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The Democratic Strategist

Political Strategy for a Permanent Democratic Majority

Month: July 2011

Truths Not So Self-Evident

I’ve celebrated quite a few Independence Days, but this is the first where I have a palpable sense that a political faction is making a powerful claim to own the holiday and the Declaration of Independence at everyone else’s expense. Perhaps it should have been plain from the very beginning of the Tea Party movement that it involved a lot of fairly privileged people who thought others were trying to ruin “their” country by advocating “un-American” idea like universal access to private health insurance. But this July 4, the idea that the Founders would all be out there today campaigning avidly for right-wing causes and candidates seems to be an article of faith for many conservatives. For a good example of the interpretation of the Declaration that holds the unique purpose of this country is to let individuals accumulate vast personal wealth and then stockpile shooting irons to protect it, you can read the latest essay of Victor Davis Hanson, a writer who is often wrong but never, ever in doubt.
E.J. Dionne responds to this line of argument for those that conservatives would exclude from the national holiday:

We need to recognize the deep flaws in this vision of our present and our past. A reading of the Declaration of Independence makes clear that our forebears were not revolting against taxes as such — and most certainly not against government as such.
In the long list of “abuses and usurpations” the Declaration documents, taxes don’t come up until the 17th item, and that item is neither a complaint about tax rates nor an objection to the idea of taxation. Our Founders remonstrated against the British crown “for imposing taxes on us without our consent.” They were concerned about “consent,” i.e. popular rule, not taxes.
The very first item on their list condemned the king because he “refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.” Note that the signers wanted to pass laws, not repeal them, and they began by speaking of “the public good,” not about individuals or “the private sector.” They knew that it takes public action — including effective and responsive government — to secure “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

It’s fine to have this sort of perennial debate over the ultimate meaning of documents like the Declaration of Independence. But you can’t have a debate when one side is convinced it not only represents the sole correct point of view, but the only people who can be considered true Americans who love their country. You’d think, in fact, that the growing, angry disdain conservatives have for roughly half the population of the United States would make them feel a bit more doubt about their own patriotism towards America as it actually is. Truth is rarely as self-evident as the self-righteous often believe.


A Sad Irony on the Fourth of July

In the post above Ed points to Victor Hanson Davis’ identification of “the American way” with the right to make money without restriction.
At another point in the same article, Hanson says the following:

“Race, tribe or religion often defines a nation’s character, either through loose confederations of ethnic or religious blocs … or by equating a citizenry with a shared appearance as reflected in the German word “volk” or the Spanish “raza.” And while the United States was originally crafted largely by white males who improved upon Anglo-Saxon customs and the European Enlightenment, the Founders set in place an “all men are created equal” system that quite logically evolved into the racially blind society of today.
This year a minority of babies born in the United States will resemble the look of the Founding Fathers. Yet America will continue as it was envisioned, as long as those of various races and colors are committed to the country’s original ideals.”

At the same time, a New York Times editorial today notes the following:

“The [new immigration laws] laws vary in their details but share a common strategy: to make it impossible for people without papers to live without fear.
They give new powers to local police untrained in immigration law. They force businesses to purge work forces and schools to check students’ immigration status. And they greatly increase the danger of unreasonable searches, false arrests, racial profiling and other abuses, not just against immigrants, but anyone who may look like some officer’s idea of an illegal immigrant.
The laws empower local police officers to demand the documents of people they meet, and to detain those they suspect are here illegally. That means they can make warrantless arrests for assumed civil immigration violations, a stunning abuse of power.”

Concern is certainly justified about our nation’s continuing “committment to the country’s original ideals, but the committment of people of “various races and colors” (other than white males) is not necessarily the place to begin.


Bowers: Time Still Right for Wisconsin Recall Donations

In yesterday’s edition of Daily Kos, Chris Bowers had a pitch and a good point to make — and it’s still cross-post worthy:

Today is the last day of the second fundraising quarter in 2011. Hundreds of federal candidates are racing to fill their campaign coffers so that they can boast as large a total as possible in their next FEC disclosure report. The idea is that the larger their fundraising total, the more seriously they will be taken by party higher-ups, the better coverage they will receive from political reporters, and the more fear they will put into electoral challengers both real and potential.
Due to the political ramifications of these fundraising totals, today’s frenzied quest for donations is undeniably an important event. However, it’s also very abstract and insidery. Candidate fundraising totals are completely disconnected from the reality of the lives of the voters who will, eventually, determine the fate of the political careers of these candidates. No swing voter is out there thinking, “Well, I haven’t gotten a raise in three years, but I’m voting for the guy who had a huge Q2 FEC haul.”
Contributing to the Wisconsin recall elections is very different. For one thing, the recall elections are happening this summer, rather than in 2012. Further, there is nothing abstract about it. The Republican budget went into effect yesterday, causing tens of thousands of Wisconsinites to lose their collective bargaining rights. Teachers are already being laid off too, including several hundred just in Milwaukee.
Right now, fundraising in Wisconsin is not a contest over favorable coverage from beltway rags, scaring candidates out of campaigns, or other insider positioning for 2012. Instead, contributions to Democratic recall candidates in Wisconsin will go directly into what is already the end-stage of biggest electoral fight–and arguably political fight–of the year.
As I wrote yesterday, it’s a fight that can prove a determined, people-powered movement can defeat the wave of austerity conservative politicians are pushing at the behest of billionaires and big corporations.
You have probably been bombarded with fundraising requests today, but I humbly ask that you contribute $1 to each of the Democratic candidates in the recall elections on top of what you have already given. When you do, you will be joining with nearly 18,000 of your fellow Kossacks in one of the most remarkable grassroots fights this country has seen in a long while.
Please contribute $1 to each of the Democratic candidates in the Wisconsin recall elections. The FEC deadline is important, but right now what’s happening in Wisconsin is much more so.

Supporting the restoration of collective bargaining rights in a bellwether state — a great way to celebrate America’s patriotic holiday weekend.


Unhappy Fiscal New Year

Fiscal Year 2012 begins today in 46 of the 50 states. In Minnesota, state government has been shut down as Republican legislators demand new cuts in health and human services spending and oppose Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton’s proposal for a millionaire’s tax. 24 of the 32 states that have enacted FY 2012 budget have imposed significant budget cuts. A total of 42 states still face budget shortfalls in the new fiscal year, in amounts totaling $103 billion. And federal economic stimulus assistance to the states ended yesterday, for the most part.
That’s the good news from the states. The bad news is that almost any plausible scenario for breaking the budget deadlock at the federal level is likely to involve serious cuts–and perhaps unprecedented cuts–in funding for federal-state programs. For the biggest of these programs, Medicaid, Republicans want to end its entitlement status and simply give states a smaller chuck of cash and let them figure out how to provide health care to the poor and disabled. Even Democrats are talking about significant reductions in the federal match rate for Medicaid.
The dirty little secret of American government is that the feds really don’t deliver that many services. More often, they help finance services delivered by state and local governments. This arrangement makes it easier for fiscal hawks to remove themselves a step or two from the consequences of their actions. I doubt if more than a handful of the Republican Members of Congress who are threatening to plunge the national and even the global economy into chaos if their budget-cutting demands aren’t met are paying any formal attention to this unhappy fiscal new year in the states, which they’ve longed for and hope to make far worse.