I agree with The Divided Times that the Democratic party is, if not dead, in an in-between state similar to that of Yasser Arafat:
The Democratic Party, born 1792 to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, died Wednesday after a long illness. The Party is survived by thousands of stalwarts who refuse to admit that their party is dead.
However, I don't agree with their diagnosis: 1.) cowardly abandonment of "the base" (apparently minorities plus "Metro Americans") to cater to "the Heartland," which isn't going to vote for them anyway; and 2.) Republican voter intimidation and outright vote theft (by tampering with electronic voting machines, some of whose manufacturers are major Bush supporters).
I don't agree with the hope implied in their prognosis:
[We speculate] that the victim might not be dead at all, but rather in a zombie stupor, mimicking death, presenting a slight chance of recovery under certain conditions.
I do think the party will stagger on for a while, unaware that it is no longer alive. It may take the nomination of Hillary Clinton to finally kill it off. Above all, I don't agree with Divided Times' prescription: more of the same -- more dreary leftism, more hip urbanity, just more unapologetically.
As Thomas Frank points out in What's the Matter with Kansas?, Republicans have won the heartland by dividing people's cultural values from their economic interests. The great majority of Americans are moral moderates -- combining compassionate tolerance for difference with stern intolerance for bad behavior -- and economically struggling. That's where an opportunity lies.
I would be most interested in hearing from, or hearing about, people who think it's time for a new major party to to be born.
- amba
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