The sound you heard across America on last week was Democrats patting themselves on the back and high-fiving each other. Having just swept the House and the Senate, the long suffering party of FDR and Jack Kennedy could once again hold its ideological head erect and look forward to two years of making George W. Bush the lamest of lame ducks. (In the lame dept., George has had a pretty good head start.)
However, now that the cheering has died, Democrats should take a serious look at why they won on Tuesday and how to make that success work for them in '08 and beyond.
First, many Americans didn't vote for the Democratic candidate. They voted against George Bush. Whether the contest was in West Virginia or Colorado; whether the seat was in the House or Senate; regardless of the dirty campaigns waged by the candidates; people voted against the Bush war. The message couldn't be more clear... Americans are sick to death of George and his war and they want out...now.
This sentiment was so overwhelming that even the Christian right was willing to ignore the fact that the Democrats are the party of abortion and gay marriage. If it takes something as unpopular as the Bush war to galvanize Christians to vote for a non-Christian issue, maybe there's a message here. Maybe it's time to stop giving Republicans the abortion club with which to beat national Democratic candidates. It may be time to allow Roe v Wade to be overturned.
By returning the abortion question to the states, we prevent inferior candidates like George W. from succeeding by professing a close personal relationship with God. Christians will be forced to make decisions like the rest of us. People of faith will (hopefully) choose a president based on his experience (Bush had none) and his accomplishments on the world stage (not just in Texas). Foreign policy, taxes, immigration and American security will become the real issues again. Face-it, my Christian brothers, in six years George W. Bush has done nothing to advance your cause on abortion. If this surprises you...it shouldn't.
Nevertheless, in 2008 we will play out the same scenario. The Republican candidate will stand fore-square for family values and against a women's right to choose. The Democrat, fearful of alienating his female base, will mumble something about being opposed to abortion personally, but...blah, blah. Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell will rush to the microphones to condemn the Godless Democrats and, once again, in a close race, a dolt like George W. Bush will emerge victorious. Karl Rove wins, America looses.
As the recent election has shown, the issues facing America are too important to be decided by a president elected over one issue; and a fringe issue at that.
Scrapping Rowe will work severe hardships on many American women. As usual, those women effected most will be at the bottom of the socio-economic scale. However, some states, (New York, California, Illinois, Vermont) will continue to permit choice, and private charities can be organized to help poor women get to those states. It won't be perfect, but we can figure something out.
Gay marriage has already been consigned to a similar fate. Until Americans wake up to the fact that gay citizens pose no threat to any aspect of human endeavor, individual states will continue to enact petty, small-minded legislation, persecuting people over their sexual orientation. This unfortunate (and hopefully transient) situation should, however, never find its was on to the national political stage. (To my gay friends, I'm sorry but you can't win this at the national level, and it's distracting.)
Abortion and gay marriages are recent issues. Prior to 1973, no one would ever have dreamed of raising the idea of legalizing abortion. Gay rights were unheard of. In the 33 years since Harry Blackmun wrote for the majority in Roe, we have made abortion the single most polarizing issue in American politics, with gay marriage close behind. Enough! These should not be the issues that determine who takes America to war and who spends American tax dollars. There are many important issues that Americans should consider before trekking to the polls in November 2008. The decision should never be automatic. Let's make it hard this time by throwing the litmus tests in the trash.
No comments:
Post a Comment