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David Sirota is a political journalist and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist at Creators Syndicate. David writes about political corruption, globalization and working-class economic issues often ignored by both of America's political parties.
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July 1, 2007 12:18 PM
Rocky Mountain Right Reels As Public Rejects GOP's Outdated & Elitist Rhetoric
Is the much-touted conservative economic revolt over in the Intermountain West? That's a question that undoubtedly has people like Republican presidential operatives and national anti-tax activist Grover Norquist worried - especially with a spate of evidence that suggests a whole new politics is emerging out here, and I'm not just talking about the region being dominated by Democratic governors (that is at least as much a symptom of the underlying phenomenon as it is the phenomenon itself).
Matt Singer over at Left in the West has a telling post up about new public opinion data from Montana, one of the central fronts in the conservative economic revolt for the last two decades. Some history before we get to the numbers: Montana was once a longtime and reliable Democratic state, but became a Republican stronghold thanks to the Reagan-inspired economic revolt which brought to prominence people like governor-turned-RNC-chair-turned-Enron-lobbyist Marc Racicot, since-unelected-and-humiliated Sen. Conrad Burns (R), and Burns' political guru/Colorado GOP chairman Dick Wadhams (known to many of us who have worked against him as simply "Dickwad").
Now, however, a new poll from Lee Newspapers suggests that revolt is over. Wide majorities in Montana approve of Gov. Brian Schweitzer's (D) progressive tax rebate and spending plans, just passed by Democrats in the legislature. Even more tellingly, a plurality of Republicans in the state approve of what happened as well.
Something similar seems to be happening here in Colorado, the home of TABOR, that icon of the right's economic revolt. Voters, as we all know, voted to temporarily suspend TABOR in 2005, and now even one of the state's most conservative voices - the editorial page of the Rocky Mountain News - seems to be grasping that massive budget cuts to state services are destructive. In a strong editorial today that is reprinted in the Sunday Denver Post as well, the paper applauds Gov. Bill Ritter's (D) efforts to better fund the state's motor vehicle division, citing long lines and wait times for the most basic of state services. Meanwhile, when a right-wing city councilor in Aurora announced plans to push the right's tired "right to work" initiative aimed at destroying organized labor, a statewide poll quickly showed that beyond liking the happy sounding misnomer "right to work," Colorado is actually quite hostile to what this conservative ploy actually does. "Opposition to the initiative is strong among Democrats," note the pollsters. "However, even a majority of unaffiliated voters oppose the measure."
Clearly, the public's rejection of the right's economic class warfare on behalf of the wealthy and subsequent waning of the conservative economic revolt as an effective political weapon has had major consequences for both political parties, and has created opportunities for a whole new kind of progressive politics.
As mentioned, the West is now dominated by Democratic governors. And in many places, state Republican parties are decimated. In Montana, for example, the state's largest newspaper has declared the GOP is "reeling" and in need of a "repair job." One of the party's own senior state legislators told the paper his party "need[s] to move toward the middle - in the mainstream" - an admission that the GOP has been taken over by its fringe. Similarly, in Colorado, Wadhams - the self-trumpeted political guru - is actually conceding that there's probably no chance for him to actually succeed in the 2008 legislative elections. (In some ways, Wadhams admission of ineptitude shouldn't be surprising: Though the media in Colorado continues to fawn all over Wadhams as some sort of genius, we should remember that it was Wadhams who not only comandeered Sen. George Allen's transformation from leading presidential candidate into political cautionary tale, but it was also Wadhams who engineered Burns' pathetic 2000 reelection showing, - a Wadhams special where he guided a two-term Republican senator in what was then a staunchly Republican state into a near-loss to Schweitzer - an unknown farmer who had never run for political office before).
