Why Democrats?

Why Democrats? When I began this effort to help reinvigorate the Democratic Party in Washington County, Georgia, I had several questions on my mind. Why are we citizens of this county and nationwide not more politically active? Why do so many, but not all, of our citizens favor the Bush 43 policies in face of all the domestic difficulties that we and the rest of the country face? Why is it that the majority of our federally elected officials obediently and blindly follow a president who is lacking in ability, foresight, and an interest in the history of this great nation and its traditions? Why are we unwilling to view this post 911 world with discipline and understanding? The answer to those and other questions rest, I believe, in the suddenness and degree of destruction of the attacks on September 11, 2001.

As I reflect back on that fateful morning, I remember watching the second plane crash into the second tower with the first tower all in flame and smoke silhouetted against a bright and glorious clear blue sky. I wondered who would want to do such a thing to a country and people who have sacrificed so much to make this a better world. My first reaction was that it was Saddam Hussein because he, above all, would have the motive for such action because he had been humiliated by our military during Desert Storm and did not have the resources to mount a military attack on the United States. I told my students as we watched that this country will never be the same. I was mistaken in my belief that this country would never be the same.

The United States will return to the same situation and also move forward to better things in spite of 911. It took nearly three years for me to come to that realization. The reason that I was so slow in reaching that point has to do with the lack of actual knowledge of what the circumstances were. I, like many of my fellow citizens, were too busy and too incurious about particular details affecting the function of our government. We register and go to the polls to support the candidates of our choice without really giving enough thought to the choices we make.

I am a Democrat and have been most of my life because of the principles the party had lived by through the years that promoted the betterment of life for all of its citizens. Until the advent of Ronald Reagan’s presidency, the country had moved steadily forward with more and more of its citizens gaining ground for their families and themselves. Since that time, there has been a steady decline in the ability of ordinary Americans to realize their dreams and promote the well-being of their families. The absolute nadir of inertia for the progress of the American family rests with Bush 43 and the unthinking and uncritical republican congresses since 1994. Even today, republicans are reluctant to admit that a terrible mistake has been made relative to the United States’ involvement in Iraq.

Why republicans take the stance that they do, of course, rests with them. I have my reasons for their actions too. The reason, I believe, is rather simple. To admit the wrongness of their actions will result in the virtual destruction of the party. They would have to admit that Reagan and Bush were both wrong for the continued progress of America. They would not have a hero that could compete with the likes of Roosevelt, Kennedy and Clinton who were all charismatic figures and generally beloved by the people. The truth of the matter is that media creation of particularized persona and charisma does not remake an individual. Reagan, the Bushes, Clinton, Nixon, Eisenhower, Johnson, Carter, Kennedy, Roosevelt, and Hoover were who they were with all of their assets and liabilities. Votes on the congressional floors do not make a president. It takes vision and an appreciation of history as well as a realistic eye on the present. George W. Bush has neither. He has made a mistake either inadvertently or purposefully and is unwilling to change and congressional republicans refuse to tell him so. Their continued dogged support for him feeds his wrongful vicissitude. If republicans continue their current posture, their party will indeed collapse to the detriment of us all. Remember that when Nixon went astray, it was republicans who came forward and guided the country and Nixon. That action provided a legacy for republicans to do the right thing. They should do the same now. They were rewarded for their actions in the election of Reagan and Bush 41. Americans, democrats and republicans, will never forgive those who do what they can to elevate a lie into American policy. Republicans are looking for a charismatic hero and have yet to find one. That is why Democrats.