More Midterm Election Mayhem

The Democratic establishment was disloyal.  They strayed.  They slept with their conservative mistresses who sell themselves out for banks and big business.  We aren’t taking them back until we know they’re honest and will be faithful.  We no longer trust them.

I rarely do this.

Then again, rarely do I read something so astoundingly accurate that it demands commandeering this precious space as a platform for broader consumption.  What follows is a guest editorial with a link to a kindred podium on the subject of the 2014 midterm election.

Take a few minutes to read comrade Dr. Arthur Reber’s excellent analysis in full HERE.

In particular, I was most persuaded by the following comment from Dr. Reber.  I think this short paragraph sums up the progressives’ anger with and alienation from the Democratic Party:

The {Democratic National Committee] had decided to run away from Obama, not even mention his name, not ask him to campaign, especially in swing states.  They, apparently, were distressed by polls showing that his “approval” ratings were in the low 40s.  But, so far as I can tell, no one ever asked just how many of those who gave Obama a low rating were doing so because of disappointment that he had backed away from the progressive agenda he originally ran on.  It is, almost certainly, a deeply contaminated statistic.  And, it led to a horrible political decision.

One line was underlined for emphasis (mine).

Dr. Reber’s commentary nails the bitter sense of frustration so many of us have, not just with President Obama as a leader, but with virtually all Democrats who hold national office.  Yes, we voted for most of them hoping they’d somehow deliver a few scraps to progressives.  Admittedly, we made Faustian compromises with the Democratic Party devil, expecting full well they might abandon our liberal agenda once they were position comfortably at the Capital Hill alter.  No, we weren’t surprised, nor were we shocked.  But we had nowhere else to go.

Now, out-of-power Democrats see what happens when progressives choose to stay home.  Here’s what happens.  They lose.  Not only that, they get their asses kicked.

Still, no one seems to interpret this mass disengagement correctly, least of all political analysts.  For instance, on a couple of occasions during these past few months, I was polled via telephone.  Repeatedly, I was asked, “Do you approve of the job President Obama is doing?”

I wondered then, and I still wonder now — how do I answer this question?

No, I don’t approve.

But if I answer honestly that I don’t approve of the job President Obama is doing, won’t pollsters and the media interpret each and every unsatisfied voter to be in agreement with the opposition — which is right-wing America?  Of course, they will.  That wouldn’t be accurate at all.  Accordingly, which box should those of us check, or what should we say when we’re monumentally disappointed that President Obama hasn’t been liberal enough?  Fact is, millions of Americans feel this way.  Progressives are convinced that he’s governed not as a liberal or a moderate, but more often as a conservative.  If you were to look at his record and couldn’t see his face, you’d be convinced that a middle-of-the-road Republican was in office.  Shudder to think that Richard Nixon was far more liberal.

Hence, progressives have been badly marginalized.  Taken advantage of.  Screwed.

That’s why so many leftists stayed home last Tuesday, and why so many Democrats lost.  What this means for the future is, we will no longer be taken for granted that we’ll show up and simply vote Democratic.  Not when those we trusted abandoned our core beliefs.  And we aren’t coming back, either.  Not until Democrats grow a backbone and provide some assurances that they won’t hide from progressive policies, but instead will embrace them.  Not just talking at political conventions and pep rallies.  But with action.

Democrats were disloyal.  They strayed.  They slept with their conservative mistresses who whore themselves out for banks and big business.  We aren’t taking them back until we know they’re honest and will be faithful.

We no longer trust them.