Our New Anahuac

I have to admit that I have a growing respect for what conservative activists have been able to accomplish. At times, I have even envied the disproportionate influence they have wielded. With more regularity, I have felt a great disrespect for the Democratic Party. I decided to take a look at why. Don’t get me wrong: I believe that the tea bag movement and hardcore Republican conservatives are essentially organizing a neo-fascist movement, right down to the false propaganda that they sell on Fox News.

Democrats as Don’tacrats

For over a decade, I have not identified myself as a Democrat. Every once in awhile, I would vote for one here and there, when I really believed in a candidate, or maybe when there was no Green or Socialist candidate. (Of course I would wish I would show up and there would magically be a Raza Unida Party candidate on the ballot).  But lately, instead of just feeling a distance from them ideologically, I have flat out felt contempt and disrespect for the entire Democratic organization. When I see or hear of the party, I think of weak pushovers in the best case. In the worst case I think of closeted Republican conspirators.

What else should I think of a party who holds maybe the greatest mandate I have ever seen in my adult life and whose only notable contribution has been the bail out of rich bankers with little to no oversight? (I know, I know, it started with Bush, right?).

Even so, the Dems hailed it as their baby and expanded it, and did nothing, except some symbolic hand slapping, to restructure the financial system for future improvement, never mind punishing the people behind all the mess. Instead of seeing the opening to pimp slap these fools, Obama has systematically coddled these criminals.

On healthcare reform, the Democrats are doomed to abject failure. Even if they pass a bill, it will be far from what many of the trumpeted as “real reform.”

The most benign explanation for this? The Blue Dog Democrats. Conservative Democrats. Whatever you wanna call ‘em. This is a form over substance argument for me. If they’re not “real Democrats,” dump them. It’s called party discipline.

Sure, you can try to justify it via pragmatism, but how pragmatic is it to win an election and not deliver? It stains your brand, Democrats, and makes you look like weak nuts. Marketers know the power of branding. Think how pragmatic it would have been for Obama to deliver a healthcare plan called Medicare For All. If it didn’t pass because of non-cooperation by Republicans, you could have railed against them to further victory. YOU CAN’T DO THAT ANYMORE. The failure is YOUR failure. Congratulations. There’s your pragmatism. Now you just look like the Italian kid in prison in American Me. Maybe the tent that you’ve pitched is TOO big, and not in a good way.

So blaming it on the Blue Dogs, doesn’t remove my feeling of disrespect toward the organization. It may even exacerbate it, because it indicates a discipline, leadership and management problem.

In the most malevolent scenario, which seems to be more likely to me, many Democratic leaders are just as beholden to the health insurance companies as any Republican.

And as far as Comprehensive Immigration Reform? Obama gives it less than forty words in an hour-and-a-half long speech. Just for that, I’ll stop doling out my uncompensated advice and look at your opposition.

Republicans: An Economy of Movement

As a super minority, they have derailed everything that their opponents have planned for, and they are poised to make the Republican Revolution look like a non-violent sit in. They have a vastly disproportionate influence on policy. That’s enviable by any minority. Let’s glance at how they have done it.

Folksiness Indicates and Engaged Base

Sarah Palin. La vieja mocked the other day, “‘How’s that hopey, changey stuff working out,” mocking the entire foundation of the Obama presidency, but these tea baggers have a definite base of engaged folk.

The corporate pundits focus on so many aspects of the “populism” that they forget to mention the main thing, the populace. It’s not that Palin and others like her have been able to capture the imagination of everyday folk. It’s not even that she comes from where they come. It’s that the everyday person on their side is engaged in politics, and that they are in it to win it aggressively.   They talk up their points at dinner parties, in the restroom and even at work, where politics are often taboo.  They are fired up. 

When Palin and her ilk show up, so do the people. Sure they might have to tie down their home and give a notice of leave to the carnival at which they work, but the point is they show up, and they’re fighting mad. I’m not convinced that the numbers are there, as they haven’t assembled a fraction of the people we did to defeat HR4437 a few years back. I am, however, convinced that the people who do show up are fighting mad, and organized anger has always been a powerful force in politics, much more than high ground, moral propositions.  This is a lesson our gente have yet to re-learn. 

Bold Rhetoric Accepted By The Mainstream

Can you imagine a rally in which some High-spanic politician was surrounded by nationalists, like myself, who started chanting “self determination for all-revolution now.” We would likely be shuffled out before the speech was over. Texas Governor Rick Perry found himself in a similar situation with people on the opposite side of the political spectrum. Instead of distancing himself and even having them ejected from the rally, he gave the idea some play, as the participants started chanting “Secede.”

“We’ve got a great union. There’s absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that. But Texas is a very unique place, and we’re a pretty independent lot to boot.”

You can hear his comment right here.

I know that many of my comments and ideas are stronger than most liberal politicians would like to touch. I am fully cognizant of that. However if you look at the success of the other side, they have mastered the art of giving enough play to the extremists, that what once would have been considered reactionary ideas are now considered moderate. I posted something like this on facebook a few months back, and apparently Texas Monthly seems to agree. In their February 2010 issue they say in response to mainstream politicians cultivating ties with the radical right: “It is hard to say what is mainstream and what is exreme.”

