| Your election woes amount to nothing more than a PR problem, hinging on two ideas. First, you've somehow allowed "government" to become a bad word, especially when preceded by the word "big." If I hear one more Republican go unchallenged when s/he quotes Ronald Reagan's "scariest words I've ever heard..." I might scream. I am a progressive, and I will always vote Democratic (although I wish that Bernie Sanders and Russ Feingold ruled the world). And here's what the word "government" means to me: as a U.S. citizen, "government" means freedom, democracy, security, stability, reliable infrastructure. Government means education, safety, and rules that help 310 million people function together as a society. Our "government" is why people from all over the world want to live here. "Big government" only means more of those things. It means safer air to breathe, water to drink, and food to eat. "Big government" means nature, wildlife, woods to hike, beaches to stroll and streams to swim. Not only does "big government" mean the existence of these things, but it helps ensure a pleasant, unsoiled, safe experience when I do so. "Government" is NOT a dirty word and you need to take it back!
The second point of your PR problem is related to "special interests." How have you let billions of big business and foreign interest dollars tarnish the modest donations of working Americans? "Union money" represents my mother the schoolteacher, my grandmother the waitress, and my grandfather the truck driver, who voluntarily gave a portion of their hard-earned money to band together with their co-workers and fight the exploitation of big business; to advocate for safe working conditions, reasonable hours, and fair wages. Unions represent "Main Street," and it's a travesty to pollute their advocacy by allowing Republicans to lump them together with the efforts of corporate America to turn our business landscape into something resembling the working conditions in China or India. Union money represents everyday Americans working together to maintain the same principles that have made the United States the envy of the world in the last two centuries.
Lest you think I am nothing but an idealistic bleeding heart: I understand the realities, and recognize that there are flaws in each system I have advocated. Government is inefficient and sometimes stifles innovation. Democrats are as guilty as other politicians of subjugating their principles to the pursuit of election funds. Power often begets power, and unchecked power in government is as dangerous as unchecked power in unions, big business, or anywhere else. I recognize that we live in a disposable society, but when something has flaws it doesn't always need to be discarded. Given government's inefficiencies, I would love an alternative to keep business in check and minimize exploitation, pollution, and danger. Alas, we don't currently have one. The question I constantly pose to my conservative friends, which has yet to be answered, is, "If not government, then who?" Industry can't be the answer because it's motivated solely by profit, and the greater good will always be subverted to the pursuit of the dollar. Charities can't be the answer because they are not centralized and have no authority. Government is what we have, "of the people, by the people, and for the people," and unions are just organized groups of "the people!"
If you launch a PR campaign to take back the ideas of government (even "big" government) and unions, my prediction is that the Democratic party would retain power for decades, if not centuries.
Maura Thomas
Austin, TX |
