Do I Have To Applaud When The Majority Party Gets Majority Support?

Democrats shouldn’t be proud of making gains with the American public, they should be ashamed of losing their support in the first place.  I’m finding it difficult to applaud the leaders of my party for finally standing up and fighting for what they believe in when they were so quick to leave their ideals on the side of the road in order to make their stampede to the trough unencumbered.  Are we so desperate for guidance that we’ll pick any port in a storm?

They say an elephant never forgets but it seems a donkey can’t remember, but let us hope that the average Democratic voter can.  I remember my party leaders voting for the Bankruptcy Bill and CAFTA.  I remember them voting to confirm John Roberts as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and I remember them sitting silent while thousands of voters were scrubbed from the rolls in Florida in 2000 and 2004 because of the color of their skin.  But most importantly, I will never forget that they abdicated their responsibility and gave this un-elected, unqualified, imbecilic President the authority to wage an illegal and immoral war on Iraq sacrificing our sons and daughters, squandering our treasury and soiling our national reputation around the world.  These are sins not easily forgiven.

I have yet to hear a call from anyone in a position of authority for the people of this great country to sacrifice anything other than our moral decency for the war in Iraq.  There was a time when everyone did their part to support our global ambitions, whether motivated by self-interest or a higher calling.  I never expected the call to come from the Bush White House, but I was stunned by the deafening silence from the left side of the aisle.  If the Democrats believed that the war was justified, there should have been a clear and compelling reason presented and a request for all Americans to do their part.  If the reason was simply to gain access to cheap oil for our debilitating addiction, we should have been allowed to make that call ourselves.  I’m not convinced we would have objected, but at least we would have known the stakes and more importantly we would have known the risks as well as what our choice would cost us, both monetarily and ethically.  But alas, we were not trusted to make the right decision.

It is one thing to be shut out by the money grubbing Republican elite but it is quite another to be sold out by the populist left.  When they have the majority of the American public behind them and their agenda, it is criminal to reward them for their meager accomplishments.  We deserve better and they have much to atone for.  I believe in the Democratic platform but I hold tighter to liberal ideals and the widening gap between the two is becoming harder and harder to ignore.