Get-along-ism

"The power of negative thinking is especially important to opposition parties that have little ability to set government's agenda. Which brings us to today's Democratic Party.
In the wake of President Bush's narrow reelection victory, there's much musing suggesting that Democrats are obligated to try to work constructively with the White House. The advocates of what we'll call Getalongism insist that Democrats will pay a price for "obstruction" -- which of course is just another word for standing up against ideas they oppose.

...

And now the Republicans are moving to weaken Social Security -- one of the great achievements of progressive government -- in the name of strengthening it. They are willing to borrow massive sums to start private accounts that Republican strategists such as Grover Norquist freely concede are designed to create a new generation of stockholders -- and Republicans. Kristol's now irrefutable logic suggests that Democrats would be fools to be complicit with putting the country further into hock to undercut a program that works for the purpose of creating more Republicans. "

This is a great article in the Washingpost. I love it. I have said it before, and I'll say it again, one of the things that hurt Kerry/Edwards the most was the support they gave to Bush on some of his policies. They painted themselves into a corner. They were stuck with saying, "we agreed with him then, but think he's wrong now, so vote for us!" or "he was right, but we can do it bettter!" Either is a weak arguement.

If you and your party disagree with the platform of the party in charge, at least stand up and say its wrong and vote that way. Your position may not be popular, but at least you'll have the courage of your convictions.

No more mamby-pamby, middle of the road-ism. We're liberals, democrats and progressives and our ideas are based on good values. So, let's stand by them!

On Vacation

I probably won't have time to post anything for the rest of the week. I am on vacation, (in Ohio, no less). No, I'm not here demanding a recount. Looks like that is going to happen with or without my support. I'm just visiting some friends. Will post more when I return next week. Maybe Ohio will have finished a recount by then.

My views on the recount here? I know the official democratic line is, "we just want to make sure all of the votes are counted properly, we don't expect the election results to be changed." Bull----! I think the entire progressive community is hoping that an accurate and fair count of all votes will change the result of this election. Although I think they'd settle for a question of legitimacy of a second Bush term.

But I think this won't happen. I think the problem is much larger than just counting the votes properly. I, too, would love to see Kerry as president. But I think the problems with the Ohio vote are systemic and much too large to be settled with a recount. I think we democrats really need to do is use the debacle from 4 years ago and the debacle in Ohio to push for true election reform and settle for nothing less. And if we are unable to attain a system that is fair, we need to make sure the blame is placed solely on the republicans. No more of this namby-pamby middle of the road, let's cut a half-assed deal that makes it look like we tried bargaining with our votes.

I've been thinking a lot about the Arrianna Huffington article I posted a few days ago, and here's what I think we need to do.

1. Secretaries of States and other public officials cannot be in charge of a candidates campaign. It is a conflict of interest that needs to stop.
2. Electronic voting machines in every precinct with a paper trail in every precinct, period.
3. Some form of uniformity in the ballot everywhere, especially for federal elections.
4. Enough of this voter registration process. We all have driver's lisences and/or state issued id's or passports. Or at least the ability to obtain one. Each precinct is responsible for getting an accurate list of driver's lisences/state issued id's/passports prior to the election. Each citizen is responsible for making sure they have proper, accurate i.d. Show your lisence (i.d.) at your precinct on election day and receive a ballot and vote.
5. Voting day is a national holiday or on a weekend.
6. No more gerry-mandering. Once every 10 years, after the census, the congressional lines are redrawn. Any attempt at redrawing them to deliberately benefit one party over another is wrong.
7. The number of voting locations and voting machines needed for each area is based on population to make voting easy for everyone, not just rich, white people.
8. A third party has no right to question anyone's right to vote. Only the election officials present can make that determination and it must be based on something specific like the person not being a citizen or not having i.d. Anyone who attempts to restrict someone's right to vote can face jail time.

And this last one is just a personal pet peeve of mine:

9. Presidential candidates should be required to go to every state (including Alaska and Hawaii), not just "swing states" they hope will "swing" their way on election day.