Wake Up, Dems

The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina offers the Democratic Party a historic opportunity to show the country what makes it different from the Republican Party, and not just in terms of capping on George W. Bush's piss-poor leadership. Bashing W. isn't enough. What the Dems must do is offer Americans a sweeping vision of what this nation might become if we adopt different political principles.

This is the time for the Dems to step forward with a vision of a nation dedicated to promoting the welfare of all its citizens, not just those who can afford to pay; a nation dedicated to fairness and equality of opportunity, civil rights, and a prudent, cooperative foreign policy; a nation that understands that we're all in this together.

Unfortunately, I suspect the Dems will only offer the usual platitudes. The party is cowed, wimpy, unsure of what it stands for, alienated from its traditional base, afraid of Karl Rove and the Republican PR machine. Kerry, Clinton, Biden, none of them have the vision or the language to move beyond business as usual or mount an ideological challenge to the GOP.

Democrats onced believed that Government had a role to play in the everyday lives of citizens, that Government could be a factor in achieving greater good for more people. But that ideology has been discredited by a savvy conservative apparatus which tells us that Government in almost all its guises is bad -- bad for the economy, bad for individuals, bad for entire classes of people. Paradoxically, conservatives are quick to use Government to further their own agenda, lavishing subsidies on their corporate allies, fat contracts to political cronies, and tax "reform" for the wealthiest citizens.

Freedom, opportunity, equality, fairness, a sense for the collective welfare that can only be achieved through Government investment in roads, highways, bridges, schools, public safety and public health, these are all traditional Democratic values that should be revived in the face of a horrible tragedy that was made worse by the ideology of, "You're on your own, man."