By “Left” I don’t mean everyone who thinks of themselves as liberal, and certainly not everyone with Democratic sympathies, because that includes me on a lot of issues. But I refer very specifically to the ideologically motivated group that usurped control of the party in the early 1970s and has been standing in as imposters, freezing out the authentic traditional Democrats at the grass roots and who make up the heart of the party. Their spokespeople are Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Keith Olbermann and they find their refuge in the anonymous comments section of The Daily Kos.
The opposition is ironic, because we find agreement on what I consider the core economic issue of our day, and that is the globalist economic structure that’s hotwired in favor of multi-national corporations and stockholders, and against working men and women. But even within this issue, the differences quickly arise. If the United States is to reform the global economic order that’s going to require standing up to the European Union, the World Trade Organization and the U.N. And that means dealing with nasty remarks from those bodies and perhaps antagonizing France or Germany. And the Left has a clear track record of being deeply apologetic for the defense of American interests, be it militarily or economically. I have no doubt of their opposition to the current global economic structure, but until they get past this guilt about letting American interests take the lead, they will never solve the problem. I give credit to Madame Speaker for slowing the passage of free trade legislation, that poured through the Republican Congress without hesitation, but the president has been predictably impotent when it comes to his campaign promise to revisit previously signed agreements.
And we have deep disagreement on the moral and cultural questions. To them, any defense of natural marriage is “hate-filled” and “homophobic”, reflexive words they spew out very quickly with little actual thought. Any defense of the right to life marks one a fanatic, no doubt capable of blowing up an abortion clinic at any time. Those in the Left who get politically active have been marked by a deep intolerance and hatred of anyone who doesn’t toe their line all the way. A sense of humor is often the first casualty.
They repeatedly demand Blue Dog Democrats fall into line behind them, while making zero effort to really understand any of our concerns—the reason some of us take temporary refuge in voting Republican while we’re held in exile. In the 2002 version of the film The Count of Monte Cristo, a story about a political prisoner in Napoleonic France, a character is accused of treason. He replies “treason is just a question of dates.” Indeed. We are the authentic Democrats, and we need our own Napoleon to come off the Isle of Elba and bring down the establishment. I guess since Napoleon ended up losing and back in exile, maybe that’s not the greatest example. But as traditionalist Democrats we’re used to finding our consolation in being right, not having the muscle.
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