Do the Democrats actually have any popular positions? You have to wonder, given how unwilling the ten presidential candidates have been to propose any new ideas, and their ferocity in attacking Bush?s policies without proposing any alternatives. Now that Bush is weakened in the polls, it seems as though the major Dems believe, not that the American people are ready for new ideas, but that they can defeat Bush merely by pointing to his mistakes.
Much has been written about the Democratic malaise in the past few years. Commentators cite the fact that unlike Republicans, who can feed red meat to their more extremist elements (the Christian right, corporate bigshots and Tom DeLay-style nutjobs) while presenting a moderate face to mainstream America. Meanwhile, the Democrats have to bend over backwards to avoid even the slightest appearance of ?pandering? to interest groups like unions, environmentalists, queers, minorities, etc. The result is a world where Republican extremists like DeLay are taken seriously when they spout off, while all but the most jejune progressives are dismissed out of hand.
What to do? I?ve thought for a couple of years that the Democrats need their own version of the ?Contract With America,? which Newt Gingrich used to take over Congress in 1994. A list of positive steps the Democrats would take if they were in charge. If the Democrats can?t come up with a list of a dozen intiatives that would please their hardcore supporters and appeal to mainstream Americans, then maybe the party really is dead and it?s time for everyone to go Green.
People can quibble about what a Democratic ?Contract? would contain. But does a pretty good job of laying out some basics. Fiscal responsibility, real environmental protections, reduced dependence on foreign oil, etc. Some of the proposals are a bit vague and there?s not enough stuff about women?s rights, queer rights, workers, etc. But it?s a start.
If enough hardcore Democrats came up with a list of initiatives and demanded that all national Democratic candidates sign on ? much the same way that all Republican presidential candidates in 2000 had to sign a pledge not to raise taxes ? then the party might actually begin to generate some enthusiasm. Of course, you?d risk blunting the policy differences between the candidates. But it?s not as if those differences are particularly noticeable now, is it?
