the Democrats.
William Stephenson Clark
PrairiePopulistsAndProgressives.net 