ReddHedd at Firedoglake blogs eloquently about the death of the twelve miners. She’s from a mining family, and a lawyer now. Her parents sacrified so she could get an education, but she hasn’t forgotten where she came from or those still there. This is blogging at its best.
No, what I’m talking about goes deeper into who we are, into issues of where we ought to be. And these are issues that Democrats used to be for, in the not so distant past, but they have all but disappeared from the discussion in the last few years. I’m going to talk about this more as time goes on toward the elections in the Fall, but this morning it is eating at me as I listen to local news updates from the mine and find out that the miners left notes for those they left behind — those notes cry out to me to get off my butt and do something
The bottom line is this: there are some really tough choices facing this nation, and we need to approach them carefully because the results of our action or inaction have long-term ramifications for our children. Democrats used to own these issues because they listened to the voices of those people who needed help, who needed a hand up, and who were willing to do the work on their end to get the job done. And they spoke up for them, gave them a voice in the halls of power.
Well, I’ve had it with this divide and conquer strategy, and I’m standing up today to say that this nation deserves better. My child deserves better, and so does yours.
Democrats did used to own those issues. Supporting unions, the poor and minorities. Striving for equal justice. Preserving the social net. But the Democratic leadership, starting under Clinton, have deliberately abandoned those issues in their brain-dead attempt to ‘grab the center’ from the Republicans. All it’s gotten them is less seats in Congress as they cozy up to the Republican agenda.
C’mon Democrats, you can do it. Be a real opposition party. Go back to your roots. Then you will own the halls of Congress again. But this will only happen if you really mean it.
As ReddHedd says, the working class needs a voice in D.C. And it sure doesn’t have one now.