The new progressive politics that is changing the West's political direction is being fueled by outside pressure groups, which are using national issues to further expose the right's economic revolt for the fraud that it is, and to use economic outrage for the progressive cause. Take Progress Now's new "Iraq Tax" campaign, that shows how the Iraq War is actually a massive tax on Colorado residents. This campaign was originally aided by the Progressive States Network's Anti-Iraq Escalation Campaign, which engineered the introduction of anti-escalation state resolutions in 29 states, and generated significant local media both in Colorado and in other states about the real cost of the war. This theme was recently echoed in a speech on the steps of the Colorado State Capitol by Michael Moore, who essentially said the Iraq Tax proves that this country can, in fact, afford basic necessities like universal health care, and proves that the right's claim that every basic government service is unaffordable is a lie.
Obviously, the West is a region in flux, and it is going to take a sustained effort to continue beating back the right's tactics. The conservative elites in this region's Republican Party hierarchies, corporate boardrooms and think tanks aren't done waging their class war by a long shot. Additionally, there are no silver bullets in this battle, as there are a whole host of reasons as to why the right's economic rhetoric has become so politically impotent in the last few years, ranging from regional population changes to overall Bush fatigue.
But it is clear that above all else, in this region - as in many other regions in this country - the public is starting to see the conservative movement for what it is: A failed experiment whose K Street-cloistered elites and whose top-down models have championed policy prescriptions that are wholly out of touch with ordinary folks daily lives. And the more these elites and their Wadhams-style yes-men keep digging in, the more opportunities there will be for progressive victories.
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About David Sirota
David Sirota is a political journalist and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist at Creators Syndicate. He is the New York Times bestselling author of Hostile Takeover. He lives in Denver, Colorado. His daily blog can be found at CREDO Action. He contributes regularly to the Denver Post's Web site, is a senior editor at In These Times magazine and is working on his second book. He has been profiled in Newsweek and the Rocky Mountain News and is widely known for his reporting on political corruption, globalization and working-class economic issues often ignored by both of America's political parties. Sirota serves as co-chair of the Progressive States Network, a 501(c)3 organization that supports state legislators and that is a partner of CREDO.
You can subscribe to Sirota's e-mail newsletter by going to davidsirota.com and signing up in the lefthand corner. To find out more about Sirota, download his official biography or see his recent media appearances. You can e-mail him at sirota@credoaction.com.
The views expressed on this blog are his own, and do not necessarily represent the views of Working Assets (publisher of CREDO Action) or the institutions Sirota works for.
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Discussion
But this does not mean that the Democratic party is the answer to the failure and embarrassment of the Republicans.
Take this quote from Chuck Todd on Meet The Press today:
"MR. TODD: You know, it’s funny. There’s a real split in the House—this is among House Democrats. I talked to one House Democrat, I would say, with the new guard who is just completely frustrated with the old guard. You know, you have a bunch of committee chairmen who were elected in the ‘60s and ‘70s who ended up getting back into power, and guess what, they want the—all the goodies back. They want everything that they got to do in the ‘70s and ‘80s when they saw their—you know, the guys they looked up to. And, and the new guard doesn’t want this. I think we’re getting to the point if Congress’ job rating gets lower in the next six months—not better—it gets lower, you’re going to see, I think, this internal spat between the new guard House Democrats and the old guard, old bulls—John Dingle, David Obey, those guys—and you’re going to see it blow up. And it, and it may be that the Democratic Party needs that to happen."
(middle of page)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19508551/page/6/
As I have commented repeatedly here, replacing Red Corruptors with Blue Corruptors is a recipe for disaster. The fight is not liberal (or progressive) vs. conservative, nor is it D vs. R. It is between those with integrity vs. those who sell out, between Reformers vs. Corruptors.
As I have also repeatedly warned since '06, the Reformer D's who were just elected will probably be crushed by the old school Corruptor D's, just like in '94 when the "Contract with America" R's were betrayed and humiliated by the Corruptor R's. That collapse ended us up where we are right now.
The Democratic party is either going to purge the Reformers (most likely) or the Reformers must purge the Corrupt Democratic leadership. If you care about the future of the Democratic party, that must be your focus, not extra-party partisan combat.
