Proud and Selfish vs. Idealist and Hypocritical

WHEN IT COMES TO THE IMMIGRATION ISSUE, or even the ways in which the GOP versus the Dems operate, I have long been frustrated. As you know. I’ve been frustrated by a couple things. One, the way the Dems primary shape of political engagement seems to be reaction. Or a sort of bowed-head, hand-wringing shame that weakens the legs of any idea they trot out. Any idea they DO trot out, when predictably smacked hard by the GOP, never seems to have much conviction in itself. Or perhaps it is those who present it who do not.

Not enough proactive action, not enough strength, and certainly not enough moral conviction. Mostly my thoughts on this involve the compromises the Dems have made.

The GOP’s philosophies allow for greed and for taking bucketloads of cash from lobbyists or corporations; their philosophies of Bootstrap and Bootneck seek to justify destroying the environment, hurting the poor, punishing people of color for reacting and suffering under punishments already systemically leveled at them. So even when the GOP engages in their selfish and amoral actions, they do not appear to be hypocritical. When they do act hypocritically it is in supporting what their radical base does, after condemning the same actions when undertaken by the Left. But that hypocrisy, of course, does not demoralize their base. Or not most of it. Because it is another smack at the Left, which their base is happy to support as long as the planks of the overall GOP platform is adhered to, and all the poor and people of color are targeted, while their own taxes are guarded.

On the other hand, the Democrats OSTENSIBLY are for the People. For the poor, for the whole, for the health of the land, etc. Their philosophies do NOT allow for raking in cash from corrupt sources or in making capitulations to corporate greed and so on. So when they take the cash they inevitably do from these sources; when they capitulate to entrenched forces that harm the people, they not only look as if their entire platform is a lie, they themselves cannot defend it. So they appear mushy, unconvinced, and they do not sway anyone. The answer is, of course, to move closer toward what they profess to be. The Democrats simply need to be more radical—meaning be more of what they pretend to be. If so, they could stand in truth and summon all the power that comes from doing so. As long as they sniff over to the Right, they lose. They can never excuse doing this to the people they seek to represent. Further, rather than using their own radical faction for fuel as the GOP does, the Dems marginalize their own “radical” elements which not only demoralizes us, but pushes that oft-touted “Overton Window” to the Right and again, positions the Democratic party as primping and posing to gain a seat at a table of politicians and pundits who despise them anyway.