My Grandfather's Democrat
Well its been quite a few months, but we're back. Back in April when we were just starting here, I expressed a deep desire for the victory of the centre over extremist politics. Well last week's election seems to have brought about that happy situation. I also said that the key for the Democratic Party was to open up the tent and embrace and highlight popular moderates like Bob Casey, Jr. Again, it all came true in spades. This past monday, the NY Times published an article on the new Democratic Senator-elect from Montana, John Tester. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/13/us/politics/13tester.html I'll be honest I had not heard much about Tester until September, but by all accounts he was depicted as a social conservative with a flat top and a pro-gun stance, although he is an organic farmer (but you can't judge a man by his gluten free grain for God's sake). In the run up to the election, though, little was said of his economics. Tester , like Bob Casey, is another great example of where the Democratic party needs to go and needs to stay. Tester is the rural-family-farm-Midwestern version of Casey's Northeastern-labor populist. They speak to the working class who have been alienated by the fog of the political discourse centered around God, Gays, and the unborn. Their pro-gun, pro-life (in Casey's case) stands neutralize the culture wars and allow Catholic and Evangelical working people to hear their pro-worker, anti-big business economic message. As the Republican pundits try to convince us that this election marks the right ward tilt of the Democratic party, they seem to be ignoring the fact that what really happened is that Democrats like Casey and Tester bring a clearer economic liberalism back to the party.
The Times very fittingly referred to Tester as "your grandfather's Democrat." Well for the Brothers Lane nothing could be truer. My grandfather, a member of the NRA who grew up hunting in the woods of the Berkshires, kept a rack of rifles in his attic and a crucifix over his bed. He was also a bar tender, labor organizer and active member of the Western Mass Democratic Party. He spent most of the 80's yelling at Reagan on the nightly news. The day Reagan fired the air-traffic controllers nearly sent him into a stroke. Men like my grandfather were the backbone of the Democratic party for most of the 20th Century. They looked to their party to protect their economic interests and maintain their quality of life. That was the core of the Democratic message from 1932-1972. Hopefully that will again by the centerpiece of the Party's platform.
We can blame Rove, we can even dance on his political grave in celebration of last week's results. But Democrats have done a beautiful job of shooting themselves in the foot. Since the baby boomers ascended into the Democratic leadership in the 80's the working class slipped away and, by outward appearances and too often in substance, it became the party of the educated socially liberal upper middle class. How many times did you hear bi-coastal liberals asking why Lieberman and the pro-life Bill Nelson of Nebraska didn't just leave the party. Did these people* want to see crucial Senate seats turn Republican?
So here we are in 2006, unbelievably the Democrats have won control of both houses of congress, and did so by opening up the tent on social issues. To maintain this majority, they need to get clear on the message. Socially there is bound to be internal debate. But the party line has got to once again return to an economic liberalism that emphasizes issues like a living wage, universal health care, and affordable and quality education for all. After all, that liberalism let three generations of my family evolve from tending bar in a Western Mass mill town to becoming over educated bi-coastal liberals.
-aly
* Disclaimer: I used to be one of these Northeast over educated recently graduated from college liberals. But I've grown, I've matured. I repent. Please forgive.
The Times very fittingly referred to Tester as "your grandfather's Democrat." Well for the Brothers Lane nothing could be truer. My grandfather, a member of the NRA who grew up hunting in the woods of the Berkshires, kept a rack of rifles in his attic and a crucifix over his bed. He was also a bar tender, labor organizer and active member of the Western Mass Democratic Party. He spent most of the 80's yelling at Reagan on the nightly news. The day Reagan fired the air-traffic controllers nearly sent him into a stroke. Men like my grandfather were the backbone of the Democratic party for most of the 20th Century. They looked to their party to protect their economic interests and maintain their quality of life. That was the core of the Democratic message from 1932-1972. Hopefully that will again by the centerpiece of the Party's platform.
We can blame Rove, we can even dance on his political grave in celebration of last week's results. But Democrats have done a beautiful job of shooting themselves in the foot. Since the baby boomers ascended into the Democratic leadership in the 80's the working class slipped away and, by outward appearances and too often in substance, it became the party of the educated socially liberal upper middle class. How many times did you hear bi-coastal liberals asking why Lieberman and the pro-life Bill Nelson of Nebraska didn't just leave the party. Did these people* want to see crucial Senate seats turn Republican?
So here we are in 2006, unbelievably the Democrats have won control of both houses of congress, and did so by opening up the tent on social issues. To maintain this majority, they need to get clear on the message. Socially there is bound to be internal debate. But the party line has got to once again return to an economic liberalism that emphasizes issues like a living wage, universal health care, and affordable and quality education for all. After all, that liberalism let three generations of my family evolve from tending bar in a Western Mass mill town to becoming over educated bi-coastal liberals.
-aly
* Disclaimer: I used to be one of these Northeast over educated recently graduated from college liberals. But I've grown, I've matured. I repent. Please forgive.
posted by citizen P at 8:38 PM
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