Why I left the Democrat[ic] Party
Well, I finally did it: I re-registered as unaffiliated today, and will post pictures of my form later this evening. I have left the Democratic Party, because it has become the Democrat Party (or as Booman calls it the “Don’t Call Me Soft on Terrorism and Keep that Telecom Money Coming Party”). they have sold out our Fourth Amendment rights for AT&T’s corporate donations. Our Presidential candidates have been completely absent: so much for hope and change, except in the sense of “I’m out of work and HOPE you’ll throw some CHANGE in my cup.” They have failed in their job and they have broken their promises since the minute they took power in 2007. I don’t even have to link for citations, because everyone knows the recent history: blank check after blank check for Iraq, taking impeachment off the table, refusing to enforce subpoenas and more, all part of a mosaic of failures and provocations that taken in full provide a picture of liars and cheats. As I type, the words of my early role model Johnny Rotten are echoing through my head: “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?”
And y’know, I’m actually not all that worried about the Unitary Executive Theory. I think it’s doomed quite frankly, by the GOP no less, and at the expense of the next sitting Democratic President to boot. That’s because the DC Democrats are incredibly stupid and self-serving: more on that in a minute.
Considering how angry I am at the Democrats for their FISA cave-in (and everything else), I will not be lifting a finger in defense when the GOP destroys Unitary Executive and brings down the Democratic President. And here’s how it will go down:
The Democrats will win the presidency this year, and will win with the Unitary Executive theory intact (cus if you think Clintoon or whoever isn’t salivating over those powers, you’re nuts). But for the most part (until they got greedy), the GOP has been always been able to outflank and outplay the Democrats. One party plays chess, the other can barely manage checkers. One party thinks 2, 3, sometimes even four steps in advance (mostly), the other can barely figure out what they’ll be doing tomorrow. I can almost guarantee the Dems are thinking “We’re sure to win in 2008, and won’t that unitary executive power be a SCHWEEET score!!!” They are not considering that the GOP will turn around and use judo to turn that power against the Democrats. “Abuse of power!” “Too much power centered in one individual!” “Congress’s perogatives!”
The Republicans may be hypocrites and criminals, but they are not stupid when it comes to strategy. The minute a Democrat is occupying the Oval Office, the GOP will suddenly discover a deep and abiding reverence for the Fourth Amendment. It’ll be “black helicopters” all over again, with the assistance of Limbaugh and the rest of the bloviators screaming about the Democrat spying on you.
And sure as they did to Clinton from 1992-2000, the Republicans will push hard for, and obtain, investigations and hearings. The unpopularity of the spying will help the GOP take back Congress in 2010, and then the impeachment proceedings will begin. The unitary executive powers will be explicitly disowned… until the republicans win another presidential election, at which point it starts all over again.
You can see that train coming fifty miles away. And I for one will do nothing to stop it, because A) I don’t care who kills unitary executive, I just want it dead, and B) anyone, D or R, who tries to grab that kind of power deserves to be impeached and humiliated. Yes, I wish it was Bush, but his enablers and those who would seize that power for themselves deserve the same fate.
So I am done with this party or crooks, liars, and morons. It is bad enough that they are corrupt. It is worse that they haven’t kept their promises. It is unforgivable that they would sell off our Fourth Amendment rights to the highest bidder for short-term political gain that they are too stupid and short-sighted to see will be taken from them at the earliest convenience, and in such a manner that the Party will be permanently smeared with the crimes of the GOP.
Fuck ‘em.
One Response to “Why I left the Democrat[ic] Party”
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January 24th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Brendan-
I think you’re an optimist here. You’re right that Obama or Clinton are looking forward to some of that sweet expanded executive power. I don’t think that anybody will be able to roll the surveillance state back- Republican or Democrat.
We’re looking at economic conditions that will make the stagflation of the ’70s or the recession of the early 80’s look fun. Given that amount of fear and uncertainty, authoritarian governments flourish.