Less is more
Now should be the winter of the Democrats' disconnect with the American voter. Or it would be, if the Democrats were not so politically inept. Even with the Republicans in trouble, there is not a single Democrat with the stature or talent to articulate a platform for the Democratic party in 2008, let alone the 2006 midterm Congressional elections.
Take for instance the two most recent Democratic presidential candidates. Both Kerry and Gore were skewered by the media and their opponents for their inability to speak plainly and address the important issues in their elections. The only seeming bright spot in the Democrats' electoral future appears to be Illinois Senator Barrack Obama, who delivered the keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic presidential convention. But he is a neophyte on the national political stage and at least eight years away from a presidential campaign.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. But what if the Democrats embraced their inability to articulate cogent policies to their collective liberal bosom? After all, the biggest problem with the Republicans over the last five years has not been a lack of policy initiatives, but rather the fact that the majority of them have been spectacularly bad for the country.
Just take a look at their record. Putting aside the Iraq War and the floundering "War on Terror," the Republicans have a record that makes the Bad News Bears look like World Series champs. In a stunning feat of incompetence, Dick Cheney's secret cabal to formulate sound energy policy completely failed to anticipate the spike in oil prices (or if one were a cynic, one might say they laid the groundwork for it, although we cannot know either way as the White House has steadfastly refused to release the group's findings). The Bush tax cuts have resulted in unprecedented budget deficits but modest economic growth, the plan to privatise retirement programs provides no social security whatsoever and the President's evangelical Christian-based policy to limit stem cell research has forced leading U.S. researchers to ship their work overseas. Immigration policy, environmental policy, national security, airport security, international relations, civil rights, education -- the national landscape is strewn with the detritus of failed Republican policies.
What this country needs now isn't new ideas and better policies, but a complete absence of them. Which is where the Democrats come in. By not having had any policy initiatives or, apparently, thoughts, since Bill Clinton left office, the Democrats have brilliantly positioned themselves to capitalise on the Republican Party's over-thinking of government policy.
The fact is that once in power, any politician will muck things up and abuse his or her power if given half a chance (it's in their nature). After six years of ruinous Republican rule, however, voters may view the party without any vision or solutions whatsoever to offer the country as the wisest choice.
Unfortunately, many Democrats don't recognise the huge advantage they have built up over the Republicans. Instead, Hillary Clinton and Howard Dean are racking their brains and pushing their staff to come up with new ideas. Big mistake. They need to stop messing around and follow the lead of Democrats like Teddy Kennedy, Joseph Biden, Pat Leahy, and Nancy Pelosi, who are sticking to what they do best, which is nothing at all. Only by offering the American people nothing at all can the Democrats actually give them a real choice in 2006.
Democrats need to stop being ashamed of their perceived failings and exploit their advantage while they can (and before then Republicans get wise to them). It could very well be that in the 2006 elections, the winning platform will go something along the lines of: "The Democratic Party -- sometimes not having a single policy is better than a whole bunch of bad ones."