Our political affiliations are often inherited traits rather than conscious choices. Many of us could never identify ourselves as Democrats, or many of us as Republicans, if for no other reason than we just weren+óGé¼Gäót raised that way. And after all, it+óGé¼Gäós not mere coincidence that politicians named Bush and Taft are usually Republicans and ones called Kennedy and Gore are usually Democrats.
As for me, I wasn+óGé¼Gäót raised to be a Republican, but I definitely wasn+óGé¼Gäót raised to be a Democrat. I grew up in Virginia during the Reagan Administration in a Navy family with churchgoing parents who voted for Nixon twice and worked for the Department of Defense. Our house was a generally tolerant and open-minded place, but certainly not a hotbed of liberalism, much less anything even remotely countercultural.
We never joined the Moral Majority, but we never left the Silent Majority.
So it+óGé¼Gäós hardly surprising that I had an ingrained inclination towards the GOP that soon manifested itself when I entered college. At the time, the country was in the heady aftermath of the 1994 Republican Revolution, and everything seemed up for grabs. Clinton and Gingrich were constantly spinning each other around like rams with their horns locked together, gaining then losing then regaining advantage. It made for sclerotic government but fantastic political theater.
Cheering on the rabblerousing GOP in those days was absorbing, intoxicating fun, especially for an impressionable young man with an appreciation for good-natured mischief. And fortune smiled upon me when one of the party+óGé¼Gäós preeminent good-natured mischief-makers, the remarkable Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform, took me under his wing.
Yes, Norquist was very right wing. But his fertile intellect, magnetic charisma, cheerful demeanor, and boundless energy also put him at the nerve center of Republican politics. In my roughly three years with ATR, I learned more from him about how things actually work in DC than any university could ever teach, and I was also given an invaluable education in the creation and maintenance of political coalitions.
The idea is simple, the implementation complex: assemble a voting bloc of 50 percent plus one, and keep it intact. In America, that can be accomplished in large part by appealing to a important pair of aggrieved groups: Christian conservatives who feel that their way of life is under assault +óGé¼GÇ£ by the judiciary in particular +óGé¼GÇ£ as well as wealthy individuals and businesses anxious to have their taxes lowered at any cost.
They don+óGé¼Gäót always agree, of course, but there are often happy confluences of interests between the two, since they+óGé¼Gäóre both exasperated by any number of government practices and institutions, and both are excellent sources of the mother+óGé¼Gäós milk of politics: Money.
(As for social moderates who believe in fiscal discipline, someone had to win marginal seats for the GOP in the Northeast and the +óGé¼+ôLeft Coast+óGé¼-¥, so they weren+óGé¼Gäót totally disposable. But they were RINOs: Republicans In Name Only, because they didn+óGé¼Gäót satisfy all manner of ideological purity tests. Small comfort, but it was surely better than being in league with the permanent minority party.)
Working at ATR was a blast, and my coworkers couldn+óGé¼Gäót have been nicer. But all the while, I had more and more misgivings about certain factions within the party. It began with what I always felt was the hazardously reactionary agenda of the Religious Right, and in time I was even doubting my own vaguely libertarian beliefs. I knew plenty about law and economics from books but very little about how they affected real people in their everyday lives. And that was personally embarrassing to me.
I slowly began to suspect that I had probably leapt before I looked. I had to literally get away from DC. So I quit ATR, moved to London to rekindle old friendships, study trade law for a bit, and collect my thoughts. While there, I developed a grudging admiration for Tony Blair and his New Labour project, much to my astonishment.
Though I found the presentation excessively polished and at times self-congratulatory, the animating principle behind it all was sound: They had no mandate to overturn Thatcherism, and even if they did, they wouldn+óGé¼Gäót do it because it+óGé¼Gäós not a good idea. Britain didn+óGé¼Gäót want or need a return to Old Labour+óGé¼Gäós overreaching socialism. Rather, New Labour would seek innovative and affordable ways to bring the benefits of capitalism to everyone. Allowing a vibrant market economy to function while offering a wide range of vital public services are not incompatible propositions. Indeed, only the former can effectively finance the latter. It+óGé¼Gäós a matter of getting the balance right.
