Mother Davis calls a therapist specializing in the pampered as she reflects,
In the days after the Election of 2004, I worried quite a bit about the danger of the Republicans’ increased dominance in the United States Congress. Now, it appears that the Republicans in Congress are mostly a threat to themselves.
Oh, I do not mean to say that the Republican Congress will not threaten the rest of America as well. They will. Even in the space of a few weeks, the Republican Congress has managed to pass an impressive number of extremely corrupt and dangerous bills and amendments. However, at the same time, the Republicans in Congress seem surprisingly unable to deal with their newly strengthened status as America’s established political elites. At every move, they reveal their lack of grace, and provide ample fodder for a progressive counter-revolution in 2006.
When it comes to ethics, the congressional Republicans have proven themselves to be extraordinarily clumsy. Many of them surged into office in 1994 with the promise that they would restore honor and dignity to the government. Now, they are exhibiting gross dishonor and indignity at every opportunity, breaking almost all of the promises of superior ethics that they made in 1994.
Republican members of the House of Representatives like Jeff Flake, a right-wing extremist who has fashioned his career in the the mold of Barry Goldwater, once promised that they would limit themselves to only a few short terms in office. Now that the Republicans control Congress, they are quietly retracting their promises, and vowing to run for re-election once more in 2006. “I said that I would serve just three terms,” says Congressman Flake. “I was wrong… I will seek re-election in 2006.”
Tom DeLay, the Republican leader of the House of Representatives appears to be the target of a serious criminal probe. Yet, instead of replacing him, House Republicans merely changed their own ethics rules so that DeLay could escape punishment.
When it came to passing the budget for the federal government, the Republicans waited until after Election Day. During their campaigns, they promised fiscal responsibility. After the Election, however, they begged for permission to increase the national credit limit and inflate the national debt to record levels. Then, when it was time to pass the budget itself, the Republicans cut funding from vital education programs, yet still managed to increase the total amount of spending through luxurious items such as a brand new yacht designed just for President Bush. When Democrats pointed out such outrageous budget priorities, the Republicans defended themselves by insisting that they have voted for the budget without bothering to read it.
A year ago, I would have said that such clownishly corrupt behavior on the part of the Republican Congress foreshadows a change of political fortune for the Democrats. However, my experience since that time leads me to doubt that even the most arrogant abuses of power by Republican members of Congress will make a bit of difference in the 2006 elections.
The corruption of the Republican Congress is mirrored by a lazy apathy among progressive voters. This fall, I volunteered at a local Democratic office. I handed out hundreds of lawn signs for John Kerry’s campaign, but I found that even the most fervent of Kerry supporters simply had no clue who was running for Congress, or even what congressional district they lived in.
By and large, the American people pay attention to generic national news sources to the exclusion of local news. On an aesthetic level, I can understand this selective attention. Local news operations lack the polish of national news, and often resort to silly human interest stories in order to fill space. However, when it comes to real power, local politics matters a great deal, and ignorance of local political races leaves us all vulnerable to the manipulation of Republican incumbents’ well-funded political advertising campaigns.
This morning, I am making the gentle suggestion that those progressive voters who claim to be outraged at the results of the 2004 election shake the turkey gravy out of their brains and get busy with the first and most important step to electoral victory the next time around: Self-education.
If you really care about who controls the government, stop paying exclusive attention to who controls the White House, and widen your focus to include the politicians who represent your own little locality in the United States Congress. First, visit Congress.org and find out who your Senator and U.S. Represenatives are. Then, move on over to Progressive Punch to find out whether these politicians’ voting records fit with your progressive ideals.
Don’t kid yourself by thinking that the political season is over. It’s just begun all over again – with the campaigns for Congress in 2006 getting organized behind the scenes. We can no longer afford to wait until the week before Election Day to try to become informed. A repetition of 2004′s progressive apathy about Congressional races can only provide George W. Bush with two more years of executive power with no legislative opposition.
Making a list and checking it twice,
Mother Davis
