I Am Not Moving to Canada!
Unlike many liberal Democrats who threatened to move out of the country after the 2000, 2002 and the 2004 elections I do not plan on moving anywhere. Not Canada, not France and not Alabama!
This could be an historic moment for the Democratic Party if they choose to make it so. The Democratic Party has for some time appeared to be a party in which the unhinged left of our nation has been in ascendance; that is the major reason that I abandoned that party over two decades ago. I grew up in a solidly Democratic family in a Republican area, however with the first chance that I had to cast a ballot I voted for Ronald Reagan against that goofy President Carter. During the years before 1980 the nation witnessed a sort of systematic destruction of our defensive capabilities, both militarily and in regards to our intelligence agencies. The Church Committee of the mid-seventies literally emasculated the CIA and likely was the fountainhead of the CIA conspiracy theories of the past three decades. The laws and the mind set that emerged from the committee’s hearings were certainly one of the causes of our nation’s extensive intelligence problems even to this day. The Carter years also saw the introduction of the FISA Court that President Carter signed in to law only under the stipulation that he, as President would not be bound by its constricts if he believed that they infringed on his constitutional duties or powers. Some of this was in reaction to the political use of the FBI under the disgraceful J. Edgar Hoover.
Last summer I had the chance to discuss politics with my Congressman, Rahm Emanuel; during that conversation (see this post) we discussed the problems that the unhinged left could cause for the Democrats. He clearly understood those problems and voiced serious concerns about them. As it is now after the election I feel less constrained to discuss our largely private conversation. He was very animated while discussing the folks over at the Daily Kos, saying that they had never won anything; on that point he sounded like a conservative blogger. Because Mr. Emanuel worked so closely with the Clintons I had no problem bringing up that issue with him, after all the triangulation strategy also relies on the center and the right. I believed then, as I believe today that the nation is better off without one of our two political parties going off of the deep end. He understood my concerns and as I said, he was as animated as one could be as an office holder in a public place in an area populated by very liberal people. At the end of our conversation I wished him well in his attempt to bring the party towards the center. Clearly Mr. Emanuel’s strategy was to find candidates who appeared to be centrist; they also seemed to lean towards former servicepersons. He certainly was successful.
It remains to be seen whether or not the adults of the Democratic Party will show up next January; let’s face it, many Democrats have been downplaying the threats that we have faced for years. On the few occasions before 9/11 that I would discuss Islamic fundamentalism and related terror issues with my liberal friends they would often roundly and loudly abuse me as being some sort of racist, anti-Islamic, bigoted idiot (now there’s a mouthful). Some of those people never left that position, even on September 12 and some of them have returned close to that old position. I doubt that my experiences are isolated. I will not hold my breath waiting for my friends who are in denial to wake up; I don’t want to look like these guys.
Because of what I believe is the need for the Democratic Party to join the mainstream in more ways than running conservative Democratic candidates I would hope that they would elect Rahm Emanuel as Speaker of the House. He has shown that he can get a difficult job done. It does remain to be seen how well Mr. Emanuel, or anybody else could rein in the worst tendencies of the left wing not to mention how well he would get along with the Republicans but he seems better suited to those tasks than Ms. Pelosi.
This could be an historic moment for the Democratic Party if they choose to make it so. The Democratic Party has for some time appeared to be a party in which the unhinged left of our nation has been in ascendance; that is the major reason that I abandoned that party over two decades ago. I grew up in a solidly Democratic family in a Republican area, however with the first chance that I had to cast a ballot I voted for Ronald Reagan against that goofy President Carter. During the years before 1980 the nation witnessed a sort of systematic destruction of our defensive capabilities, both militarily and in regards to our intelligence agencies. The Church Committee of the mid-seventies literally emasculated the CIA and likely was the fountainhead of the CIA conspiracy theories of the past three decades. The laws and the mind set that emerged from the committee’s hearings were certainly one of the causes of our nation’s extensive intelligence problems even to this day. The Carter years also saw the introduction of the FISA Court that President Carter signed in to law only under the stipulation that he, as President would not be bound by its constricts if he believed that they infringed on his constitutional duties or powers. Some of this was in reaction to the political use of the FBI under the disgraceful J. Edgar Hoover.
Last summer I had the chance to discuss politics with my Congressman, Rahm Emanuel; during that conversation (see this post) we discussed the problems that the unhinged left could cause for the Democrats. He clearly understood those problems and voiced serious concerns about them. As it is now after the election I feel less constrained to discuss our largely private conversation. He was very animated while discussing the folks over at the Daily Kos, saying that they had never won anything; on that point he sounded like a conservative blogger. Because Mr. Emanuel worked so closely with the Clintons I had no problem bringing up that issue with him, after all the triangulation strategy also relies on the center and the right. I believed then, as I believe today that the nation is better off without one of our two political parties going off of the deep end. He understood my concerns and as I said, he was as animated as one could be as an office holder in a public place in an area populated by very liberal people. At the end of our conversation I wished him well in his attempt to bring the party towards the center. Clearly Mr. Emanuel’s strategy was to find candidates who appeared to be centrist; they also seemed to lean towards former servicepersons. He certainly was successful.
It remains to be seen whether or not the adults of the Democratic Party will show up next January; let’s face it, many Democrats have been downplaying the threats that we have faced for years. On the few occasions before 9/11 that I would discuss Islamic fundamentalism and related terror issues with my liberal friends they would often roundly and loudly abuse me as being some sort of racist, anti-Islamic, bigoted idiot (now there’s a mouthful). Some of those people never left that position, even on September 12 and some of them have returned close to that old position. I doubt that my experiences are isolated. I will not hold my breath waiting for my friends who are in denial to wake up; I don’t want to look like these guys.
Because of what I believe is the need for the Democratic Party to join the mainstream in more ways than running conservative Democratic candidates I would hope that they would elect Rahm Emanuel as Speaker of the House. He has shown that he can get a difficult job done. It does remain to be seen how well Mr. Emanuel, or anybody else could rein in the worst tendencies of the left wing not to mention how well he would get along with the Republicans but he seems better suited to those tasks than Ms. Pelosi.
posted by El Rider at 8:03 PM
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