In a word, +óGé¼+ôEureka.+óGé¼-¥
It hasn+óGé¼Gäót worked perfectly (nothing ever does), but the results have been reasonably encouraging, especially when compared to the frequently moribund economies scattered throughout Europe, and even more so when one considers how the opposition Conservatives found themselves obliged to take a few steps towards the sensible center in order to regain electoral viability.
When I came back to America, I started to see the Republican Party with open eyes, and in a much harsher light. I could clearly see that the GOP is indeed controlled by its most extreme elements because moderates within the party are outnumbered and unorganized. The right wing doesn+óGé¼Gäót always have it their way, since they don+óGé¼Gäót want to risk alienating too many swing voters, but they do get to veto anything they finds objectionable. Their combined agenda has a certain theoretical coherence (e.g. it promotes personal responsibility or it advances American values), but in reality, it simply doesn+óGé¼Gäót add up.
First they dish out tax breaks for people who already have plenty of money in order to stimulate economic growth that might increase tax revenue for a little while, but ultimately causes deficits to grow even larger. Then they claim to be the only party with enough discipline to control spending. But all earmarked projects and favored programs in their districts are somehow too important to sacrifice for the greater good. Then they dismissively conclude that deficits don+óGé¼Gäót matter anyway.
And all the while, they pursue a foreign policy that will cost us fortunes in blood and treasure, only to worsen relations with the friendly nations we should now be bringing closer to us, and taunting those already inclined to lash out at us. It+óGé¼Gäós all, to put it colloquially, ass-backwards, and the only way to set things straight is to vote Republicans out of power and keep them out.
The realization made me numb. I couldn+óGé¼Gäót relate to the Republican Party anymore, but I still couldn+óGé¼Gäót bring myself to leave it. I couldn+óGé¼Gäót in good conscience spend the rest of my life helping people who didn+óGé¼Gäót need my help, but the phrase +óGé¼+ôI am a Democrat+óGé¼-¥ always got stuck in my throat. So I became disengaged, dispirited, disillusioned. For a time, I just flat-out gave up on everything.
Then I discovered Jim Webb. It+óGé¼Gäós no exaggeration to say that it turned my life around.
Looking back, I have no regrets. I can+óGé¼Gäót change the past. I can only learn from my mistakes. I don+óGé¼Gäót harbor any ill will toward my former allies, apart from hoping that they lose elections. I still respect them. I know from experience that they only want what they genuinely feel is best for the country and the world.
For every Jack Abramoff, there are a thousand true believers with honorable intentions (and for the record, I still think Grover is one of the truest of the true believers). They+óGé¼Gäóre not bad people. They just see things differently than we do, and in all candor, let+óGé¼Gäós face it, they+óGé¼Gäóre not always wrong.
But George Allen will twist himself into a pretzel to keep that narrow base satisfied, and his contortions will not be pleasant to behold. Virginia really does deserve better than a senator who+óGé¼Gäóll spend every waking hour proving his blind obedience to every interest group that might decide whether or not he+óGé¼Gäóll get to park his boots beneath the desk in the Oval Office.
Virginia needs Jim Webb in the US Senate. Trust me, I know this all too well.
Thanks for your post; reading it made my day!
You may feel out of place in party labels sometimes, but you have a true home in the Democratic Party.
We welcome new ideas, and we stick to basic principles of fairness, equality, and justice.
That's why I left the Republican party. I realized they didn't embrace those values for the most part.
They are corrupt, cynical, manipulative, dishonest, and worse, if that's possible.
I'd rather belong to a party that's transparently honest, that supports social and economic justice because it's the right thing to do, that opposes looting the economy and despoiling the environment because those are the wrong things to do, that truly supports the people's aspirations and asks much of those who are most fortunate, that invests in everyone's future so that the purssuit of happiness doesn't involve so steep a hill for so many, and that has room for 75% or more of the country in its tent.
I don't believe in using the tent like a butterfly net, though, chasing after those who can't find their way in on their own, or don't want to. By my lights, we should pitch our big tent on the moral high ground, and proclaim our values boldly from within, staying well clear of the doors so as not to block access.
The theocrats and the couple-hundred families who qualify for the estate tax and haven't made plans to solve that problem before it becomes one can keep the GOP, along with Stevens and his bridge and the folks who think it's just fine to blow the tops off mountains into the streams in the valleys just because they're between themselves and the coal, or whatever.
