Don’t get me wrong, I dig most democrats. I’m more one of them than I am a republican… but the Democratic Party makes me just as angry-crazy as the extreme right-wing. Far too often weak in the knees democrats look perfectly positioned to actually do something (sometimes even something important) … and then they pull another Harry Reid (folding, withering, caving, etc.).
The democrats back away from achievement like they’re crossing a rope bridge wired with explosives by an Arnold Schwarzenegger character covered in mud in the middle of a jungle. (… or is that the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre donning the camouflage face pain who is hiding in, and sabotaging the political swamp? The paranoia that an invisible monster is out to get them is so similar… it’s difficult to see a difference.)
Why are democrats so weak?
If you believe in science, then you can assign some blame of “democrat join disfunction” on the manner in which a democrat’s brain functions. Democrats tend to be motivated more by gut feelings and intuition – the problem with that is that tends to make people wishy-washy. “Wishy-washy”… yeah that sounds about right. Republicans love to make fun of democrats for just those sort of reasons. As Rand Paul likes to say (without any seeing irony, sadly) “They’re dinosaurs: really big hearts, and really small brains.” Where the Senator from the great state of his father’s shadow goes wrong (among many, many other issues), is that it’s not about small brains (democrats actually encourage everyone gets a good education unlike their counterparts). It’s that their big hearts overrule their brains, regardless of the IQ-level involved. In matters of humanity, empathy tends to overrule logic in the democratic brain. The problem: that empathy always results in being the first to blink in a negotiation.
Usually when I meet a good democrat I get the vibe of a little engine that could. I want to say, “Awwwwee, how cute…” and then slap them up side the head asking them to fight for not just talk about what they believe.
Die hard republicans may be crazy as a result of wallowing in the paranoia that’s being injected into their veins from end-of-the-world-ticket-selling media outlets, but die hard democrats are also paranoid: they can’t stand offending anybody. So when we need a democrat to grow a spine and fight for what’s right, then tend to seek too much compromise. They want to be popular. They want to be liked. One thing I have to give to republicans is that they know governing doesn’t always mean doing popular things… now if we can just stop them from thinking the end of the world is just around the corner, and extreme republicans from assuming violence is the only end-all answer to fight against things they don’t like… then we might be able to accomplish something.
(…I know this post is about democrats being weak, but while we’re on that topic: extreme republicans… it would be a really nice thing for this country if you stopped using violence and intimidation as a means to get your way… there are many other ways to be strong. The strongest people in society don’t need weapons and they don’t need to threaten. Their intelligence and commitment overcome violence and threats. The extreme right wing is dangerously close to becoming a violent gang. You’re not cool, and you’re not strong. All you’re doing is laying the pieces of the puzzle to guarantee the end of the conservative agenda on a national stage…)
Back to spineless democrats: The real problem is that the type of personality and mode of thinking that tends to make a person a democrat is the exact thing that makes them prone to pull Harry Reids. What makes them what they are is the root cause of their weakness. As such, there’s likely no way to solve it unless some sort of coalition is created between democrats and moderate republicans. The democrats have the numbers to guide policy, and their moderate republican partners have the spine to push them through (without threats of violence and intimidation if y’all would be so kind).
Nancy Pelosi is fairly tough, however. If she gets back the Speakership in 2014, there’s a fair chance that with her leadership that democrats can push through some bills… but Harry Reid…
“My Friend” Harry Reid… I understand that the Senate is a gentleman’s game and there’s a tradition of being white gentlemen (basically doing nothing, then going to the steam room, eat well, then go home to the wife)… but maybe it’s time to break with tradition and grow a pair.
