Seize The Moment
01/10/2006
Paul Munnis
At this moment in history we Democrats have a unique opportunity to permanently transform American politics both across our nation and within our State.
The GOP is self-destructing as they divide themselves, alienate their Party members and thus cause more and more people to just up and leave the GOP. The Independent Party is a lonely place to be if you want to accomplish things and so the Democratic Party becomes a place of political refuge mainly through sheer necessity.
It is not a hostile Party to Moderate GOP members either. The Democratic Party, partly because of its political membership shift and partly because of the unusual times of huge change, is itself coming back to the dead Center of American life and politics. The old jibe about Lefties, and Liberals, no longer apply to the majority of the Democratic Party. Yet within the Party it is quite possible to have responsible conversation and dialog covering the gamut of political viewpoints. This is causing the Democratic Party to take on a Centrist position on most subjects and people are comfortable with that.
From sheer necessity Moderates are working together in a bi-partisan manner to repel the excess of the GOP. In both the Congress and the Senate we are seeing coalitions form that are representing their Districts from dead center. We can see this continuing through 2008 although the neo-con wing of the GOP will work to polarize and try to split Democrats. Karl Rove is likely already hatching such a plot.
Yet even up in St. Paul we watched this last budget making session and the underlying aura of bi-partisanship that was struggling to surface even as the GOP shut down the government over budget grid-lock. That only strengthened the bi-partisan feelings and the House formed a coalition of Republicans and Democrats to end the gridlock and pass the cigarette tax (ah, make that “fee”) and reject the casino/racino plans. We expect this sense of bi-partisanship to be even more manifest during the 2006 legislative session when there is even less to divide people over.
The State GOP is struggling to surface illegal immigration as a wedge issue and to attract Hispanic voters. This will be divisive in some sense but not ideologically so. Rather people will have honest disagreement about the best way to deal with the matter. This will be a healthy debate for Democrats and not something that splits us as a Party. From this debate we will raise agreements to try a path and to see if it works or not. What voters want is an end to polarization and bi-partisan behavior. They will get it.
Will it be that way a decade or two from now? Not likely, the GOP is dying right now but in time a new Party will form and be made up of Democrats who themselves will polarize over issues like the environment, energy policy, economic policy, foreign policy, and other fractious topics. This is the lesson of history. It has always been thus and there is nothing wrong with it. A need for a new social contract will arise and that is what will cause the split to happen. A new social contract will come forth and America will advance each time that happens.
But right now the GOP is self-destructing and there is a generation of workers, retirees, and unemployed who need a New Deal of their own. We suspect a new social contract will arise in large part in time for the 2006 election and that the political demand for a totally new social contract will be there by the 2008 election.
As a tip towards Democrats happens then the ability to split the nation will decline because people will have joined forces and will be working together and thus this provides a shield against major Party splitting.
We welcome GOP Moderates to our Party. Let’s roll up our sleeves and get America and Minnesota working well under our joint stewardship. We have a lot to get fixed. There is the matter of jobs, our economy, our debt levels, the War in Iraq, health care, pensions, education and our national and State infrastructure to attend to. Only after we have these back on track will we have regained our spirit enough to be able to enjoy the luxury of polarization.
In the meantime it’s much more pleasurable to develop an improved society than it is to destroy and tear down one—especially when it’s America that we are talking about.