Open Letter To The Democratic Party

Dear Democrats:

My name is Max Canning and I am a registered Independent. Although I usually avoid labeling myself, I can tell you that I’m on the progressive end of the political spectrum, if that helps you understand where I’m coming from.

On January 20, 2009, I was one of the two million people standing in the cold on the Mall in Washington D.C. for Barack Obama’s inauguration. On that day, my rank cynicism about American politics was tempered somewhat by the site of a black man from a modest background saying encouraging things about where he wanted to take the country after eight years of national misery and disgrace. And for one of the few times in my life, I was optimistic—albeit cautiously—about an elected official.

But now almost thirteen months later, my cynicism has returned tenfold. I don’t know how it happened, but you have managed to squander a clear mandate from the American people who gave you the White House and huge majorities in the House and the Senate, which, to remind you, are all you need in order to pass laws. For some reason, the Republicans continue to thoroughly kick your asses up and down the aisles and halls of the Capitol Building, in the media, in public forums, and any other place where it’s possible to get your asses kicked. Your performances in the policy and rhetorical arenas have been so weak, so unimpassioned, so mind-bogglingly pathetic, that I am ashamed to think I once believed that the Democratic Party could possibly bring about some real, positive changes for the majority of Americans who have been smashed by thirty years of deregulatory neoliberal economic policies.

Speaking of which, where is your banking reform legislation? I seem to remember Obama blowing a lot of hot air on the campaign trail and even in the early days of his presidency about how we needed serious banking reform:

When you see more and more of the financial sector basically churning transactions and engaging in reckless speculation and obscuring underlying risks in a way that makes a few people obscene amounts of money but doesn't add value to the economy—and in fact puts the entire economy at enormous risk—then something’s got to change.

President Obama

January 21, 2009

When the Democrats took the White House and expanded their majorities in Congress last year, the country was in the midst of economic nosedive brought on by the unbridled recklessness and greed of tunnel-visioned Wall Street oligarchs. Not surprisingly, most Americans were calling for their heads, especially after the banks received what is at this point, trillions of dollars in taxpayer money. Not since Franklin Roosevelt did a president have such a golden opportunity to pass serious economic reforms. The “too big to fail” problem had (and still needs) to be remedied. Over-the-counter derivates were (and still are) in desperate need of regulation. I imagine that if you really, truly wanted to, you could have rammed through all kinds of reforms designed to rectify these and other glaring problems with the gargantuan financial services sector. And yet over one year later, the Senate is still bickering about the details, including the “controversial” proposal to regulate the $450 trillion OTC derivates market. Republicans are leery of the idea, and representatives from the financial services industry are lobbying members of congress on both sides to keep the legislation as toothless as possible. For some strange reason I think they might succeed.

Then there is your effort to reform health care. What an unbelievable train-wreck that has been. Up until 2009, polls regularly showed that a majority of Americans wanted a single-payer, European-style, Medicare-for-all, national health insurance system. But not anymore. You have been on the defensive on this issue since day one. You have been getting your clocks cleaned as usual in the public debate by people advancing some of the craziest talking points ever to be offered in a policy discussion. Inexplicably, the issue of single-payer was never on the table. You never even considered it. If you had, you could’ve started with single-payer in the negotiations—even if you didn’t actually want that—in order to strike an eventual compromise at a public option. Instead, you started with a public option, and surprise, surprise, that’s been purged from the legislation thanks in part to your allowing Joe Lieberman and his spiteful ego to hold the entire party hostage. Pardon me for asking, but why is this man still the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee? After all, this is the person most responsible for the death of the public option and the Medicare buy-in extension to people fifty-five and older. He also campaigned for John McCain against Barack Obama. What does this man have to do to get stripped of his chairmanship? Or are you just going to let him continue to run your party through the ringer whenever he feels like it without any repercussions whatsoever?

By the way, why is there no provision in any of the bills currently under consideration that allows the government to negotiate Medicare drug prices with pharmaceutical companies? Also, why is there is no provision that allows Americans to re-import cheaper drugs from other countries? Oh that’s right. Because the White House made a backroom deal with the pharmaceutical industry to oppose those measures in exchange for Big Pharma’s support and lobbying resources to pass health care reform. I’m so glad that worked out.

In case you couldn’t tell, I’m absolutely disgusted by your abysmal showing to this point. George W. Bush never had the majorities that the Democrats currently enjoy, and yet he managed to get even unpopular pieces of legislation passed. There was no concern about bipartisanship. No stopping to make sure that Democrats felt their ideas were being heard too. Just straight, cold, calculated political maneuvering in the White House and in both chambers of Congress—Democrats and the American people be damned.

All of this has reaffirmed my long-held belief that your party is simply a centrist party unwilling to go to bat for the very people who put you into office. People don’t vote for Democrats because your party has great candidates. People vote for them so they’ll stand up to the Republicans who started but could not finish two wars, spit on the Constitution of the United States, and racked up an unfathomable amount of debt during the last decade alone. Yet you haven’t delivered. While no one expected everything to reverse course in just one year, the Obama administration and congressional Democrats have been virtually invisible, which is strange considering the horrid state the country was in when Obama assumed office armed with a heavily Democratic Congress. Historically, in times of national crisis, the executive branch has taken charge with Congress to ensure that the necessary measures are enacted to deal with said crisis. But not this president and not this Congress. And it appears that your window of opportunity has closed. Not that that matters. Because in order to take advantage of an opportunity, you have to want to, and I just do not get that impression from this sorry excuse you call a political party.

You may have sensed that this was coming, but unless your party grows a set I will be staying home for the 2010 November midterm elections. You have given me no reason to vote for you whatsoever. If the best you can come up with in your defense is that you’re better than the Republicans, then that is not good enough. Not anymore. Not even close. I refuse to be a participant in this charade any longer, and I encourage my fellow progressives to do likewise. Maybe what this country really needs is the Republicans to regain control of all three branches so they can finally succeed in destroying the bottom 95% of this country by dismantling Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and implementing wonderful market-based reforms that will give this country’s corporatists even more power. That way there will be no doubt about what kinds of reforms need to take place in this country.

So even though I admit that you had me thinking that 2009 could be the start of good things to come, I can’t say I’m really surprised by any of this. I know how cozy you are with the soulless lobbyists who lurk around the capitol brandishing fistfuls of dollars to donate to your campaigns and PACs. Yes, you’re not as bad as the GOP, but that says virtually nothing about whatever real merits you may have. If this past year is any indication, I’d say you have none.

With sincerity and regret,

Max Canning