The Painful Truth– Or Why The Neocons Keep Winning

I don’t know if you have noticed but since 1994 the Republican Party has been winning and, since the presidential election of 2000 the Neocons have been winning.  I know this is a shock but it is the truth.  It is the plain and simple truth.  That’s right, we can complain and we can call them incompetent and we can call them failures and we can curse them for the evil they are doing in the world but the reality is that they are winning elections and staying in power and becoming more powerful each day.  Why?

Well the answer is as simple as the plain truth I’ve stated above.  They are winning for two reasons.  The first reason is that they are united with a single message.  The second reason is that the Democratic Party is not united and does not have a single message.  It’s really just that simple.  Sure there are other more complex facets to these two reasons but those are the basic core reasons.

Let’s do a quick study of their unity and single message.  Since the presidential election we, the citizens of this nation, have watched as this administration, Senate, and Congress have:

• provided tax cuts to the very wealthy at the expense of the Middle Class and poor,


• taken the nation from a near $300 billion budget surplus to a near $400 billion budget deficit,


• driven the national debt to over $8 trillion dollars,


• created a national disgrace with the haphazard implementation of the Medicare Prescription Drug Program while placing an unreasonable burden on the elderly,


• attempted to destroy Social Security and when they failed a frontal assault have now tried to clandestinely stick it in the budget and implement it through the back door,


• lied to and deceived the nation as they took us into a misguided and illegal war,


• began a spying program that is blatantly illegal and an obvious violation of the 4th amendment to the constitution,


• through procedural and political maneuvering, neglect, and dereliction of duty avoided taking action and investigating illegal wiretaps,


• outed a CIA covert operative in violation of national security policy and law,


• committed acts of perjury,


• participated in money laundering,


• taken bribes and other gifts from lobbyist in return for legislative favors,


• neglected homeland security and emergency management and allowed an American city to be virtually obliterated,


• failed to provide adequate aid to the victims of one of the worst natural disasters in American history,


• appointed arch conservatives to the Supreme Court who will legislate from the bench,


• destroyed virtually any chance of peace or developing constructive relationships with the Muslim world through misguided and blatantly ignorant foreign policy,

and last but not least shot their friends with bird shot.  And throughout this string of obvious disasters they have consistently supported one another.

Throughout this catastrophe called Republican leadership they have beat the drum:

• that tax cuts for the wealthy stimulate the economy,


• we have budget deficits because we’re fighting a war on terror,


• private drug programs provide the cheapest drugs for America,


• Social Security is broke and private investments are the answer,


• Saddam was responsible for 9/11 and Saddam did have weapons of mass destruction,


• FISA is broken and doesn’t allow us to do what we need to do to defend the nation,


• the president has the authority to wiretap because Congress gave it to him,


• Valerie Plame wasn’t a covert agent,


• anyone who outed an agent will be fired,


• my superiors authorized me to divulge classified information,


• sending money to the national party and then them sending us money isn’t money laundering,


• I never met Jack Abramof,


• I don’t know Jack Abramof,


• you’re doing a heck of a job Brownie,


• we are reorganizing FEMA,


• the State failed to respond,


• the city failed to respond,


• Judge Alito meets the gold standard,


• Judge Alito is a mainstream jurist,


• there is a democracy deficit in the middle east,


• the Palestinians will elect their own government,


• Hamas is a terrorist organization,

and all though they are mostly lies, to a neocon, they all stay on message.  And they not only stay on message but neither the Senate nor the Congress ever holds this administration accountable.  There is no system of checks and balances with a Republican held executive branch, legislative branch, and judiciary and that is what we have.  The president does what he wants and the Republican Party toes the line and voices the Party line while the Senate and Congress simply take no action or passes the law the president wants.  If he’s breaking the FISA laws then they change the law.  This is the unity and single message the Republicans and Neocons use to continue to win.

Now let’s look at reason two.  What is the Democratic Party doing to counter the single mindedness of the Republican Party?  What has been the united Democratic response to any one of the issues I’ve listed above?  Think about the two lists I have provided above and bear in mind that these are not comprehensive lists.  Pick a single issue on the list and see if you can clearly articulate the Democratic response or position on that issue. I’m betting you can’t.  And the reason is that the Democratic Party is not united and does not have a single message for the party to stay on point with.  That is the very sad and real truth.  And what makes this very bad is that we are reaching a point of no return.  I do not believe that I am being an alarmist but rather a realist.  This nation and this world are facing some very real, very large and very, very dangerous issues and we are not coming up with the correct answers.

This nation, by virtue of who we are, where we are, when we are, holds great responsibility and we are not living up to of fulfilling that responsibility.  So what can we do?  We must find a way to counter what the Republican Party and the Neocons are doing and I do not believe that an independent or new party is the answer.  The Democratic Party is the answer to this dilemma.  The structure and heart is there but the vision and discipline is not so there must be some fundamental changes made within the Party.  The Chairman of the DNC provide vision and must take the leadership in a new direction and we must help him.  As I have mentioned in past posts we are the heart and soul of the party and we must motivate these men and women who lead our party or as we use to say in the army we must show them that they need to, “Lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way.” And that is the message that has to be carried to the party leadership.

Lastly let me add this bit.  For each and every point above the Democratic Party must have a clear position and message that goes to the heart of what the American people think, feel and believe.  For example fifty five percent of the American people believe the Iraq war was a mistake so why isn’t the Democratic Party clearly communicating that it was a mistake and Jack Murtha is correct and we must pull out.  That’s simple, direct, and what the American people think.

We must not let the Neocons continue to dominate the American agenda and continue to warp our society and government.  They must be made to answer to the American people this November and in November 2008 and in order to do that the Democratic Party must wake up and show real leadership, have a real plan, and have a clear unified message.  And remember, in the words of Joseph Heller, “The enemy is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on."  George W. Bush and the Neocons are getting thousands of Americans killed and will get thousands more killed.

Those Are The Sergeant Majors Thoughts On That.