A Democratic Stand

Much has been made of the Democratic Party's lack of message. The successes at holding off the assaults of the neo-con right wing have been good defense, but defenses alone cannot win a war. In this ideological war, the liberals need weapons of their own.

I don't think the problem is that Liberals have no ideas; I think Liberals are afraid their ideas will not be popular. They lack the courage of their convictions, and it shows. Rather than figuring out how to sound more centrist, or how to include more God language into their party, Democrats need to look at how the Right has made their strengths into liabilities. Reclaiming repressed parts of one's political psyche will reduce self-sebotage, will allow for real growth and will provide a real platform for democratic ideals to flourish.

A BUDGET IS A MORAL DOCUMENT
I suggest the Party rehabilitate taxes. The Progressives have been saying "A budget is a moral document." This is a very powerful idea. This reframes taxes outside of the burden/necessary evil dichotomy. Morality is a good thing. A good budget is good morals. The way you spend tells the world who you are. This permits the crusty, common sense thread of American thought to penetrate the jabber about values and to look at how the pigs are feeding. People with any sense will have a way to look at taxes within the frame of their own experience. "You cannot buy the powerboat because the children need to go to college" becomes "you cannot give a tax refund to your friends because the children of your employees need books and computers in their classrooms." "You need to put more money aside because your roof will need to be replaced next year" becomes "you need to put some tax money aside because the roads in your town are falling apart." You know your roof will not pay for itself out of your food budget, but somehow the roads are supposed to pay for themselves out of the Food Stamps Program. If we are talking morality, allows for black and white and shades of grey. Waste is bad, but pork is worse in a way that incompetence is unfortunate, but taking advantage of the weakness of others is repugnant.

DEMOCRACY REQUIRES ACCOMODATION
Anybody who lives in a family knows you don't always get your way. You don't even get to demand a happy compromise sometimes. But you stay in your family because you get enough of what you need that it is worth the frustration. Likewise in society, other people use the world you share with them in ways that make you crazy. Including people means solutions will be at best a compromise, and that nobody gets to be comfortable all or even most of the time. Living with others means living outside your comfort zone, but also means living a richer life, learning to love the future, and finding that you are happier when you're not always right.

So what is right or wrong with people forming groups that demand a share of the pie? Unions demand shares of the pie from their bosses, and often go to the government for support of their right to do so. If unions went to the goverment to demand laws that limited who a business owner could marry or do anything else outside the business world, that would be wrong. Churches form groups to worship, and if they go to the government for their support to do so, that is great. If they go to the government so that it will conduct the business of this country in alignment with their values no matter how others live outside of the halls of worship, then that is wrong.

THE FUTURE WILL NOT LOOK LIKE THE PAST
A powerful tool of consevatives is nostalgia, but nostalgia is essentially pessimistic and bitter. "The present is all ruined. The future is not hopeful. Let us return to the good old life of the past." This is negativity incarnate, and nostalgia is for losers. Liberals are forward looking and optimistic, believing like in the joke about a room full of shit that "there must be a pony in here somewhere."

Part of it is the goal. The game of our society is not a game that can be won, any more than the game of language can be won or the game of fetch with a dog can be won. It a game that is played for the pleasure of playing. Let us remind ourselves and our fellow Americans that America is a game that must be played with everyone and the purpose of the game is to keep it going with all of us into the future. This is why the phrase "love it or leave it" is so wrong for the game we are living. "Love us and play with us" would be better, because America is us.