DEMOCRACY'S PARTY AND AMERICAN VALUES

By: Xaivier Martin


As a writer, I often read the words and opinions of my contemporaries in magazines like The New Republic, National Review, GQ and Rolling Stone to name a few, but a publication I rarely miss is Esquire. In February's issue, Esquire had a section that focused on the next four years for President Bush. After skipping over any talk of Bush the first couple of go 'rounds with the issue, I decided for amusement's sake, I'd check it out. Minutes into Tom Junod's piece, "52 True Things About the Future of American Culture", I was reminded what I love about writing. Simply, it is the belief that the words you write will be read and - with each reader - has a chance to move someone.

In his short piece, Junod cuts to the core of the relationship between politics and American Culture. Junod makes his sharpest points with nos. 50 and 51 on the list,

"The future is being formed, right now, by the conversation between the culture and its conservative antagonists. The question is not whether conservatives can win. They can't. The question is whether liberals can inject their values into that conversation."

Democrats lost the "cultural war" as soon as they began apologizing for being called "academics". Since Clinton's departure in 2000, Democrats have slowly backed away from the table of "academic" debate and strategy, not wanting to alienate those who haven't been fortunate enough to enjoy a good education. Instead, we ask good men to march out and do their best imitation of a G.I. Joe, so all of the "other" people can see that we care about protecting our country (sorry Mr. Kerry). As outgoing DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe departed, he declared loudly that the Democratic Party was back to being the party of "the plain people", just as it was when it began under Andrew Jackson.

The Democrats work so hard to walk below their higher education that it's no wonder Republicans walk all over them. Yet, after the smoke clears and the people have decided they didn't want to buy what the Democrats were selling, many of them pointed their fingers at those "others" that allowed themselves to be duped. Many sons and daughters of the donkey are still shaking their heads and asking how the people of America could turn their back on four years of economic decline, pin the tail on the terrorist foreign policy and an almost non-existent domestic policy. The answer may elude even the best political pundits, but for Democrats, it may start with that narrow, bushy face w/ long ears starting back at them in the mirror.

The American people may be many things: simple, hard to please, flighty, emotional and proud, but one thing they are not is stupid. Anyone that believes the American people chose to forget the much-maligned first term of President Bush is not looking at the big picture. The American people didn't turn their backs on the Democrats - they turned their faces towards the most sincere voices in the election. There's a reason that most Democrats cringed as they cheered at John Kerry's opening line of the Democratic National Convention, "John Kerry, reporting for duty." As happy as most of them were at seeing one of their own with the kind of military background and integrity that the Republicans have trademarked, they still weren't completely comfortable with the image. Many of us were sitting there watching Kerry at the national convention and wondering what this feeling was deep in our collective guts.

Many Democrats felt at that moment that the party had just sold their soul to the devil of compromise. After spending many decades creating our identity as the party that looks out and speaks for those who go unseen and unheard, we'd decided to fall in line with values that weren't our own. In all honesty, the American people didn't turn their backs on the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party turned its back on the American people and in turn itself. The American people need balance, and when the Democrats chose to turn in their blue jacket for a purple one, understandably, the people were attracted to the folks who stood proudly by the colors they came in with. The Democratic leadership had the Republican message for the 2004 election in a file drawer labeled "2001- 2002", and still could not craft a strong message of opposition that would have given the public an honest choice. They chose instead to try and blur the lines between "us", "them" and "the people".

Somewhere along the line, Democrats decided that "Anybody But Bush" could stand alone as a party message. People don't want to rally around a quip or witty phrase, they want to rally around a message that speaks to more of what affects them then what doesn't. Despite popular opinion, the Republicans are not the masters of manipulation - they have mastered the art of the single-minded message. It's effectiveness could probably be seen as dumb luck, with all of the advancements in information gathering one would think that political consumers would become more discriminating. Not so - the information age has served to numb the general public, resulting in an over-stimulation backlash. All of this makes the poly-prioritized party message as useful as a iPod to a five-year old.

The Democratic Party is seen as a group of know-it-all, academic social workers that care more about protecting a person's right to do what's "wrong" than making sure people do what's "right". I for one have no problem with that and neither should anyone who associates with the Democratic Party. This country was founded by people who resented not being able to choose for themselves which religion was best suited for them, yet the party of "traditional values" is doing everything in its power to undo what was done in 1620. It is now that the country needs a party with plans for this country's future beyond the next nation it plans to colonize.

It is time that Democrats take a long hard look at ourselves and remember that we are the party of hopes and dreams. We are the party of peace, Camelot and Civil Rights. We are the party of Jackson, Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson and Clinton - and far more the Party of Lincoln than is his own party, which is now the personal property of unreconstructed Confederates masquerading as Republicans. Former President Jimmy Carter made more of a positive difference in the world during the last four years than President Bush can ever hope to make in his eight years. Under Democratic Administrations, the economic rights of the common people were protected, we defeated international fascism, set the stage for the defeat of international communism, reached the moon, established both the right to vote for African Americans and the right of women to full participation in society, integrated schools and - under Bill Clinton - enjoyed the most prosperous decade in the nation's history.

The message that should go forward in the Democratic Party's message is right under its nose and in its name, simply put, the Democratic Party is "Democracy's Party". Whereas Republicans want to treat everything from education to social security like a business and therefore are primarily capitalists, our party fights for the rights of the people, protected by law, which is driven by democracy - which therefore makes us democrats. If the Democratic Party returns to the roots laid down by Andrew Jackson, that being a party of the people for the people, it won't have to follow Mr. Junod's advice of interjecting its values into the conversation of American culture. The values of democracy, inalienable rights and full opportunity, have been a part of the conversation all along.