I haven't been posting a whole lot lately because, for one thing, I've been busy. Another reason that keeps me from doing more is an on-going frustration that seems to have no resolution. With commanding majorities in both Houses of Congress and a President elected with the largest plurality in decades, the Democrats continue to act as if they are the minority part, as if their ideas were suspect from the get-go, and as if everything the Republican "leadership" in Congress does is far more effective with the American people than the Democratic electoral victories.
There are days I feel like going to Capitol Hill and dope-slapping some of these people. Lead! Govern! Stop listening to idiots like Evan Bayh and Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson and Olympia Snowe!
Earlier this year, when Congress was actually doing the stuff it was elected to do, it was popular. All the dithering, all the deference to the party out of power and their refusal to actually legislate and govern has dragged down the approval ratings for the Democratic Party. This isn't the result of the American people suddenly awakening from some haze to discover the secret Marxism of the Democrats. Rather, it is frustration at their fiddling while Rome continues to burn.
Writing these folks doesn't seem to help. Calling, either. The Washington-based national press corps continues to act as if the Republicans are in charge, and the Democratic hasn't done anything to prove them wrong.
If I may add a slam at some seriously big liberal blogs and websites, I am quite tired of the daily posts on the idiotic antics of Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. I. Don't. Care. What. They. Say. Continuing to pay attention to them gives them far more power and influence than they might otherwise have. "Debunking" them - a la Media Matters and such - is useless because they aren't going to change, and supporters and detractors know the score anyway. Time and energy is wasted on this kind of thing.
One website, Crooks and Liars, seems almost obsessed with Beck, and Minnesota's answer to Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann. The best thing to do for the country would be to ignore them, unless laughter is involved, and let them slide back in to the obscurity from which they emerged. Both of them are certifiable. Rather than a long, detailed fact-based challenge to whatever they say, just copy & paste with the single comment - HAHAHAHAHA!!.
Which criticisms of lefty bloggers and all leads me to another point. We won, folks. All these liberal web sites continue to act as if it were 2005-2006, as if George W. Bush and Dick Cheney and Denny Hastert were still in charge and we had all sorts of structural and procedural impediments to moving forward with a progressive agenda. We don't, and it would be nice if liberals grew a pair. Celebrate victories a little more loudly, and stop whining about the mean stuff and lies the Republicans and conservatives are saying.
The loser attitude among Democrats and liberals, both in office and in the public, has to stop. We won, and we won big, and we should take that win and run with it. Whether it's John Boehner and Mitch McConnell or Olympia Snow and Ben Nelson and Evan Bayh, we need to remind them of some simple facts, the first one of which is the job of a legislature is to legislate. If they don't want to pass laws, they have every right to vote against them. If they believe their sole role in this Congress is to stop it from doing stuff, however, they have no place at a table discussing how best to craft legislation.
How simple is that? They don't like it, why, they can run home to their constituents and get re-elected on a platform of, "I've been serving in Congress and done nothing for the country! Re-Elect me and I'll continue to draw a public paycheck and sit on my ass!"
Who cares about the freakin' tea-baggers and birthers and the rest of the loons. Mindless, idiotic . . . so much of our public discourse is still warped by deference to crazy people. Just let them hold their little protests and allow that time to be spent on something substantive. If Republican members of Congress want to join them, so much the better - one can pass legislation without their vote (which would happen anyway).
OK, this somewhat unfocused rant is drawing to a close. . .
One positive note (I so want to end on an upbeat) - thank you, Congress and President Obama for passing the hate crimes bill.
