The Lesson of Alito: Elections Have Consequences
Alito, like Roberts before him, was confirmed easily and with very little real opposition from Democrats. Which is exactly as anyone watching could have predicted upon the moment of his nomination.
Why? Because ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES. Not being able to get good people on the courts, or even prevent bad people from getting there, is one of the biggies.
Choice took a big hit today.
The environment took a hit.
Civil liberties took a hit.
Separation of powers took a hit.
Hopefully, Democrats took the hit that will WAKE US UP.
ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES. If you don’t like getting beaten up, then I humbly suggest that you find a Democratic U.S. Senate candidate near you and write him or her as big a check as you can. Sign up to volunteer for him or her. Recruit your friends to do the same.
No viable Democratic Senate candidate to jump behind? Then find a Democratic candidate for something else. State house. City Council. School Board. Dog Catcher. We’re behind. We’ve been falling behind for 20 years. While Republicans have been diligently building their base, training their grassroots, and filling their bench, we’ve been…I don’t know what, exactly. But clearly not building our base, investing in our grassroots, or filling our bench.
We’re in this war for the long haul, and if we want to win the battle this November, November 2008, November 2010, and beyond, we’ve got to get down to the hard work of learning from those who have vanquished us – and it’s impossible to look at today’s U.S. Senate and argue plausibly that we have not been vanquished – changing our battle plan, and getting truly prepared to win the war.
ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES. All elections. The consequences may manifest next year, or they may manifest in twenty years. Take a look at how many Senators held down-ticket offices first. They rarely come from nowhere. The City Council candidate you help elect today could be the U.S. Senator who votes to restore our rights in many tomorrows.
ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES. There’s a time and a place for issue politics. That time is not now, and the place is not where there are truly contested elections. Until the numbers change, we have no control of anything, and I would hope we all agree that more Republican control is not going to be a good thing.
ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES. Let's have a late new year's resolution: we'll put all of our political energy toward making sure that they're the consequences we want.
posted by Shayna Englin @ 11:51 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Reading this months after your post, I'm curious what you think of the debate over whether the DNC is doing enough to get out the vote for the winnable 2006 elections in the House and Senate. While part of me agrees with Mr. Dean's "we're doing a 50 state Get-Out-the-Vote campaign" comments, I do fear the Democrats will not make as forceful a change on the national stage as is necessary.
I can't speak on Shayna's behalf, Matt, but I know she's busy, and I can tell you what I've learned from her about this question. Hopefully, I'll do her proud.
Essentially, Dean and the DCCC both are right. Howard Dean and the DNC should be thinking about the long haul. If they don't, who else will? Therefore, their long-term funding and organizing strategy is key to the permanent, grassroots establishment the party needs.
But the DCCC has to focus short term, and they should. They should be zeroed in like a missle on getting out the vote in key elections this November. We don't want to lose short-term ground while we build for the long term. Indeed, we want to gain as much ground as we can, every time.
The biggest problem is that the two institutions are bickering and it's becoming public, instead of showing this as seamless integration. That's the way it should look at feel to the public.
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