Playing partisan games like pointing the finger at the evil Republicans while the evil Corruptor D's give themselves pay raises and betray all of their mandates will rapidly devastate the Democratic party, and then a whole bunch of folks will be looking for... wait for it... a third option.
Further, having already been Perot'ed once, the Corruptors of both parties are way ahead of you. They will Lieberman you, foisting Corruptors upon the public under the guise of "Independent" candidacies.
Welcome, Newt and Bloomberg.
Chuck Todd nailed it IMO.
One can easily tell that the Democratic leadership has reverted to the same corrupt political games of the early '90s that got them ejected in the first place. These old bulls need to go if there is any chance at all at geniune party reform.
But I don't know if its possible anymore. Initially I hoped the blogosphere would awake and inform the rank and file of the sell-outs in their own party and lead the charge to replace them. Instead we got a raft of DNC owned clowns like Markos and other democratic shills who made sure only the party line shilling and partisan finger pointing was given space. Its like LGF but without the humor.
Another hint that something is rotten in the blogosphere is the way bloggers treat Sirota like a leper.
That said, 3rdOption is right, both parties have made sure going third party won't work with Newtie and Bloomie waiting in the wings. Even if they didn't have them, all they would need to do is infiltrate the third parties with their agents and sabotauge them from the inside(like Pat Buchanan did to the Reform party). Its a common and documented practice that both parties regularly engage in. Protectionism and rackeering by other means.
Its not hopeless as the fight against the corporate immigration bill showed. But unless the rank and file Democrats start standing up and take their party back soon, we won't have either a party or country left worth fighting for soon.
Tell it like it is. It's not the "Old bulls" or the "corruptors" within either party. It's the concerted efforts by K-street and their corporation bosses to buy out the US Congress, and run this country by oligarchy.
The problem isn't the corrupt politicians that we can kick out of office, the problem is the root of the corruption that needs to be controlled before they corrupt the populists who are coming into office.
Until we get enough honest politicians into both houses of the Congress, and can get definitive reform legislation passed, we are going to have the sell-outs sabotaging any efforts to control runaway policies that pander to the rich and greedy, but we need to keep a steady pressure of demands for reforms until even the corrupt pols realize that they won't stay in power if they keep selling out US voters.
The problem is that it's going to be a long drawn out struggle as K-street will keep looking for loopholes to exploit, and politicians cave in to the lure of money.
But if this is going to continue to be a democracy, it's got to be done.
The Obama campaign is very much the beneficiary of the Dean campaign in 2004. Joe Rospars who was part of Dean's internet team has done a masterful job once again.
I just hope that Obama can live up to the promise and be willing to get tough. But I'm concerned that "cant we all just get along" approach to politics is not going to work in a general election. You've got to able to point out the bad part of your opponents approach. That is not "going negative", it necessary.
Dar
Chat live with other progressives about this and other issues at DemocracyInteractive.com
http://www.democracyinteractive.com
"It's not the "Old bulls" or the "corruptors" within either party. It's the concerted efforts by K-street and their corporation bosses to buy out the US Congress" - butte
This is the "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" argument. We're talking about a cycle, a feedback loop of corruption.
The first thing that's troubling here is the naiveté of folks who are actually surprised that moneyed interests would try to influence a government. Like that's never happened before. In every government. At any level. That's ever existed.
When you have an out of control feedback loop, the only corrective action is to break the chain. Think of it like a fireman. You either take away oxygen, fuel, or heat. Eliminate one, and the destructive fire is over.
The fire elements here would be corrupt lawmakers, campaign cash/future employment, and K Street lobbyists. Take away one and the corruption grinds to a halt.
Who controls the money? The lobbyists, not us. So we can't stop that.
Who controls the lobbyists? The laws Congress passes. Since they're corrupt, we cannot possibly expect those lawmakers to pass laws that directly oppose their own corrupt interests. Do you really think Ted Kennedy or Hillary Clinton would ever vote for public financing of elections?
