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Edited on Sat Jun-17-06 11:07 PM by DistressedAmerican
Dear Democratic Leadership,
Our party is suffering a kind of debilitating paralysis. The party under this leadership lives in fear. We have since 2000. It is pitiful to watch as it simply makes you a doormat in Congress. You will remain a doormat until you internalize the logic that the only thing you have to fear is fear itself.
I do not fully understand what drives your fear. Following 9/11 Democrats overwhelmingly voted to support every measure sent over by the administration for fear of being called unpatriotic. Your fear made you complicit in the Iraq War Resolution and the U.S.A. Patriot Act among other clear abuses. Now you are hurriedly trying to explain those votes away. Fear trapped you.
By all indications, several members of the leadership were briefed about the various surveillance programs being run by the N.S.A. Yet, rather than stand up to the obvious abuses they constitute, your fear kept you silent until the news leaked. Now, you have to explain why you were not doing your oversight job from the start. Again, trapped by your own fear and left to eat it as a result.
I could go on and on with these examples. But, I think these make the point.
However, there have been a few shining moments that you need to learn from. Take the Bolton nomination for example, that was opposition leadership. The party stayed united in their opposition and in doing so, forced the administration to settle for a temporary, recess appointment. That was a success for one and one reason only, you lost your fear.
If you think that you will come back to power based solely on remaining silent and waiting for the Republicans to implode, you are both doing a disservice to the nation and prolonging your own time wandering the desert.
Only through rejecting fear and acting like a bold and focused force, will you ever remove the right-wingers that have so abused this country from power and restore some of the democratic principles this country was founded on.
Please for the sake of the country take the good advice offered up by FDR and act like winners not cowering whipped dogs.
Sincerely,
Distressed American
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