A Warning to the Democratic Party

Who does the Democratic Party need to win this Fall? They need Republicans and Independents who are so disaffected with the trajectory of the nation that they are willing to vote Democratic.

You could argue that I fit that demographic. I can't hardly think of a single area in which I think the Bush administration has, in the end, done anything but harm the nation:

1. Economy worse than it has ever been since the Depression because of a frivolous war costing billions of dollars a week--which we are borrowing from China and Saudi Arabia, making them richer and richer every day!

2. Foreign policy in the tank because of a cocky administration with no understanding of other cultures and a ethnocentric arrogance that is part of the cause of our Middle East troubles in the first place!

3. Education in the tank because of sticks without money or the means to do what is demanded of it--closing schools that fail because of socio-economic reasons and then only transferring the problem to other schools that will now accelerate in failure because the underlying issues aren't being addressed.

4. In our desire to see Roe vs. Wade overturned, we have had to dig up some of the most extreme Supreme Court nominees since the 1800's, almost Nazi types. I have to wonder if the net gain--which has yet to materialize at all--off sets the potential loss in gains we've made as a culture since the days of lynching blacks.

None of the current candidates will appoint judges who will overturn R v W. Even if R v W were overturned, abortion would only become a matter of state by state voting. It would not outlaw it. Those who vote solely on this issue seem to me to be like bugs who can't see anything but the light they are flying into. Let everything else burn to the ground around them for decades on end because all they can see is this one issue... that we are hardly any closer to fixing than when we started.

The anger I have toward the current Republican trajectory is overwhelming.

But I have unequivocally decided since Ohio and Texas that I'll vote for McCain over Clinton. Why not? He has an evangelical position on abortion. Despite the fact that he has joined Bush for political reasons, he would never have got us into this war if he had been president. He'll be more fiscally responsible than Bush has. He won't cater to the Nazi wing of the Republican party any more than he has to to survive.

So here's my warning to the Democratic party. You might convince me that Obama is just the change we need at home and abroad, despite issues where I might disagree with him. But you'll never convince me that Clinton is just the change we need. She's a smug conniver who, if she gets the nomination, will do so by playing the system. My hopes that we might return to honesty and the "good of the people" will convert back to the depression of the Karl Rove years.

I'll not vote for her. So go ahead and be the stupid party... AGAIN, if you want to. Or wise up and pick someone who inspires hope in people like me--whether it's real or ephemeral.

How about it, Pennsylvania, superdelegates, Michigan, and Florida? Help your party, send Clinton a packin'. Or you'll alienate the very people you need to win the next election.