That leaves us with the corrupt legislators themselves. Who controls them? YOUR VOTES DO.
If you want to put this fire out, you need to douse the careers of the Corruptor lawmakers in your party.
Holding your noses and voting for slimeballs year after year just because they're "on your team" is like a bunch of firemen trying to put out an apartment fire by dumping loads of lumber on it.
"You've got to able to point out the bad part of your opponents approach. That is not "going negative", it necessary." - Dardango
Good Lord. Speaking of naiveté...
YOUR PRIMARY ENEMY IS IN YOUR OWN PARTY.
In World War II, would you blather on and on about how evil Hitler and Mussolini were if you knew that virtually all of your generals were taking money from them??? Or would you hang the traitors first?
Jeez. How simple can this be?
(I actually chose to resort to a Hitler analogy. Wow.)
Butte
The problem with the Democrats isn't K street, its the rank and files refusal to vote out crooks like Hillary, Reid, Schumer, Rangel, Pelosi and Hoyer. These people are also at the heart of the cancer that is eating away at the Democratic party.
Instead of voting them out, you folks keep voting these crooks back in and in effect voters are their unwitting enablers. Just like the way Jefferson was put back into office despite being caught red-handed by the Feds in bribe taking.
Talk about herd bound stupidity.
Go ahead and blame K Street all you want, but they aren't the problem. No one is making pols take bribes fromK street. Crooked politicians are the problem and the people keep voting them back in.
So stop voting for crooks and a lot of problems will stop.
Right now Democrats are their own worst enemy.
I think Waltc is half right, and Butte has the other half right.
Part of what we need to get pas is that is that there is one answer to the whole problem! A mess this big, this deep, this pervasive is the result, pretty obviously, of multiple factors coming together; in this case in an absolutely Democracy destroying way! (3rdOption is exactly right!!)
Yes, K Street **IS** trying to purchase all the government money can buy! Just look at Enron, they wanted to buy off both Ds and Rs; they didn't care, they just wanted it to be: government the corporate way!! The corporations could give two s**ts about political parties; as long as they get their way!
And you have the conservative fools who think $s = Free Speech, so to hell with One Person, One Vote. They have to among the most dupped bunch of fools to come along, anywhere, in a VERY long time!
But the other part **IS** about the equally foolish people who continue to support the Corrupt and/or old-guard Ds! They are stupid because they get caught in the "our team/tribe/... (my daddy) ... is better than yours!" mentality.
There is, in reality, yet another class of folks that are literally destroying the Dem. Party: the DLC and DCCC and such!
NO Hillary is NOT better!! (not really) She is part of the problem with the D. Party! She is most assuredly NOT the, real solution; even though she is better than W and Darth Cheney!!!!!
Puke, watered down, is still puke! It still has that disgusting vomit taste!!
I'm afraid Obama is, like Reid, either too nice, or, more likely, too spineless! They cower too much, are afraid to be too strongly spoken, to appear to be too controversial, or be too principled. They want to be too many things to too many different sides. Simply put, they are afraid to say it like it is! Even worse, they think something good will come of trying to "get along with" what, at the end of the day, is just plain, simple, pure evil. In that way, they are fools of the highest order!!
The cruel truth is maybe 30% of the voters **WANT** to be told what to do, think, feel, believe, etc. They look to politicos and pundits and pseudo-religious hacks, who they perceive as authority figures, to tell them,
and so if they do what they are told, then they will be "right." As if! Problem is: Hillary or Obama or anybody not "blessed" by their surrogate-daddies are going to do for them! So, in summary: screw them. They will vote for Rudi or Mitt or whomever their authority figures tell them
to.
It comes back to what Waltc covered: we've got to vote out the corrupt and "party" (ala DLC) and "puke lite" (ala Hillary) Ds! I personally think we need to simply flush the entire Senate -- every last one of them!! (even as much as I'd hate, personally, to see Russ go ...)
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