A Message to the Progressive Base: Save the Democratic House!

Is Harry Reid un-American? This gem came from an opinion writer for the Wall Street Journal, owned by Rupert Murdoch, who recently wrote a $1 million check to Republicans. Time magazine slanders America. This contribution came from Commentary. These and other jewels, widely quoted in conservative media, offer insight into what happens in America if Republicans win control of the House of Representatives, with the power to call hearings and issue subpoenas.

My No. 1 goal for the duration of this ill-begotten campaign is to urge liberals and progressives and populists to rouse to vote to save the Democratic House.

Despite my own widely noted misgivings about Democrats in Washington, no choice has been more clear or more right than this one.

But being negative, even when true, is not enough, so here is the positive:

Progressives — who have every right to be disillusioned with Democrats in Washington — should remember that it was the Democratic House of Representatives that passed a far better healthcare bill including a public option, passed far more consumer protections against abuses from banks, passed far stronger legislation to create more American jobs, passed legislation to promote new energy and combat global warming.

Those Democrats who are the most unhappy with the Democratic president and Democratic Senate should — indeed must — remember that the Democratic House has shown the most courage, and integrity, and principle, and character of any political institution in Washington by standards of the Democratic base.

It is an irony of history that if progressives fail to vote, the great punishment, and a great political injustice from the point of view of progressives, will be to defeat a Democratic House that has delivered again and again with courage and conviction compared to other Democrats in Washington, and elect a Republican House that would be empowered with the gavel and the subpoena, and dependent on those who practice the politics of slander and derision and question the patriotism of those with whom they disagree.

Harry Reid un-American? Time magazine slanders America? Think about it. These are attacks from mainline media such as the Wall Street Journal and Commentary. These are attacks against mainline institutions of American political life, of the Senate majority leader and of Time magazine.

One need not be a profound devotee of Harry Reid or Time to be roused to vote by the thought that these are not extremist fringe groups attacking long-haired pot-smoking hippy radicals — these are mainline conservatives slandering mainline institutions and players in American political life.

The problem with the partisans and ideologues of the far right and the Republican Party is this: They do not have opponents. They have enemies. They do not campaign on better ideas. They campaign by saying their opponents are un-American. They have contempt for the diversity that is the heart of the American idea, while they attack their opponents as being un-American or slandering America.

There are already Republican members of the House telling the media they plan on hiring new Republican lawyers in the House, to begin new Republican investigations by the House, which will issue new Republican subpoenas from the House.

Does the phrase un-American ring a bell? Where have we heard that before?

Does the phrase Republican subpoena ring a bell? Let’s all remember that not long ago a Republican House, including many of the same Republicans who would rise to power if Republicans win control of the House today, were the people who impeached Bill Clinton while he was creating jobs and balancing the budget. They slandered Hillary Clinton with a fanatical vengeance, and wielded aggressive subpoenas designed to manufacture phony scandals that were proven dishonorably untrue.

One need not agree with everything President Obama has done, but look carefully at the line of attack from those who, in truth, view his presidency as illegitimate, because he does not agree with them, as they viewed President Clinton as illegitimate, because he did not agree with them.

President Obama is a socialist, they say. They imply he is a foreigner, or more friendly to foreign nations — just read their words and understand their innuendo. They charge, or hint, or imply, that he is friendly to terrorists. He is not one of us, they say, and what they mean by “us” is Americanism in their image, which is far from the image of the Founding Fathers.

People who dare to use the phrase “tea party” as though they embody the founding fathers go to rallies with photos of the president looking like Adolf Hitler, spouting intolerance of Americans with views different than theirs, hurting our troops who fight in Muslim lands by equating even the most patriotic American Muslims, who are sent by Republican and Democratic presidents alike to foreign lands as ambassadors of goodwill for the land of the free and the home of the brave, as un-American allies of terrorism and unpatriotic enemies of the state 

Show me your papers, they demand! Send out the subpoenas, they promise! This not the America of the Founding Fathers. It is not the America of the Great Declaration or the Emancipation Proclamation. It is not the America of the president they detest so much, who led the great generation and the band of brothers in the world’s greatest war for freedom.

Theirs is not the America of those who poured tea into the Boston Harbor. It is not the America of the president who stood at the foot of the Berlin Wall and said “Ich bin ein Berliner.” It is not the America of the conservative president who stood in that same place and said “Tear down this wall” because he, too, believed in a big-tent America, whatever we may think of his other views.

To me the case is clear and the cause is right. The progressive, liberal and populist base must rouse to vote to keep Congress in the hands of a Democratic House that has fought for them, and earned the right for their support, and to keep from power a Republican House whose history and tactics are widely known and whose supporters are dominated by those who question the patriotism of Harry Reid and the Americanism of Time magazine. The next on their list could be ... you.

Ladies and gentlemen of the progressive moment, you bet your behinds I am unhappy with many things about Democrats in Washington, but I repeat, the case is clear and the cause is right:

I know not what course others may take, but give me liberty or give me death, and liberty means not that people agree with me, but that we all respect the great diversity of the American family, the great truth of the American idea, and the great mosaic of the American community in which “show me your papers” and “send out the subpoenas” will not become victorious election slogans that abuse the dreams of Washington, Madison, Adams, Jefferson and Lincoln.

Let’s keep power in Washington out of the hands of partisans and extremists who would use their subpoenas as an abuse of liberty, as they did in the case of Bill Clinton, and Hillary Clinton, and as they would do again today if given the power and given the chance.

I believe it is vital for all progressive Americans to rouse to vote in the coming election, to save the Democratic House which has earned their vote by their actions. This would not only save the Democrats, but save the nation from those who believe that political opponents are not fellow patriots with differing views, but enemies of the state who must be slandered, and libeled, and attacked, and destroyed.

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