Burnt Orange Report

"Now, I'm not bringing these points up because I necessarily agree with them, but the point is this: looking in the mirror, are we the same sort of folks who would be able to accomplish any of the sort of things Democrats used to accomplish?"

No. And here's why . . . the current Democrats ran those wonderful moderates and economic progressives out of the party in the name of interest group politics and fringe grievances that would elevat every social "oddity" to the level of a constitutionally-protected right. When the hard-hats (Not the unions, but the sweaty, skilled-labor rank-and-file) and their college-educated kids, the Dems quit being FDR's party.

What was it Ronald Reagan said? "I didn't leave the Democrats; they left me."

A party that only cares about scoring political points will never win. A party that only has ideas, and no willingness to compromise will never win. The Democrats seem to be either worried only about scoring political points (Clinton) or about not compromising (Moore, Dean, etc.). That is one of the biggest problems in the party.

Yeah, it's kinda lame to claim credit for clean air and clean water, as if only Dems care about such things. And it's also transference to say the things we individual Dems care about are also party concerns. Frankly, I don't think the party cares about the poor, for example.

I think it makes more sense to brand humanitarianism. And add "I'm a humanitarian and I approve of the Democratic Party."

As much as I respect Dean (he'd make a great DNC chair) and Moore (the Thomas Paine of our era), neither won a national election.
Bill Clinton won TWO.

But Clinton did have and still has values. This is what he said at the dedication of his library in Little Rock:
What should our shared values be? Everybody counts. Everybody deserves a chance. Everybody's got a responsibility to fulfill. We all do better when we work together. Our differences do matter, but our common humanity matters more.

The divide isn't between "compromise" and "no compromise". The true dichotomy is between pragmatism and ideology.
In Illinois, we've managed to avoid ideological food fights and still remain true blue. Our senators, Richard Durbin and Barack Obama, are certainly not "sell-outs".

And Colorado is moving in Illinois' direction. While the GOP conducted hissie fits over gay marriage and the pledge of allegiance in the legislature, the Democrats offered practical solutions to the state's problems. The Dems ended up picking both houses of the Colorado legislature, a US Senate seat, and one in the House of Representatives.

Progressive leaders usually arise where there is at least a recent history of good government. And you have good government when citizens feel that their everyday concerns are not being ignored. Even an anti-abortion NRA member may be tempted to vote for a local Democratic office holder if there is good police and fire protection, the garbage is picked up regularly, and local laws are not too burdensome on small businesses.

As the first Mayor Daley was allegedly fond of saying, "Good government is good politics, and good politics is good government."

"Putting people first" is what got Bill Clinton elected in 1992. If Democrats follow this advice at every level of government, there may soon be another 1992, or at least a 1974 on the horizon.

If the Dems are going to develop a message that moves contemporary voters it needs to address contemporary issues and concerns. It has got to be something more than "We're not the Repubs." These issues could include:

- voters rights, making sure that every vote counts and that every voter has a fair opportunity to cast a vote;
- equal rights, the Repubs ran over the Dems with the gay marriage issue this year, but there seems to be wide support for civil unions;
- clean government, the Repubs are giving the Dems plenty of issues to highlight;
- foreign policy, the Dems missed a huge opportunity during the Clinton administration to develop a new foreign policy direction for the post Cold War world, Kerry got beat up this year for not having specific ideas, it is now time to develop some ideas;
- UN reform, there are a host of problems at the UN that need fixing, and the Repubs aren't going to do it because they like having the UN as a whipping boy.

The Dems aren't going to be able to attract new supporters by looking back one, two, or three generations to highlight their past successes. A big part of the problem with the Dems in Texas is that, up to this year, they have been running on the messages and coalitions that they have used with decreasing success since the 70s.

Jeb