House of Paine

krug on '04 AS '28 II

 
 PAUL REMAINS FRISKY 
AS THIS COLUMN-INE 
          DEMOS 




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"There's a very good reason voters, 
when given a chance 
     to make a clear choice
 increasingly support a stronger,
 not a weaker, social safety net: 

they need that net more than ever.

 

The latest Wall Street Journal/NBC poll 
showed what the pollsters called 
an "angry electorate."


 By huge margins,
 voters think that politicians 
are paying too little attention 
to their concerns

 especially health care, 
                     jobs and gas prices.

At the state level,
 The push to raise the minimum wage 
is a useful political barometer: 
seven states have raised the minimum 
in just the last two years.

------- paul fails to hit harder here
  by noticing  these  min boosts
  are not dembo party state ledge  pushes
 but referenda results 
direct citizen  actions ----------- 


At a gala dinner in his honor, 
Tom DeLay cited 
his party's recent achievements: 
"bankruptcy reform, 
class-action reform,
 energy, 
border security, 
repealing the death tax."
and  as Mr. DeLay boasted, 
many Democratic members of Congress 
also voted in support of these measures. 

---- goldo-crats like 
 the shady  Hill/ muppet  JOE mob  --------


In so doing, 
they undermined their party's ability 
to claim that it stands
 for something different

------- bravo paul ---------- 

So where will change come from?

Everyone loves historical analogies.
 Here's my thought:
 maybe 2004 was 1928.

 During the 1920's, 
the national government 
followed doctrinaire conservative policies
 but reformist policies 
that presaged the New Deal 
were already bubbling up in the states
 especially in New York 

In 1928 Al Smith, 
the governor of New York, 
was defeated in an ugly presidential campaign
 in which Protestant preachers
 warned their flocks 
that a vote for the Catholic Smith
 was a vote for the devil.

 But four years later F.D.R.
 took office,
 and the New Deal began.

Of course, the coming of the New Deal 
was hastened by a severe national depression.
 Strange to say, 
we may be working on that, too. 

----------- no comment ----------------