Democrats asleep at the wheel (Robert Kuttner of The American Prospect)

[papau]

Five reasons why Democrats are failing to turn Bush bad policy into Democratic Party winning seats - Five reasons why Democrats can't seem to replicate their Social Security "success" on other economic issues.


http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/03/16/democrats_asleep_at_the_wheel/

Democrats asleep at the wheel
By Robert Kuttner | March 16, 2005

THE REPUBLICANS just did it again. They pushed through Congress a bankruptcy ''reform" bill written by credit card companies. The bill makes it harder for ordinary people crushed by debt (often medical debt) to start anew. It leaves intact dodges used by wealthy people, such as asset-hiding trusts, and the corporate ability to use bankruptcy to slash wages, evade pension responsibilities, and stiff creditors.

There's a larger story here. Time after time, Bush administration policies do real economic harm to ordinary people, yet the Democrats can't seem to turn that reality into winning politics. Why not? Other recent examples include:

Stealth Tax Increases. While the Bush administration has bestowed immense tax cuts on the richest 1 percent, the upper-middle class is getting socked by the alternative minimum tax. This provision was enacted to make sure that wealthy people did not avoid taxation entirely by piling up multiple deductions. But thanks to inflation, the tax now denies such basic deductions as local property taxes to some families making under $100,000 a year. It costs them more in higher taxes than Bush's tax cuts save them. Bush also raised taxes for low-income families by reducing the effective child tax credit. Yet another stealth tax increase is rising state and local taxes and changes, made necessary by Bush's reduced aid to states.

Surging Drug Prices. Bush's Medicare prohibits the government from negotiating bulk pricing discounts. Every national health plan in the world negotiates bulk discounts with US drug companies, but Medicare will pay retail. Excuse me, senior citizens will pay retail, because for most, the Bush program will pay less than half the cost of their prescriptions.

Rising Interest Rates. If you have credit cards, home equity loans, or just bought a house, you noticed interest costs going up. There's one big reason for that -- the increasing federal deficits that are mainly the result of Bush's tax giveaways to the very wealthy.

Children Left Behind. The Bush education bill imposed high-stakes testing on states and local school districts, but shortchanged the money to help teachers teach and children learn. Bush is also underfunding programs like Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program, leaving more working families without adequate health insurance.

The point is: Bush's economic program harms ordinary people. And a majority of voters notice.<snip>

[Justitia]

1. I LOVE how they blame the minority for the actions of the majority. -eom

[oscar111]

2. 5 reasons? never mentioned. Pls edit and tell us who dont have time to go

read long articles.

get the infor to us in Executive Summary form, pls.

This post only listed where we failed, not why.

But i always like to see the posts you put up, paupau. Keep 'em coming!

The cure, BTW, is AAR.

GOP is running 'O6 campaign ads already in your town. Three hours a day of them, and we are NOT answering with even one minute. Their campaign ads are called Hate Radio, aka Rush Limbaugh. All the hate-talkers together add to sixty hours a week of GOP campaign ads. Our answer is SILENCE.

Get a yahoo group site for your town, to set up organizing meets for supporters of AAR , to get AAR into your town.. or try meetup website

[kevsand]

3. The 5 reasons in the article:

1) "dozens of Democratic legislators vote with Bush, usually to curry favor with organized corporate business interests that write these bills (and campaign checks)."

2) "center-right Democrats urge their party to avoid 'populism'."

3) "Bush is a master propagandist, with tame or intimidated media eating out of his hand, while the supposedly liberal press bends over backward to be evenhanded."

4) "the cultural conservatism of many moderate-income Americans attracts them to Republicans who don't serve their economic interests."

5) "there's a war on, and people generally support a wartime president."

[TMA68]

4. The Democratic Leadership Council: the best friends Republicans ever had

There's a lot I disagree with Al Shaprton on, but I think he hit the nail on the head when, in an October 2003 interview, he said:

I think the party has moved far to the right. I think that is why we have not been effective. This whole centrist move, which I consider a right move, hasn't worked politically. Centrists keep saying we can't win without going to the center. Well, they have been in charge of the party since 1992. It's 11 years later and we have lost everything. We lost the House in 1994 with Gingrich, and we failed to regain it in 1996, 1998, 2000 and 2002. How do you lose five Super Bowls and not say there is something wrong with this coach and this game plan? Aside from the fact that I don't believe in what they are saying -- pro death penalty, pro business deregulation, pro NAFTA -- politically it hasn't even worked. They act as though they are outsiders shooting at the inside. They are the insiders. They have control of the party, and they have failed. They have put this party on its deathbed.

And that was before last year's election disaster, when the Democrats not only failed to regain control of the House for the fifth time in a row, but lost the presidential race to a neo-fascist incumbent who lied the country into war, shredded the Bill of Rights, and presided over the worst job growth since the Great Depression.

Just who are these so-called "centrists" who have, in Sharpton's words, put the Democratic Party "on its deathbed"? In short, the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC):

http://www.progressive.org/nich1000.htm
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0105-07.htm
http://nuclearfree.lynx.co.nz/kerrylost.htm
http://www.alternet.org/story/17881

To make a long story short, if rank-and-file Dems don't stop marching in mindless lockstep to the Republican-lite drumbeat of the DLC and start thinking for themselves (particularly when it comes to deciding who to vote for in the congressional and presidential primaries), they can count on getting their backsides handed to them yet again in next year's mid-term election.

Todd Altman

[ElectricIron Sweeney]

5. Repubvdem

Democrats have no claim to leadership, and in fact no right to govern. None of our leaders has a clue. The fact that so many people are miserable just plays into the hands of the repubs better because it is easier to turn dissatisfaction into hate and hate into action. Love is not near the motivating force as hate. But the Democrats should not get worried and start throwing their crew overboard in hopes of gaining office. They are working against two powerful forces. One is the susceptibility of ignorant, frustrated people to have their fears and hatreds manipulated; and the other is the almost total inability of people to admit that they made a mistake. If Bush ran again and the situation in this country were ten times worse he would get nearly every vote he got before out of the same hands because to do otherwise would take a courage most people just do not possess in any amount. The good side is: Bush will likely not run again.

[electropop]

6. "Bush will _likely_ not run again?"

Touch of irony perhaps? :sarcasm:

Obviously, the Constitution prohibits him from running again. But hey, since when has that stopped him? :mad: