Poised at the Brink...

After my ranting about where the party fails in relating to the voters and expanding the tent to accommodate all of the newcomers and my claims about the disappointing statistics generated by the last presidential election and the very real possibility that we could be swearing in another republican come 2008, I heard relatively few comments which means one of three things: 1. Either the issue is unimportant to these mailing lists or 2. They feel that I am so off-base that they don't think it's even worth discussing or 3. That this is all too much trouble and most can't be bothered.

To me, all three reasons are troubling.

Democracy is either worth saving or its not.

That's the deciding factor.

Right now, the bullwarks of democracy are being removed and if not shored up, will morph, if it has not already done so, into something resembling a dictatorship or a monarchy.

Is this what we want?

Isn't something worth getting bloodied up a bit for?

If that's the case, why the Hell did so many of us go off to war?

Is it all a lie?

Aside from our valiant young troopers, does anyone think that democracy is worth standing up for? And if that means changing the way we do things, shouldn't that be entertained? Or does everyone believe that our leaders are doing the right thing?

Anybody who still believes that we are going into the election with a winning team, no matter who the favorite is, is blindsided in my opinion.

What i will admit to is the fact that I only know this from my experience in three or four states that I am familiar with, the media accounts, and back and forth among my colleagues in blue states.

And that I am extrapolating out in the inductive way going from specific cases to the general.

Nontheless, I was active enough in grass roots lists, groups, etc. to get a feeling for what my colleagues are and were thinking.

Right now, everything seems relatively quiet.

However, I am concerned that we as democrats have been lulled by the mid-terms.

That's why I wrote the book.

From what I get back, I know that the republicans are either reading it or have read it.

They don't like what i say calling me unfair.

But I reply "how can they have the chutzpah to call me unfair, when they have been playing dirty tricks for the last forty years!"

Look, Dick Armey, Graham, Lott, Gingrich and the rest weren't born in the asparagus patch. They took the lessons of Atwater and Segretti and ran with them doing as much damage to the democratic cause as they could.

Want proof of that? Ask Hillary or Bill for that matter.

How can they say that I'm unfair when they eat their own. Witness the way McCain was treated by his republican friend. Or what about the way Kerry was abused by the Swiftboaters.

If these people had any character, they would have squelched this propaganda immediately. But they didn't. And some think they underwrote it.

No, it's about time somebody pointed out what was going on.

And all of the issues of the day are fair game.

And if I'm going to be the bad guy, that's okay. I would rather be the bad guy than tolerate another four years of republican rule.

Want to get issues oriented?

There is no way that the republicans can justify the "off-shoring" of quality jobs to third world nations. For who's advantage. Meanwhile productivity soars and salaries stay the same.

Can we say that pharmaceutical prices are fair? Health care prices are fair? Can we assume that the Interior Department is fair in granting drilling rights to foreign companies to despoil our environment or indulge in clear cutting to leave our parks a mess for future generations.

This is fair?

Hey, if we just pushed through the OSHA requirements, I am convinced that at least fifty percent of the health problems would fade away in time. I do believe that most long term health problems that are not inherited are environmentally caused by polluted water and air from industrial waste and pollution.

If things were fair we would challenge PMA to justify its increases. We would force PMA to prove to us that it costs over one billion dollars to introduce a new product. This is all lies by the way since other audits of such costs have already found the flaws but we, who kiss up to republicans, will not push it.

That is just the tip of the iceberg and the reason we need to get together to talk.

We need forums, we need town halls, we need people discussing and debating subjects of interest to all Americans. And we'd better start now. The window is closing and before you know it, we will be through the Primaries.

Incidentally, nobody has told us where they stand and what they would do to solve the nation's problems.

We have to ask for that.

Les Aaron