[Peace-discuss] cowardly democrats

[patton paul]

Democrats Pay Price of Cowardice
by Derrick Z. Jackson


FROM THE testimonials, Paul Wellstone was the face of the Democratic
Party. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle called Wellstone the ''soul of
the Senate.'' Senator John Kerry called Wellstone ''the pied piper of
modern politics. So many people heard him and wanted to follow him in his
fight.''

Senator Jean Carnahan of Missouri said Wellstone ''stayed true to his
beliefs.'' Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa said Wellstone ''was my best friend
in the Senate.'' Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana said, ''Our nation has
lost one of its most passionate voices for those who most often have no
voice in Washington.'' Senator Joe Lieberman said Wellstone ''never
wavered in his courageous determination to be a voice for the voiceless.''

Soul. Courage. Voice for the voiceless. That surely described Wellstone,
the Democratic senator from Minnesota who died two weeks ago in a plane
crash just before the midterm elections. Wellstone was known for his
fights against tax and welfare cuts, against rushes to war, and for health
care.

That does not describe his fellow Democrats. The tragedy beyond his own
death is that he was not the pied piper portrayed by Kerry with legions
behind him. The cautious Democrats heard him and fled his politics as if
they had encountered Legionnaires' disease. They ran right into the cold
shower of crushing defeat. The shivering Democrats have been exposed as
members of a party without soul or passion. They have discovered the price
of cowardice.

The Republicans added to their majority in the House. They regained
control of the Senate. Democrats will replace Republican governors in
states critical in presidential politics - Illinois, Michigan, and
Pennsylvania - but inept Democratic gubernatorial campaigns in heavily
Democratic Massachusetts, Maryland, and New York resulted in Republican
victories. Georgia has its first Republican governor since Reconstruction.

Give the Republicans credit. They know what they stand for. Tax cuts.
Guns. Bombs. Oil. Big business. Old boy networks. Privatization.
Plundering the earth. Pillorying and padlocking the poor. Party-line
votes.

The Democrats? One day they are for peace and justice; the next they are a
bunch of brown-nosing Republicrats. In 1991, for example, the Democrats
held a 57-43 majority in the Senate. But several conservative Democrats
(funny that ''liberal Republican'' is not a common term) went with the
Republicans to confirm party-line conservative Clarence Thomas to the
Supreme Court.

Democratic President Clinton won the White House in 1992 with great
promises of fairness, then chickened out on universal health care and gay
rights in the military. Clinton was a master Republicrat. His
administration ended welfare and helped sell more US arms than ever to the
rest of the world. Little happened on gun control or public school
infrastructure. While the economy did soar, so did the gap between the
rich and the poor. Most Republicans would envy such a record.

Clinton's would-be successor, Al Gore, had neither the charisma to be a
believable Republicrat or the conviction to be a progressive Democrat. The
Republican winner, George W. Bush, rapidly evolved into a master at
keeping things party-line simple. His campaign for what became a $1.35
trillion tax cut was so successful that 12 Democratic senators defected to
help create a 58-33 victory for Bush.

After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, Bush has kept Americans so
focused on Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein that the Democrats have yet
to fight against a sputtering economy and an imploding health care system.
The Democrats have been so afraid to challenge jingoism that 29 Democratic
senators went along with 48 Republicans to give Bush the authority to
unilaterally attack Iraq without provocation.

Kerry, ignoring Wellstone's flute, voted for the war. Despite calling
Wellstone his best friend, Harkin voted for the war. Despite praising
Wellstone for his courage, Lieberman voted for the war. Despite calling
Wellstone the ''soul'' of the Democratic Party, Daschle voted for the war.
New York's Hillary Clinton voted for the war. Clinton is obviously
learning fast from her husband.

Kerry, Lieberman, and Democratic Senator John Edwards of North Carolina,
who also voted for the war, are presidential hopefuls for 2004. Somehow,
they think that cheerleading for Bush will help them beat Bush. Such
thinking failed Senators Jean Carnahan of Missouri and Max Cleland of
Georgia.

Despite voting for Bush's tax cuts and his war, the two Democrats were
ousted by Republicans. Despite voting for the tax cut and the war,
Landrieu has been forced into a runoff against a Republican. Kerry praised
Wellstone as a pied piper, but the Democrats have actually followed the
Republicans into the trap of copycat politics. The Democrats, who could be
a voice for the voiceless, have instead discovered that the copycat got
their tongue.

 Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company

__________________________________________________________________
Dr. Paul Patton
Post-Doctoral Research Associate
Beckman Institute  Rm 3027  405 N. Mathews St.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign  Urbana, Illinois 61801
work phone: (217)-265-0795   fax: (217)-244-5180
home phone: (217)-328-4064
homepage: http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~ppatton/index.html

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.  It is the
source of all true art and science."
-Albert Einstein
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