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"I am no longer a Democrat."
by Brendan Loy ("Irish Trojan")
Okay, Im calling it. Its over. Ned Lamont has won the primary. . . . the hard reality is that the voters have spoken, and their message was loud and clear: theres no longer room for Joe Lieberman in the Democratic Party. And alas, tonights result will reverberate through the November elections and into the 2008 presidential campaign. Its really much more than just a single primary in a single state; its a shot across the bow of moderate Democrats everywhere. And so, whatever further ramifications this result might have, theres one thing it definitely means, one result that is officially cast in stone, as of today:
I am no longer a Democrat.
Ive been calling myself a Democrat since I was ten years old, . . . In recent years, Ive seen the base of the Democratic Party drifting away from sense and sanity, and at the same time, Ive felt my own ideological compass pulled somewhat to the right by world events. Yet I remain profoundly uncomfortable with the Republican Party for a variety of reasons, and Ive never much liked the idea of being an independent, considering it with all due respect to those who wear the label proudly something of a cop-out in many cases.
| You might consider becoming a member of the libertarian wing of the Publican party. We're not all the same, you know. You can be a Publican and be particularly concerned about your civil liberties — which is pretty distinct from the ACLU approach. We're concerned about many of the same issues as Dummycrats; the distinction is that we try not to go overboard on them. Teddy Roosevelt was the original conservationist, for instance, long before it turned into The Environment™. |
So Ive continued to cling to the label of Democrat, and to the hope that the party would somehow save itself from the tired orthodoxies of its interest groups and the execrable excesses of its far-left wing. Ive shaken my head at the irrational policies and irresponsible rhetoric coming from so many corners of the party, comforting myself with the thought that while Dennis Kucinich may be a nutjob and Al Sharpton may be a charlatan and Howard Dean may be an idiot and Dick Durbin may be, well, a dick, at least theres still Joe Lieberman.
| The lone voice in the wilderness, the last surviving Jackson Democrat. Notice the divergence between him and his 2000 running mate. That's the evolution of the Democrat party in a nutshell. |
Lieberman stood for just about everything good in the Democratic Party, while shunning most of the bad. He was he is an honest, decent and rational progressive, a moral but not overly moralistic man, a loyal but not blindly loyal Democrat. He agreed with the party most of the time, but he was willing to disagree when he felt his collegues were wrong. He was also willing to challenge liberal orthodoxies when they needed to be challenged, a rare and crucial trait. . . . But he was he is usually right, especially on the big issues, particularly the global war on terrorism and the conflict in Iraq.
| The Dems as they are today were made in 1968. The wind that filled their sails came out of Vietnam. Today's party is the McGovern wing, writ large. |
Perhaps, I told myself, despite the ascendancy of Nancy Pelosi, the Deaniacs and the Kos Kidz, perhaps Liebermans side could still somehow win the struggle for the partys soul. As long as that hope remained viable, I could continue to be a Democrat. A Lieberman Democrat, I called myself, and I was proud.
| The Dems are a party that's driven by a vague ideology. They want to be Social Democrats, but Social Democrats are (Second International) Marxists. Marx is still, despite 60 or 70 years of effort on the part of the educational establishment, held in low regard in this country. That Marxist undercurrent has become more evident with the rise of the McGovern kiddies and grandkiddies. We're the world's leading exemplar of capitalism, and they're the anticapitalist counterstream. Anticapitalism translates into anti-Americanism. That's why the abhorrence for flag displays and other patriotic symbolism. Beneath the surface of Social Democracy there's the idea of the managed state, which isn't the ideal of individual liberty and personal accomplishment. |
But now the voters have spoken. Lieberman may still consider himself a Democrat he says that, if elected as an independent, hell vote to organize with the Dems, and I believe him but the Democrats dont consider Lieberman a Democrat anymore. Thats the cold, hard truth of todays results. Hes been kicked out of the big tent because his loyalty wasnt blind enough, because his conscience wasnt pliable enough.
| They weren't quite able to do the Yezhov thing on him, but he's become a Trotskyite. |
Hes been replaced by the shiny new millionaire who said all the right things to win over the hearts and minds of the netroots. The war in Iraq is wrong, wrong, wrong; President Bush is bad, bad, bad; and Joe Lieberman is a traitor, a traitor, a traitor. Thats the undeniable message that Democratic voters from my home state have sent out across the land this fateful day.
| He's been read out of the party, purged. Unless he wins in November, of course. Then it'll be all in the past. |
Well, if theres no room in the Democratic Party for Joe Lieberman, then theres no room in it for me. So Im done. Im out. See ya later. Sayonara.
Posted by: Mike 2006-08-09 |
