The Democrats As Loyal Opposition

Bob Strodtbeck | June 13 2005

Democrats seem to be incapable of initiating a compelling debate that would attract voters to their cause and erode the broad but shallow political support Republicans have brought to their causes.

Making such an appeal does not, necessarily, require developing a governing philosophy. The Republicans have proven that upholding stated principles is not a requirement to holding office. The record of Republican controlled government shows a total betrayal of the limited government agenda the party promoted during its ascent to majority status during the 1994 mid-term election.

Democrats could, in fact, make great inroads on the GOP majority status by pointing out that many of the agenda items of Democrats through the Clinton Administration have been achieved since the GOP has controlled both Congress and the presidency. Republicans have extended federal influence over education, the practice of medicine, pension funds, employment practices, and personal privacy. The Republicans have even taken the idea of a national identification card--originally proposed through President Clinton's health security cards--to new international levels by negotiating with Britain on using similar technologies in both nations' planned identification cards/chips.

These achievements, once labeled as "liberal" by Republicans, could not have escaped the notice of the Democrats. Isn't it possible that bringing notice to this record would cause great confusion to the mass of "dittoheads" who have been voting Republican under the impression they were supporting efforts to turn back federal usurpation of power and liberty.

How would such rock-ribbed conservatives respond to a Democrat offering of thanks and unity with Republican success in implementing programs that originated in Democrat platform caucuses? Is it possible that Democrats could enhance their popularity by associating "Republican" achievements of the last 10 years with Democrat proposals from the preceding two decades, not for the sake of suggesting Republican hypocrisy but, to suggest that Democrats were right all along?

Instead Democrats have been making angry character assaults against the GOP and the president in particular. Most curious was the recent slur made by Democrat National Committee Chairman, Howard Dean, who characterized the GOP as, "a pretty monolithic party. They all behave the same. They all look the same. It's pretty much a white Christian party."

Dean's comment was made while Christian support for the GOP and the War on Terror has come under some very well reasoned criticism by Christian writers. Even Dr. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, has not escaped criticism. Michael Gaddy gave Dobson a thorough upbraiding in Challenging Dr. James Dobson And His Just War Theory. He validated his criticisms with documentation and references that show Dobson misapplied Augustine's Just War principles in recent support of the military action in Iraq.

The idea of monolithic Christian support for the GOP is also being questioned by Christians in the Democrat Party. As recently as last February, Dickinson College Democrats in Carlisle, PA, hosted a seminar titled, "Religion in American Politics." Rev. James Gilchrist, the senior pastor of Second Presbyterian Church on Garland Drive and adjunct Dickinson professor, was a featured speaker at the seminar and asserted that, "The misconception is that religion in America is a dichotomy, but, in fact, it is an entire spectrum of religious and political composition."

The context of events, debate, and movements within the two parties suggests that some GOP voters can be persuaded to rethink their preferences, but leaders within the Democrat Party are either ignorant of or ignoring the signs as they continue a low-brow, anti-intellectual anger-driven assault on their partisan counterparts.

Those who define conventional wisdom for Republican voters claim that the Democrat approach is being driven by a radical, American-hating fringe that now dominates that party. Another reasonable assumption is that the Democrats are conspiring to pull the GOP further to the left with continual complaints that their policies are hurtful to segments of Americans.

Perhaps the Democrats are not considering the strategies listed here because inspiring voters to become disenchanted with the GOP would not assure new votes for Democrats. Certainly disavowal of the GOP would lend to some electoral victories, but there is every possibility that those voters who abandon both the Democrats and Republicans would continue to increase. Eventually the detached voters could coalesce into political factions that seriously threatens the franchise the two-party system holds over government.

Then the expansion of federal power, whether it carries Democrat or Republican titles, might confront some serious and intelligent opposition. Maybe both Democrats and Republicans consider such a potentiality to be worse than bickering with each other.