"We're right, they're wrong."
- James Carville

Well, James, you got it at least half right. They're wrong. I'm not so sure about us anymore, though.

Hell, I'm not even sure who "us" is, anymore. Folks who've followed my campaign rants over the last couple election cycles will know that I've been a highly partisan Democrat for as long as I've had any political opinions at all. Like I always say sometimes, I was 16 before I knew that the holy trinity wasn't the father, the son and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It was an article of faith in the house I grew up in - if you work for wages, you should be a Democrat. If you care about civil rights and civil liberties, you should be a Democrat. If you're anything other than a rich, old, white, Protestant male, you should be a Democrat.

Why was that, exactly? Well, there were reasons, once. It was Democratic politicians that supported collective bargaining legislation, minimum wage legislation, civil rights legislation, environmental protection and a host of other things seen as good and progressive by all right thinking people, meaning those who had access to the inspired wisdom that led to agreement with me, of course. Sure, Democratic Presidents had a bad habit of dragging us into wars, but, hey, defense workers need jobs too. And granted, not all Democrats supported all the right things all the time, but there were enough that did to get some good things done, and to make continued association with the party seem like a good thing itself.

Were. Big word there. These days, it's hard to tell the difference between the parties on most of the issues that created the Democratic coalition. Sure, there are some rhetorical differences on reproductive choice, gay rights and some other ideas that have come to the table fairly recently, but what's actually been done on any of those fronts lately? And can the Democratic Party still hold itself out as the party of working people? Is there still a commitment to civil liberties at the top levels of the Party? Is there even a slender thread of reform or progress in the fabric of the 21st century incarnation of the the Democratic Party?

Not so's I can see, I'm afraid.

And I've tried. It's finally reached the point, though, that my rose-colored specs have been completely clouded by the smokescreen laid down by the Clintonian wing of the party as they try to pretend that the whole GATT/NAFTA/WTO web of international corporate welfare is good for American workers, good for the world environment, good for anything at all exept the expansion of the wallets of those rich, old, white, Protestent males that I always though were Republicans. In order to see anything at all, I had to take off the specs, and the reality of the Democrats today is not a pretty sight. Civil rights and civil liberties have disappeared in the wake of the race to wage the biggest, baddest War On (some) Drugs. Working people? Give me a break. There's not the least bit of tangible concern about the increasing disparity in wealth in this country. If you haven't got what it takes to become a dot.com millionaire, well, then your daddy better be rich already, or you'll be spending your life pouring lattes for people who already got theirs. The rare voice in the Democratic Party that raises any concern about these kinds of issues is marginalized mighty fast. It's reached the point that a centrist like Bill Bradley was painted as the great hope of the left in the primaries. What they meant is that in the Democratic Party, there's no left left.

The problem is, we may not be right anymore, but they're still wrong. If the Democrats are reduced to paying lip service to the people they need for success, well, the Republican's won't even say something nice while they put it in.

So what's a progressive voter to do? Well, since winning doesn't seem to make much difference in what happens, maybe its high time to re-examine the old theories that argue that a third party vote is a wasted vote. Maybe the only way to win is to say no to the whole damn Repulicrat mess, and toss out the Demublicans at the same time.

Next month, calling Mr. Rader....

(C) 2000 - Shaun Dale