Sebastian Mallaby wrote a compelling column for today’s Washington Post. His main point: Democrats seem to be unwilling to push through / support certain necessary reform on the one hand, while on the other hand not putting their feet down regarding extremely important issues such as the latest law regarding the treatment / rights of detainees:
After years of single-party government, the prospect of a Democratic majority in the House ought to feel refreshing. But even with Republicans collapsing in a pile of sexual sleaze, I just can’t get excited. Most Democrats in Congress seem bereft of ideas or the courage to stand up for them. They clearly want power, but they have no principles to guide their use of it.
[…]
The day before the immigration vote, the majority of Senate Democrats summoned up the courage to oppose the Bush assault on the nation’s traditions of justice. Of course they were right; you don’t win a war of ideas by abandoning your most appealing ones. But if the Democrats had made common cause with the bill’s Republican opponents, they could have filibustered the president’s bill. Why vote against something and simultaneously allow it through? On an issue as basic as access to justice, can’t Democrats stand on principle?
[…]
If today’s Democratic leaders were even a little bit awake, they would realize that the case for Social Security reform has grown stronger since the Clinton era. It’s not just that the budget outlook has deteriorated or that the squandering of a decade renders a solvency fix more urgent. A new body of research shows how the lack of reform threatens core Democratic constituencies.
[…]
I’m not saying that Republicans are at all better, and of course elections breed some policy timidity. But the infuriating thing about the Democrats is that, just a decade ago, they knew how to empathize with voters’ economic insecurities without collapsing into irresponsibility; they combined attractively progressive social policies with sensible pro-market fiscal responsibility. Now many in the party have lost interest in this necessary balance. If the Democrats win a measure of power next month, it’s hard to see what they will do with it.
When a party starts portraying itself as the party of ‘no’, it does not exactly appeal to the voters, especially not to independent voters: they are the voters who will most likely decide what happens in 06 and in 08.
We heard a lot of uproar about before mentioned bill, but why is it that the Democrats were not willing to stand by their principles – convictions – as much as they should do?
Social Security reform: in the comment sections here at The Moderate Voice there seems to be a general consensus that it is necessary to reform SS. Where is the Democratic party?
Simply complaining without offering an alternative never accomplished anything.
Fixed link, h/t Rudi.
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