The Sad State of the Democratic Party

As the election nears, I am being inundated with emails from democratic politicians, predicting dire consequences if I don't give them some money so they can get re-elected.  My answer to all of them is "No, not again."  I'm sorry to have to say that the Democratic party has become a joke.  They lost the House of Representatives by acting like idiots, compromising to the middle ground before even beginning negotiations with a Republican Party that is unwilling to budge from their extreme positions.  If the Democrats want to start winning elections, then they are going to have to start governing in the interests of the people they claim to represent.  As long as the Democrats are the party afraid to stick to its principals, they aren't getting a penny from me.  They need to earn my vote and my money before they get another dime.

How to Win Come November

It's been nearly a month since I wrote about the appalling idiocy of the Democratic Party and the mainstream media not to notice that the loss of the senate seat held for decades by Ted Kennedy was above all else because of the failure to provide health care reform, despite holding large majorities in both the house and senate. In the meantime, the President has once again started talking about "bipartisanship," and "listening to ideas from both sides of the political spectrum," as if the Repugnantcans hadn't just spent the last year showing that they are completely unwilling to participate in the process, except to sabotage it.
Now I see that several so-called blue-dog Democrats are starting to shift even further to the right on important issues. How can so many supposedly smart people be so incredibly stupid. Do they really think that voters who lean to the right, will pick them over someone they see as an actual republican candidate? If a voter wants a conservative, he's not gonna pick a Republican-light Democrat. The issue isn't that the Democratic party is leaning too far to the left. The issue is that they are not leaning far enough to the left. If the Democrats, and especially those from poor southern states don't wise up and deliver REAL health care reform that provides health care for, let's face it, predominately their constituents, there is going to be a bloodbath come November.
If the Democrats want to hold the house and senate and even strengthen thier position in both then here is what they need to do.

1. Drop the filibuster altogether or at least weaken significantly so the Repugnantcans can't rule the senate with a 41 to 59 "majority." Some ways to weaken it are either lower the number of votes needed for cloture to 55, or force individuals wish to filibuster to actually do it, to stand and talk without a break.
2. Dump Joe Lieberman right now. Kick him out of the caucus and strip him of his committee leadership positions. He is not helping in any way. He's laughing at you, and everyone knows it.
3. Stop coddling he blue-dogs. If they want to act Rebugnantcan-light, then ignore them and pass strong bills with a simple majority.
   
4. Pass a REAL health care reform bill, that doesn't cater to the health insurance lobby nor to the pharmaceutical lobby. Hint: call it Medicare for all, something CLEAR and UNDERSTANDABLE. Insurance companies are not the answer, they are the problem. Oh, and remove the collective bargaining restrictions from medicare part D.
5. Pay for it by raising taxes on the top tax brackets to Reagan Era rates. SAY that the rates are the same ones Reagan asked for.
6. Re-establish the rules put in place by Franklin Roosevelt that stopped banks from gambling recklessly with OUR money.
7. Break up any banks that are "too big to fail."
8. LEARN FROM HISTORY. Say what you are doing. Say it first and say it a lot. Put it into simple terms that are easy to understand. If you don't the Republicans will and they will lie through their teeth to make it look like you are screwing the very people you are trying to help.

This is not hard and it's not rocket science. The Democratic base is HUGE, but they need to believe that getting out to vote will matter. The Rebugnantcans know this. It's why tjhey work so hard to suppress the vote. Energize the base by showing them you will actually work for them and get things done.

Ya Think Totally Blowing Health Care Reform Might Have Anything To Do With It

Is anyone else baffled at the pundits going on and on about how the Democrats are less popular now than, say, just 6 months ago, and they just can't seem to see how that can be the case!? Okay you guys, listen up. Do you think that maybe the reason voters aren't racing to the polls to vote for Democrats may have something to do with the fact that they totally BLEW health care reform. I don't mean they failed to get everything that people wanted. I mean they TOTALLY BLEW it. A descent health care bill would have a combination of the following:

• Public Option
• Funded by a tax increase on the rich, not a tax that only affects average Americans and skips the rich
  
• Strong Insurance Reforms (no preexisting condition garbage and no dropping sick people)

Ideally, health care reform would have led to a single payer plan similar to ANY of the programs run in any of the 36 nations that rank ABOVE the US in health care. This should have been the STARTING point of the Democratic negotiations. Instead, it was a concession made before negotiations even began. You can bet your behind the Republicans didn't start negotiating by making concessions before they even got to the table. They started from a position that any sane person would see was totally unreasonable, then only grudgingly gave up tiny bits of ground from there. In contrast the Democrats were falling all over themselves to please the two or three least obnoxious Republicans, dumping whole programs left and right to do so, only to find out they, the Republicans that were "negotiating" with them, weren't actually negotiating in good faith, but instead had never intended to vote in favor of ANY bill the negotiations would produce. This wouldn't be so bad if the Republicans, had made a secret of that fact. They didn't. They BRAGGED about it to anyone that would listen.
What we (the American people) have gotten so far from the Democrats is excuses, and a Senate plan that apparently was written for them by the health insurance lobby.
Democratic "leadership," look no further than your own complete failure on this deeply important issue when you wonder why you lost popular support in 2010. What kind of rallying cry is, "we can't do what we promise, but the other guys are worse!" It just doesn't inspire.
No amount of whiny excuses will do. You have a majority in both houses. Take the Republicans up on their offer and nuke the filibuster. It's not like it's been a tool the Democrats use more than once in a blue moon. If they did, then Bush wouldn't have gotten EVERY BILL HE WANTED through the Senate with a Republican majority of only two, including a HUGE tax cut for the rich. Whereas the Republicans NEVER STOP using it. Dropping the filibuster altogether would allow the Senate to pass a strong bill similar to the house bill.
The Republicans know this. For the love of Pete, they're bragging about it.