"big tent" centrism equals muddled compromise and bad policies [View All]

[welshTerrier2]

there are many different constituencies in the Democratic Party. "tough on defense", pro-military spending, peace groups, anti-corporate groups, big labor, libertarians, capitalists, socialists, and many others ... Democrats are a broad spectrum party ... we're a "big tent" party ...

the logic behind such a construction is that the two-party system is a reality and that if we don't hang together we'll hang separately. to make a "big tent" strategy work, all constituencies must "buy in" to the great compromise ... i'll give you a bit of what you want if you'll give me some of my issues ... it's a blending process ... the greatest alienation, and hence political risk, is likely to occur at the margins ...

we've got blue dogs and yellow dogs and smog dogs ... we've got all kinds of dogs barking out all kinds of demands ... well, to this welsh terrier, it seems we are so compromised that we are effecting bad policy and bad politics too ... compromise might be "politically necessary" ... compromise might be our only choice as a "big tent" party ... compromise might be the only way to hold our "coalition" together ... the problem is, compromise is making a mess of our majority status ... it's leading to bad policies that the country just cannot afford ... and it's raising real questions about whether Democrats will remain in the majority ... giving the catastrophe bush and the republicans have created over the last 6+ years, that is unimaginable.

first, and I won't rehash the details here, the Democrats out-bush'd bush on Iraq ... it's a mighty tight squeeze getting to the right of bush on Iraq but the Democrats managed to thread the needle. instead of voting against giving bush a blank check on Iraq, the Democrats not only gave bush more funding but gave him more funding than he asked for ... certain Democrats could just not be made to toe the line ... the bill should never have been brought to the floor for a vote ...

and look at what's happening now on global warming ... this is madness people ... powerful Democrats are putting one industry above the best interests of the American people ... the "big tent" cannot tolerate such obviously bad policy but it is so ineffective that it is forced to acquiesce to bad policy and bad politics ... and again, it looks like the Party may end up promoting a policy that is to the right of bush ... again, it's unimaginable ...

perhaps breaking up the big parties and allowing a multi-party system to come to fruition would yield better policies for the country ... perhaps not ... either way, it's clear the Democrats and their new Congressional majority are having some serious "big tent" problems ...

source: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/06/10/1784/

The Democrats Lag on Warming
When Americans elected a Democratic Congress last November, they were voting to end politics as usual and special interest legislation. On the vital issues of energy independence and global warming they are not only in danger of getting more of the same but also, unless Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders step forward, winding up in worse shape than they were under the Republicans.

Exhibit A is a regressive bill drafted by John Dingell, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Rick Boucher, a Virginia Democrat. For starters, the bill would override the recent Supreme Court decision giving the Environmental Protection Agency authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles, a decision that even President Bush has reluctantly embraced. It would also effectively block efforts by California and 11 other states to regulate and reduce greenhouse gases from vehicles at a time when the states are far ahead of the federal government in dealing with climate change.

The bill’s fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks are weaker than the president’s proposals and weaker still than standards the National Academy of Sciences says can be met using off-the-shelf technology. And the bill would open the door to a new generation of coal-to-liquid fuel plants favored by the coal lobby that could double the global warming gases of conventional gasoline.