If we're smart, and do the right thing, we should end up with a big, full, round tent, and not a triangle to be seen anywhere.
I'm glad that people like Scarred are coming our way. I believe that there is room for diversity within our party, while we work to overturn bad leadership in government and move toward a more just and reasonable society.
An election always comes down to a choice between two candidates (regardless of how many candidates are running) and we must always make the best choice. Because no person is or can be perfect, we must always choose the better of the top two candidates.
For those of you who think that sounds like "the lesser of two evils" you are just as much a part of the problem as Dick Cheney and Karl Rove. Get over yourself, get some counseling and medication and stop wasting your time talking to the pigeons and squirrels outside the White House. Do something useful and volunteer for Jim Webb in Virginia.
You're much too thoughtful to be a Republican. ;-) Welcome home!
For every Jack Abramoff, there are a thousand true believers with honorable intentions (and for the record, I still think Grover is one of the truest of the true believers). They’re not bad people. They just see things differently than we do, and in all candor, let’s face it, they’re not always wrong. "
Well, even a broken clock isn't wrong all the time (unless it's a digital one with a dead battery), but at best that's damnation by faint praise.
No, you can't change the past, but your regret-free acceptance of that necessity is as callously amoral as anything I've read in a long time. I didn't catch how long you worked at ATR, and I have no way to measure the damage you did while you were having your blast there, but just to walk away with an "Oh, well" just doesn't seem enough. Under that standard, w (who presumably believes (not to say thinks) that his policies are helping the country), can just wander off when he's through, innocent of any blame for wrecking the country or for the "innocent lives" he's wasted. Perle seems to have accomplished that, but only because I'm not in charge.
For that matter , Hizbullah and Hamas pretty much meet your standards. They're just doing what they think is best for their countries, their peoples, their faith. They "just see things differently than we do," but that doesn't make them bad. You forced me to remember the photopraphs of the crowds, men in starched white shirts and ties and neat straw hats, children all in their Sunday best, checking out the "strange fruit" in the trees in the town square. They were all "good" people, righteous, polite, neighborly, friendly, and hospitable - to folks like them, anyway. If they chose to hunt other humans for sport, or torture them to death in public because that "needed to be done," one couldn't hold that against them - they were brought up that way.
I, too, think that your former boss "is one of the truest of the true believers," but I think he IS bad people. I think he is evil, and I think what he believes is evil, and I think what he does is evil. I think the same of w, dick, Rummy, Rove, Santorum, Frist, Hastert, Delay, Reagan, and the whole bloody mass of them, Allen not least of all. I have understanding of and some sympathy (though not much affection) for those who vote for them out of ignorance or fear, but no respect or affection at all for anyone who makes a living as a Republican. Not these days.
Anyway, I'm glad you like Jim Webb, and I'm glad you'll be voting for him. So will I. But as long as you believe that whatever you did for Norquist is no more important than water under the bridge, you wouldn't want to waste your time trying to convince me that you've crossed any aisle. Oh, and by the way, isn't ATR one of the very interest groups that GFA is going to be pandering to in his quest to sully the Oval Office, if that still can be done?
Of all people, the person that led me to assert that I am a Democrat was Bill Clinton. I know it is reckless to utter his name in Virginia, and I notice Jim Webb steers clear of him, but in pure effectiveness as a Presidential leader, I can think of nobody that did the job better in my lifetime, combining some sense of economic justice with a superb economy and (gasp) a balanced budget.
I am not a typical Democrat. I come from the business community and work with a lot of nauseating conservative Republicans.
I can only wish that Jim Webb will knock that silly cowboy off his perch. And I will do all I can to facilitate that.
Fred Horn
I don't wish to second-guess the writer. He is in good company. The heroes of the past three years, including folks like Richard Clarke, have also had an epiphany. Judge (if you must) the writer by what he does next, not by what he did. If he were running for office, we may have grounds to be more skeptical. At first, I certainly was skeptical when Raising Kaine suggested James Webb. But it didn't take long to see through the worry and concern.
