The champagne is being scrubbed from Democratic headquarters, someone finally convinced Chuck Schumer that he's not Montezuma and Arianna Huffington is busy collecting her panties from various chandeliers around Washington D.C. The Democrats actually did it; they took control of everything in a time when they had everything to lose. And yet what has the core of its constituents really won? When will the liberal policies that a blue covered congress should guarantee come to fruition?
The depressing thing about this election is that the Democrats took it all by sacrificing the very thing that makes them what they are. They took the majority by mimicking the enemy, by running candidates that were against abortion and pro crew cuts. If there is one thing that this election should confirm it's that the Republic is moving more conservative than liberal, and the proof is in the bland message of Democratic candidates. Who won more because of fumbles from Republicans than provocative messages from its heart.
Somehow the public has been convinced that far left liberal ideas include protecting the environment (an issue that everyone just tries to forget) and equal rights without consideration for sexual orientation (6 of the 7 constitutional gay marriage bans were passed, except for that wildcat liberal Arizona). These ideas would seem moderate, and yet somehow they've been typecast with Nancy Pelosi, as if she has somehow become the archduke of everything in the leftorium.
Want some real far left ideas? How about we start talking about not throwing non-violent drug offenders in jail? Let's stop pandering to people who try to protect microscopic cells at the potential detriment to people with life shattering illnesses. We call ourselves number one and we are, as we imprison more people per capita than any country on Earth. And not one Democrat even mentioned the fact that Habeas Corpus is slowly dissolving all around us.
The true left has no voice. We are forced to support candidates that come close to saying what we want them to say. This election made the alligator ilk of James Carville proud (he gave it two Dagnabits up), but it may not have pleased the likes of the late Paul Wellstone. The kind of people who fought for their ideas even at the expense of their popularity with "moderates", and fence sitters in the Midwest and the South.
This was a time when Democrats could have renovated themselves completely, and created a brand of political conscious that may have taken a beating at first, but would have eventually proved itself a cornerstone for the party. Republicans did it with the leadership of Newt Gingrich and his mad hatter policies in the early nineties, and they have been rewarded with years of complete ideological domination. And in a time when it looked as if the country was ready for the New Direction, this was when the Democrats could have given them one. Instead, they ran people who sound an awful lot like conservatives and seem content with the fact that Joseph "Mr. Magoo" Lieberman gives them the slight edge in the Senate.
Republicans are proud of the fire breathing radical ideologies in their house (paging Mean Jean Schmidt and, uh, the President). Democrats try to keep theirs quiet, like some old cranky grandfather who built the bus but is no longer allowed to drive the damn thing. This behavior has worked to win this 2006 election, but an opportunity was missed to drive home progressive values that this country sorely needs. And when a cover band manages to convince the bar that their just as good as the real thing, it is only a matter of time before the original lineup gets out of rehab and blows them right off the stage.
