While I may disagree with the GOP on most policy issues, I have to give them a great deal of credit for one thing: their political strength and solidarity. The Dems, on the other hand, splinter and bicker about the correct route forward, and often lose the political battle through their divisiveness. Then, whether or not it is a fair criticism, the Democrats are blasted in the media for being ineffective, divided, and for not leading the country forward. Paul Ryan, in his speech at the RNC, repeated the ability of conservatives to lead, and I have to agree with him. When the Republican party comes up with a new talking point or policy position, it is astonishing how quickly they can rally the whole of their base behind it. Two examples I'd like to use to illustrate this point are Grover Norquist's anti-tax pledge and the sudden panic about deficit reduction. Republicans have historically opposed raising taxes; indeed, Reagan and George HW Bush ran on pledges of lowering taxes. Remember Bush's campaign slogan: "Read my lips. No new taxes,"? The difference between Republicans 20 years ago and today is that, when confronted with the reality of balancing a budge and running a country, they used to raise taxes. Reagan raised taxes over 10 times after initially lowering them, because he realized that the growth that may be stimulated through tax cuts does not compensate for the lost revenue. The elder Bush also reversed his campaign pledge and raised taxes when confronted with the realities of government. Today however, an unelected radical, Grover Norquist, has the Republican party held hostage to some pledge that most people think is naive at best, sinister at worst. What Norquist has on his side are big monied interests that will put huge resources into elections to insure that Republicans who reneg on the pledge will not be reelected. But the public message is that "We can't raise taxes on job creators. Ever. Under no circumstance." The point is that the party was able to rally behind a single message, and Democrats cannot compete with that sort of solidarity. Similarly with the debt panic, which is really a rather new thing. Since the Tea Party revolution 2 years ago, it has suddenly become impossibly urgent to reduce the debt, and do so now. This is a remarkable departure from past Republican positions, who freely racked up deficits because, as Dick Cheney once said "The deficit doesn't matter." Apparently it only becomes an issue under a Democratic president. Regardless, the Republican party has demonstrated a remarkable agility in rallying behind a new talking point.
In contrast, Democrats can't agree on anything, and the latest, most embarrassing example occurred during the DNC last week. After being blasted by conservative commentators for not proclaiming Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and for not praising God in their convention platform, Democrats scripted a change to the party platform. The convention president, Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, proposed an amendment to the DNC platform that would include mentions of God in the faith section, and include a nod to Israel in the foreign policy. The method of amendment was by a vocal vote, in which a two-thirds majority would be needed for ratification. He asked once, and the yeas and nays were nearly equal. That should have been the end of it. There was no super majority to ratify the amendment, and thus it should have been dropped. Instead, he asked again if there should be an amendment to the party platform. For a second time, the yeas and nays almost perfectly counterbalanced each other. But again, the DNC leaders refused to yield. Instead, he asked a third time, received exactly the same response and then claimed "in the opinion of the chair" that there was the requisite super majority needed to ratify the amendment. What a bunch of BS. If anything, the nays grew in intensity as the question was repeated. Perhaps most disturbing about it all was that the ratification was pre-scripted on the teleprompter, so Villaraigosa knew exactly what to say after the vote was taken. It was the most awkward and slimy moment of the DNC convention, bar none.
Here's the thinking of the DNC heads: "Oh crap, the Republicans have the religious vote locked down, and we can't appear weak on Israel, so we better do something quick." They tried it, and the Democratic base voted it down. To try to save face, they stole a page from Romney-Ryan's book and just flat out lied. It's downright embarrassing, and anyone who believes that our political parties are not run by special interests should take notice. It doesn't matter what the average person really wants, because both parties only pay attention to special interests and talking heads on television and try to run damage control. The stupidest thing about it all is that it won't sway a single voter over to the Democrat side in November. Look, the Christian Right is a united front, and simply amending your party platform to include a mention of God isn't going to change any of that. Whether or not your party's platform more closely corresponds to Christian teachings is irrelevant, apparently. The sides are dug in, and all that the Dems have done is piss off a whole bunch of their constituents. Furthermore, I really liked the language that the DNC had on faith without any explicit mention of God because there should not be a specific endorsement of any religion in a political party platform. Instead, they wrote: "We believe in constitutionally sound, evidence-based partnerships with faith-based and other non-profit organizations to serve those in need and advance our shared interests. There is no conflict between supporting faith-based institutions and respecting our Constitution, and a full commitment to both principles is essential for the continued flourishing of both faith and country."
That paragraph doesn't take anything away from Christianity, but it also doesn't privilege it above other faiths. What is does do is respect the rights of Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists, and any other person of faith as equally protected and valid. What the DNC did was slimy and embarrassing, and goes against their own principles of inclusion and "one person, one vote." If they had a backbone, they would have accepted the amendment as dead, and defended that action in the media. They could argue that they don't endorse one faith above any other, and that all faithful individuals have a place within their party. They could argue that, as a democratic institution, they believe that the voice of the people is the guiding force of their party. What we have instead is just a farce. You didn't win any votes with this decision, and you probably lost a lot more than you'll gain. Great job, morons.
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