Furthermore, I, too had an epiphany. I may have had it younger than the writer, but I had one nonetheless. I once was foolish enough to vote for Ronald Reagan (not for president, fortunately). It wasn't six months before I regretted that vote.
People such as David Brock (who founded Mediamatters.org and wrote "Blinded by the Right," and "The Republican Noise Machine") once went so far as to be part of the Arkansas Project (the group funded by Richard Mellon Scaiffe, which sought to destroy the Clintons). Brock's still atoning, though I think by now, he's more than earned our forgiveness.
I think we should welcome everyone who believes in democratic principles, as long as they don't push us in the direction of Bush-lite. One key thing the writer said was that he hadn't considered the effect of economic policy on real people. That's the key thing he needed to get. Maybe he can describe the details to anyone who will listen. He's more than qualified to do that. And it would really help. If we all inform independents of what the effect of Bushism is, we will all be better off. If we put people first, we'll stay true to our party's ideals, even make it better.
I've not yet read John Dean's "Worse Than Watergate," but it strikes me that his title itself says "that was bad; this is really nasty." I have every reason to expect that when I do, I won't find him suggesting that although he doesn't do that sort of thing any more, it was really fun back in the day, and that the Plumbers were just honorable men, still to be respected, who were doing what they thought was best for their country but had somewhat different ideas about how to proceed.
When I was still safely a minor, and therefore electorally irrelevant, when my prefrontal cortex was at most a work-in-progress, I was an ardent Nixon supporter. I had, previously, been a Liker of Ike in the days when my political philosophy was completely contained in the assertion that "Stevenson is too bossy." In the ensuing years, my peer group had broadened my horizons, and the new boss was in Rome - we were facing a certain hostage situation. Boy, did I learn a lot in the next few years!
I don't expect even honorable mention in the epiphany sweepstakes; I mention my own only as evidence that I do have some understanding of how easily one can be misled.
To some, it may seem a distinction without a difference, but in my mind I was condemning not the person, but what he said, and the attitude I perceived in the words.
I, too, believe that we should welcome anyone who believes in Democratic principles. Voting against gfa, and advocating that others do so as well, is certainly a start, as is having determined that he couldn't stand to work for the right-wing infrastructure any more. I hope he's planning to vote for Dems all down the ticket, which would also be good.
OTOH, I still maintain that Norquist's "principles" and Democratic principles are linear opposites that do not overlap, and that having shared them might require more of a metamorphosis than simply moulting. The road back from Damascus may lead right into the big tent, but them as come back early might want to have a bruise or two from the incident.
Perhaps I'll hold off digging for a bit.
P.S. I notice on Google that eBay is featuring special deals on prefrontal cortex. While this may suggest some complex ethical issues, it appears to offer today's adolescents opportunities we could scarcely have dreamed of in my day.
Dan Quayle walked out of a John Mellencamp concert after the singer introduced his tune "Wall Talk" by announcing, "This next one is for all the poor people who've been ignored by the current administration."
From the story:
But Mellencamp said he couldn't care less that Quayle got his knickers in a twist: "I certainly wouldn't have changed a word."NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley backed Mellencamp, saying, "He's right." While that may sound odd coming from a former conservative, Barkley told a local reporter, "I was a Republican - until they lost their minds."
Kathy is right, the lyrics are amazing:
The simple minded and the uninformed can be easily led astray
And those that cannot connect the dots hey look the other way
People believe what they want to believe when it makes no sense at all
So be careful of those who kill in jesus' name who don't believe in killing at allWalk tall
Yeah walk on
Through this world
Walk tallSomewhere out in the distance is the death of you and me
Even though we don't think of it much it's still out there for us to see
If you treat life like a bar room fight you'll die stinking of gin
No drunkards are allowed in heaven no sinners will get inWalk tall
Yeah, walk on
Walk tall
Through this world
Walk tallSo be careful in what you believe in there's plenty to get you confused
And in this land called paradise you must walk in many men's shoes
Bigotry and hatred are enemies to us all
Grace, mercy and forgiveness will help a man walk tallSo walk tall
Yeah, walk on
Walk tall
Through this world
Through this world
Yeah, walk tall
Then walk on
Walk tall
Then walk on
Through this world
Through this world
Through this world
Through this world
Walk tall
Walk tall
Then walk on
Walk tall