Extremism, like anger, is power. In part this is how a super minority of Republicans have been able to stall healthcare reform. The Dems come in and play touchy feely with town halls, and the Repubs send people with automatic weapons talking smack. By using the extreme elements, politicians essentially say, “deal with us, or you’ll have to deal with those rifle-toting tea baggers.” The tea baggers get some legitimacy, even though they’re being used, and the whole thing becomes a symbiotic relationship. I respect those on the right for the clever strategy and for not being afraid to invest some leadership in at least semantically flirting with radical ideas. I mean this is the GOVERNOR of the most important state of the union openly fraternizing with secessionist. Meanwhile, we have High-spanic politicians promising to oppose 287(g) only to be elected and to turn their backs on us and not give us the time of day. I can’t respect this spinelessness one frijol.

Generally, what is impressive is that these tactics are not coincidental. They are deliberate:

The memo, authored by Robert MacGuffie, who runs the website rightprinciples.com, suggests that tea partiers should “pack the hall… spread out” to make their numbers seem more significant, and to “rock-the-boat early in the Rep’s presentation…to yell out and challenge the Rep’s statements early…. to rattle him, get him off his prepared script and agenda…stand up and shout and sit right back down.”

Policy stubbornness

THEY JUST WON’T BUDGE. They would rather deliver nothing to their constituents than a bill that doesn’t coincide with their principles, or at least they have done a damn good job of making it seem so. I honestly believe that Obama would sign any healthcare bill that was to reach his desk. For someone who has tried to live his life by principles, like hundreds of thousand of others out there, I just can’t respect someone who will move forward with something just to paint themselves a victory. This win-at-the-cost-of-principle approach is a big turn off for most people.  I have a greater respect for someone who will deliver nothing, or fight to the bitter end, and face the consequences than someone who will deliver something that is half or quarter ass reform, pat themselves on the back and remain complacent. I had a little glimmer of respect for Dems when they passed their version of the bill in the House by only two votes. It indicated to me that they got absolutely as much as they could get and still pass the bill, but that seems like almost half a year ago, and we have seen nothing much since.  The Miami Herald has taken note:

“Republicans have ratcheted use of the filibuster up to completely unheard of levels. Look at the things that the House (of Representatives) has passed that can’t make it through the Senate. The list just keeps growing,” said Norman Ornstein, an expert on Congress at the American Enterprise Institute, a center-right policy organization.

The list includes legislation to overhaul health care, which has stalled and isn’t a good bet to be revived; global warming legislation; and a bill to overhaul financial regulation. Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada scaled back a bipartisan jobs bill, fearing that a larger package would get tied up in a filibuster. He also filed a “cloture petition,” meaning he plans a vote to cut off a filibuster if one starts.

They have even codified this as an out and out strategy, according to theplumline:

I asked House GOP leader John Boehner’s office if he agreed with Patrick McHenry’s claim yesterday that the GOP strategy is to “bring down approval numbers” of Nancy Pelosi and House Dems.

McHenry, as you know, said: “We will lose on legislation. But we will win the message war every day, and every week, until November 2010. Our goal is to bring down approval numbers for Pelosi and for House Democrats. That will take repetition. This is a marathon, not a sprint.”

Here’s the response, from Boehner spokesperson Michael Steel:

“I think that’s largely correct, but incomplete. Obviously, as Leader Boehner has said repeatedly, we stand ready to work with the Speaker and the President when it is in the best interest of the American people. When we cannot work together, Republicans will offer better solutions — rooted in our principles — to the problems facing our country. If House Democrats push for the same tired liberal agenda of higher taxes to pay for more ineffective government spending, I imagine that their standing in the polls will suffer, but our first priority is doing the right thing for the American people, and we hope it is theirs as well.”

There are a few, few spots of gutsy leadership in the Democratic Party, and credit must be given where due. I don’t think the bill is perfect, but here I am talking leadership, strategy and guts, not policy.  According to La Prensa:

Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D.-Ill.), who last year introduced an immigration reform bill in the House, is even calling for Latinos to punish Democrats and Republicans alike at the polls this year, saying that if the issue sees no action before April’s Congressional recess, it won’t be addressed at all in 2010. Gutierrez told the Mexican news service Notimex, the reform movement should set a March 21 deadline for the Democratic administration to get the issue started…Also interviewed by the Los Angeles Times, the congressman said “people are angry and disillusioned” at Obama, after he dedicated a “throwaway line” to immigration during his State of the Union speech. He said this was the last straw for many activists who are disappointed by the president’s enforcement-mostly approach. Gutierrez appears ready to break a pattern of “progressive patience” that has developed since Obama took office a year ago.

For as much as I despise the right, I think that it is always a healthy thing to take a look at what the opposition is doing correctly.  We all must take the time to know our enemy.