"A little on the right side, a little on the left" - Jerry Brown

so we are one week past the latest election

My "twelve-step" friend and I were talking about the election results a few days back. Here in California Phil Angelides defeated Steve Westley and will be the Democratic party's candidate for Governor in November's election. Or as I put it to my "twelve-step friend", "the right to lose to Schwarzenegger in November."

I'm no fan of Governor Schwarzenegger. I did not vote for him when he ran the first time. I voted for Tom McClintock because I thought he had the experience and the knowledge Schwarzenegger lacked. I was chastised by my "Jewish friend" and "the lovely Mrs." that I was wasting my vote because McClintock was sure to lose and not voting for Schwarzengegger meant the possibility of Grey Davis remaining in office, the whole purpose of the recall election in the first place. But I couldn't in good conscience do it. And I still couldn't. This past election I failed to vote for the office of Governor. There was Schwarzengegger and 3 other no-names on the Republican ballot. In the case of the no-names I knew NOTHING about any of them and given that fact I couldn't vote for them. Given the fact I knew what I DID KNOW about Schwarzenegger I couldn't vote for him! So I left it blank. To me he is California's version of Minnesota's Jessie Ventura. I thought that situation was a joke and I consider this the same. A figure head, a puppet, whatever. I imagine many people felt that way when people like George Murphy or Sonny Bono or even Ronald Reagan ran for political office. What could they possibly know about running a state or a nation? Some didn't do too bad. Depending on where you stand. But I'm no fan of our current governor. He tried to get some things he wanted done at mid term and suffered some embarrassing defeats. He came in claiming how he was going to do so many things and not have to raise taxes or cut services. How naive. He learned quickly. I hope. But this is not really about Governor Ah-nold.

I mentioned a few weeks back about an episode of the Daily Show on Comedy Central which Democratic Party National Chairman Howard Dean was the guest. Not a direct quote but the gist of it was host Jon Stewart right off the bat asked Dean ""So let me ask you. Hugely unpopular war in Iraq. Record high gas prices. Government spying on it's citizens. Indictments for corporate and political corruption. The disaster that was Katrina relief. All time low approval ratings. So how you guys going to screw up THIS election?!" I was sharing that with my "twelve-step friend"

My "twelve-step" friend and I both brought up the oft quoted statement of Will Rogers saying he was "not a member of any organized political party. I'm a Democrat." It seems to be happening again. My "twelve-step" friend is not really a Republican, more of a Libertarian really. Much more liberal on social issues than I am, but he certainly sees many of the faults in all the parties.

We talked about the past two national elections. And we both were scratching our heads how the Democrats could have possibly lost them both. I know I never figured it. I thought Gore and Kerry would both win. Shows you my lack of prescience. I told him what is truly remarkable is how imminently beatable Bush was! Both times. I mean Gore won the popular vote in 2000. Had the Constitution not prevented him from running for a 3rd term, Clinton would have defeated him easily, and that would be dragging Monica underneath the desk with him! So the Dems might want to start with nominating someone slightly more compelling than either Kerry or Gore. Someone who will galvanize the people, especially the swing voters who decide close races. But all the Democrats could do was whine. About "dangling chads" in 2000 and mockingly cry about the citizens of "Jesusland" in 2004.

Al Gore has now made a film, "An Inconvenient Truth", about his passion, the dangers and the certain results of global warming. On screen, and as he is out promoting the film, over and over again you hear the same comment, "If this was the Gore we had seen in 2000, we would have voted for him!"

It is as if the old Saturday Night Live sketch is coming to life. The one where Jon Lovitz as Michael Dukakis was debating "George the First" in 1988. When Lovitz said, "I can't believe I'm losing to this guy." I think there are a lot of people that feel that way today.

The Democrats also might want to watch what they say. Doesn't help when Hillary Clinton derides home makers with statements like "I wasn't home baking cookies" or Kerry's wife does the same with the likes of "I had a real job." There are many women Republicans and they vote. The Constitution LETS them. So don't piss them off. Same with Dean when he called the Republican party one of "white Christian men". I don't think that would endear him to any of the three and especially if you happen to hold all three cards. Those are demographics, Howard not pejoratives. Or maybe they are to you. But don't expect their votes.

Growing up there was a thing I always heard about the "11th commandment" which was "Thou shalt not speak evil of another Republican." And it seems the Democratic party has never learned it could help them too. But they don't seem to be able to apply it in their own party. The left faction of the party is now turning on the centrists for their complicity in the Iraq war. And of course others try to portray themselves as "centrists", in an obvious political ploy, and an appeal to the Right and swing voters. Decrying what they see as a loss of values in our culture, like hard work and personal responsibility, only to alienate some of their long time constituencies. It is almost like they CAN'T win! Everybody is "positioning" themselves, mostly in relation to Hillary. "Where do you stand in relation to Hillary? Are you to her Left or to her Right?" "Will you run if Hillary runs? Will you run if Hillary chooses not to run?" They eat and devour each other like Angelides and Westley did here in California until there is nothing left to run against the Republicans.

I say this as a Republican of more than 30 years, and I sincerely mean it when I say we NEED the Democratic Party. We need the Democratic Party to be COMPETENT. The U.S. NEEDS the Democratic Party, if for no other reason as to hold the Republican Party in check. With their passions of management over labor, development over the environment, and military-industrial links over peace, those are the areas the sinful tendencies that reside in us all can manifest themselves in conservative Republicans. Just as civil liberties over security & justice, individual freedom over morality and the state over property rights can surface in liberal Democrats. Both sides and both parties NEED each other if for no other reason that to serve as a brake against the pendulum swinging too far in either direction. It is a maddeningly difficult system in which to accomplish ANYTHING. Like "two steps up and one step back". But it keeps the nation from going to the extremes, to the Right or the Left and prevents us from experiencing many of the failures & tragedies that have plagued other countries.

Decades ago, back when Jerry Brown was Governor of California, the political cartoonist for the now defunct Los Angeles Herald-Examiner drew a cartoon. His name was Schorr I believe. Of course was the old Her-Ex was a pretty conservative paper and Schorr reflected those beliefs. One of his cartoons involved a statement made by the then Governor Brown, who was referred to by some of his critics for what they saw as his bizarre views as "Governor Moonbeam". Brown had made a comment about his political philosophy that as I paraphrase it, came out as "It's like paddling a canoe. You paddle a little on the right side and a little on the left side and it keeps you moving straight ahead toward your goal." So Schorr drew a cartoon of, if I remember right, 4 panels. The first one had Abraham Lincoln saying "a government of the people, by the people and for the people." The next panel was FDR saying "we have nothing to fear, but fear itself". Then JFK and "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." And the last panel was Governor Moonbeam, drawn with a coonskin cap on his head and a paddle in his hand saying "a little on the right side, a little on the left." Kind of paled in comparison, huh? And of course I laughed and mocked him for it too. But the more I think about it he pretty much summed up the political philosophy I have espoused above. Now either Governor Moonbeam wasn't as loopy as I once thought or maybe I have just joined him in his citizenship of Planet Bizzaro! Probably the latter.

I really think the Republicans will take a beating in the mid term elections this year. Too much baggage, too many failures. And they will pay for them at the polls. For all their failures. Of course given my lack of prognostication skills in both 2000 and 2004 I could be wrong again here again. But I don't think I am. And I think it will come back to haunt them again in 2008. Then again, if the past is any indicator of the future, the Democrats may just screw this one up again! Chesed. Late.