What Now?

Smiles all round. Today Nancy Pelosi, slated to be the new Speaker of the House of Representatives, met with George W. Bush at the White House. Despite railing on one another during the bitter campaign, they were quick to pledge to work together in the final two years of the Bush Administration.

This may just be politics and come January 1 Representative Pelosi and her party may decide to make life difficult for Bush. I fear that she's telling the truth and she and Bush will work together to continue the policies of the past six years. More sneaky tax cuts for the wealthy; less environmental protections; more adventuring into Iran and North Korea; less rights for more "security". Maybe I'm just cynical from the past 6 years.

But you see I have a major problem with the Democratic Party. They didn't win this election, the Republican Party lost it. The Democrats don't have any vision beyond getting out of Iraq. I certainly think that at their worst they are better than the Republican Party but by how much? An inch? I fear that they will allow business as usual at a national level. No one will say a word about climate change; no one will mention universal healthcare, bringing all Americans under one system; no one will demand a living wage; no one will question the $400 billion plus flowing into the military year by year.

I think that as much as Bush and the Republicans have purposefully taken the United States to the far right of the political spectrum, the Democrats should ditch the middle and push a strong "liberal" agenda (though I don't know how it's "liberal" to provide all Americans with free health coverage or demand workers get a living wage). And bang home the message that this would be what Jesus would do. Religion matters in America. Don't let the evangelicals in their suburban homes off the hook; they have a responsibility, according to the Bible, to help the poor and charity isn't good enough. Go to the deep South, go to the Mid-West with this message. Eventually, if you do it correctly, you'll make the American people, confused by Karl Rove and his spin machine, realize that you don't get the country you want by building walls and demanding tax cuts and more police and more jails.

But for now I think that Bernard Sanders is going to be a lonely man.