Democrats On The Run!

Democrats took a hit to the chin Wednesday as two Democratic Senators and two candidates for governor announced they would not be seeking reelection. The decision of Chris Dodd (Connecticut) and Byron Dorgan (North Dakota) to retire rather than run again is just another piece of bad election news for a party mired in a year of really crappy poll numbers and patriotic protests. However, these retirements seem to be more a symptom of a problem than a cause of it. The same thing occurred in the buildup to the 2008 election when many Congressional Republicans, knowing they would face tough reelection challenges only to return to a more Democrat-filled House decided it wasn’t worth and opted for retirement instead. Similarly, the announcements of Dodd and Dorgan gives credence to the fear that many Democrats already have: 2010 is going to look like a Walter Mondale election. And while a unanimous smackdown may be an exaggeration, the Democrats prospects for 2010 look increasingly bleak, with strategists predicting a loss of 20 to 30 seats in the House, and the possibly of the GOP retaking the majority in the Senate. At this point a bad election year Democrats seems beyond any doubt. The real question is why.

The strongest reason seems to be renewed Republican activism. In 2008, it seemed like people were ashamed to admit they were in the GOP; people would say, “Um, I’m a Republican,” with the same sheepish guilt as someone asking to take the last piece of pizza that everyone else wanted. But with Bush gone and Democrats in control of everything, times have changed. And although the Republican brand name still isn’t selling (hence the Tea Party shenanigans), freaking out at Democrats has become the trendy new way to be political engaged (hence the Tea–Bagger shenanigans). So expect GOP activists to come out of hibernation this fall and work vigorously to kick Democrats out of office.

While it is no surprise that Republicans are getting giddy over the prospect of adding Democratic Congressmen to the ranks of the unemployed, what seems to make less sense is the role that Democrats and Independents seem prepared to play in the thrashing that will likely occur this November. Currently, Democratic candidates are polling poorly with Independent voters (one of the main reasons why they’re polling badly overall), as is President Obama, whose numbers have taken a steady slide towards Bush-town. Meanwhile, liberals and progressives have grown angry and begun to sour on the Democratic majority they worked so hard to get elected, with some leading progressives even suggesting we should scrap the current health care bill. The dissatisfaction among liberals – the big group of activists Democrats need to win – and Independents – the big group of voters Democrats need to win – stems from the fact that during continued tough times for our country, the government doesn’t seem to be accomplishing anything.

But is a lack of achievements a fair reason to remove the Democrats from office? Normally, yes: a government that can’t make improvements to the country is one that ought to be replaced. But the current culture of Washington calls for a different approach. In my last online column, I described the problem of the filibuster as an assumption that both the majority and the minority want to take action during a time of Obstructionist politics. Now more than ever, the minority party acts as the Obstruction Party, trying to prevent the majority from accomplishing anything in the hopes that the lack of achievements can act as a selling point to retake power in the next election. And while the GOP is currently using the tactic, its something that both Democrats (guilty of exploiting “Our Lack of Ideas Our Better Than Bush’s Bad Ideas” obstruction in 2006) and Republicans (guilty of the current “Change-We-Can-Prevent” obstruction as well as vintage-Gingrich obstruction back in the early 90’s) have used, the real culprit is the Washington culture that has made Obstructionism an acceptable norm.

There are several problems with this. The first and most obvious is that an effective Obstructionist Party is not necessarily an effective agent of action. Just because Republicans can water down the Stimulus Package, block legislation to prevent climate change, and spend eight months shredding health care reform doesn’t mean they can effectively address any of these problems. In fact, if the last Republican majority is any indicator, they will likely augment our problems. The second and more fundamental problem is that because it’s easier to be the Obstructionist Party than the Majority Party. (As the saying goes, “There’s a thousand ways to kill a bill but only one way to pass it.”) This rewards Obstructionists by giving the boot to the Majority encourages the system and creates a vicious cycle. So while Democrats and Republicans alternate between being the try-and-fail-to-get-stuff-done-majority and the do-everything-to-stop-anything-from-happening-minority, the country will continue to suffer as our biggest problems (health care reform, social security sustainability, preventing climate change, the continued threat of terrorism, debt and deficit troubles, innovating in an increasingly globalized world, reducing our dependence on fossil fuels, the lack of a playoff system for college football, the continued collapse of the auto-industry, immigration reform . . . you get the idea, things are bad) go unaddressed by the government whose obligation is to improve the well-being of the people.

What is the solution? We need to take a stand against Obstructionism, and demand that this system cease to corrupt the culture of Washington. Obstructionism will only end if we show both Democrats and Republicans that the Minority Party cannot win the next election just by bringing government to a standstill. So in the next election, instead of keeping the majority in if they lived up to their promises and kicking them out if they didn’t get enough done, let’s look to both parties. Let’s compare the majority and the minority; ask who has the best ideas, who has the best plans, who best presents a vision for the future. More than anything, let’s require that our leaders attempt positive action rather than obstruction, and demand nothing less than their most full and honest effort to make America better each and every day.