Letting Our Ideals Show

Democrats tend to strike a defensive posture in attempting to combat hard-right vitriol. They try to deflect critics’ attacks on the president’s plans to reform health-care, address environmental concerns and just about anything he takes on. But his supporters should take a more aggressive, principled stand to offset the simplistic partisanship that plays to the fears and prejudices of a largely uninformed public.

When some nice Republican ladies asked recently “do you like Obama” it was obvious they were just awaiting a reply in the negative. Indeed they were in a place where almost everyone is a well-heeled Republican, overly concerned with taxes and the affront to their sensibilities created by an upstart Democrat in the White House. How is it, one wonders, they could still be so proud of voting for Bush/Cheney and McCain/Palin? How are they able to celebrate the failed vision and narrow perspectives of candidates such as those?

Supporters of the Bush presidency keep asking if the country has forgotten 9/11 when anyone questions that administration’s torture or surveillance practices. But they rarely get beyond slogans and flag pins in their analysis of what defines our national ethos and what truly safeguards national security.  And political dialogue is further clouded by theocratically-inspired sectors that often come up short in terms of ethics and charitable behavior while denigrating the cultures and beliefs of other peoples.

Pro-lifers, for example, talk constantly about “the babies” but feel it is appropriate to literally target physicians who provide abortion services as if they were somehow not part of the human condition. It is one of the most puzzling features of right-wing religious factions that they condone such violent tendencies. But hatred is an unhealthy emotion, whether directed at medical professionals, gays or non-Christians, a poisonous state of mind that is in no way an expression of true religious values.

Likewise the shouting and barely contained calls for violence against elected leaders expressed at town hall meetings push the limits of free speech. Our laws expressly forbid advocating the violent overthrow of a duly elected government. Our sorry history of lynchings and the assassination of presidents and other leaders remind us how fragile our hold on civilized behavior can be. During World War II, there was a slogan “loose lips sink ships” - - a warning not to inadvertently provide enemies with information that could endanger the country. Today, loose lips still threaten national security with irresponsible speech that defies the premise upon which our democratic institutions are based.

So let’s see, the ladies’ question about Obama - - how about asking what exactly makes them proud of the way they voted? After eight years, Bush/Cheney left the country on the brink of financial ruin, committed us to a needless, expensive war in Iraq and offered no plan to remediate our health-care muddle or develop new energy policies. Political hacks were hired instead of competent administrators, the Justice Department was politicized and our name sullied throughout the world for our contemptuous policies toward other countries and our callous disregard for the suffering endured by our own citizens after Katrina. What’s to like, except maybe for tax breaks.

As for McCain and his ditsy running mate, the ticket was an insult to the voting public. How people of even minimal intelligence could support that team is mind-numbing. One might have thought that the day McCain addressed a crowd of supporters as “my fellow prisoners” would have raised concerns about his mental state. His world view was severely limited, and choosing someone as unqualified as Sarah Palin for vice president showed a cavalier attitude toward the office that should have led reasonable people to question his judgment.

Not since the days of the robber barons, has our political life been driven so relentlessly by selfish financial motives that leave a diverse population in perennial confusion about what was originally intended when we declared independence and wrote a Constitution. One health-care analyst said recently “Capitalism is what this country is all about”, let not reform intrude upon that concept. But is that really all we’re about? Do no illusions remain about level playing fields and equal opportunity? Is the export of jobs to low-wage, no-benefit countries what is meant by ‘letting the markets work?’

We tread shaky ground when we equate Democracy with unchecked Capitalism. Celebrating corporate greed is not one of our finest national traditions. Time for Democrats to stop just reacting and be more assertive about the things they support.