That’s true, I guess I was thinking of good things championed by Democrats. The effect of LBJ leading the charge to push the bill through, and of course signing it without a veto or threat of a veto, was mainly what I was thinking.
Fair criticism though. Since it wasn’t something the main opposition came from Republicans on, I’ll pick another.
Most Environmental Protection legislation. These tend to be strongly opposed by Republicans, but without stronger emissions standards pushed through a number of years ago LA would look like Shanghi.
I’ll go with Sam Stone’s premise and list positive things:
I like that the Republicans stand up for gun rights, even though I don’t like guns. How “liberal” can = more restrictions on an issue like that, I don’t know.
I like that the Democrats stand up for abortion rights, even though I don’t like abortions; sometimes they are necessary and if you make it a black and white issue I’m going to come down on the side I believe is safer - protecting the mother in cases of dangerous pregnancies, rape, incest, etc.
Things I don’t like:
I used to feel pretty hostile towards religion - I honestly don’t anymore but I’m still disgusted by the extent to which Republicans have used it as a tool.
I’m also disgusted that the Democrats seem to have caught on to this. Nancy Pelosi sounded SO. FAKE. when she said “god bless america!” in her speech the other day. And Obama made my skin crawl when he said he believes a marriage is between one man and one woman, and it’s a religious union under god.
I don’t like how both parties tend to spend our money so irresponsibly.
GOP 1: Using US forces as stalking horse for an anti-democratic coup in Iran on behalf of the UK. Utterly illegal, huge after-effects, may well hang over us long after the wounds of Vietnam & Iraq heal. (Technically a Washington establishment error, but Truman had nixed a similar plan before Eisenhower’s State Dept did it.)
GOP 2: The failure to build a serious theory of the party, or “conservatism” or what have you, & work from that. Instead we range from picking the thoughtless, easy way forward at any given time to following whatever the leader of the party wants just because he’s the leader. From this we get:[ul][li]Embracing the anti-environmentalist backlash in the 1980’s as just another part of the coalition.[]Embracing W Bush’s ridiculous attempt at dynasticism.[]Throwing out all the arguments against nation-building because Bush suddenly wanted to do it.[/ul]& so forth.[/li]
Dem 1: Escalation in Vietnam. Yeah, Eisenhower had sent a few people, but LBJ ballooned it. One good thing came out of it at least. It finally ended the damn draft.
Dem 2: The longtime embrace of deficit spending & fiscal irresponsibility (but both parties do that).
Lessons:[ul][]Don’t let some grand theory override common sense. (Both interventions–in Iran & Vietnam–were sold as anti-Communist.)[]Don’t be an imperialist bastard. (Both times, it was a lie.)[]Don’t be like a fascist, following the leader wherever. Nor simply triangulate public sentiment. Instead, think about the real effects of your actions.[]Pay your own way. That gets some credibility.[/ul]
GOP 1: Actually working with Clinton toward a surplus in the 1990’s. (It’s hard to pick a GOP accomplishment; except during the Gingrich years, it’s all Presidential policies, not Congressional–hence a man more than the party.)
GOP 2: I almost said term limits, but I think that ended up *causing *problems. Yeah, I got nothing. Most politicians are useless buffoons.
Dem 1: Voting Rights & Civil Rights, in the 1960’s. Easy.
Dem 2: Um, er, building the regulatory state, with OSHA, EPA, etc.? I dunno.
Note that term limits, while unhelpful, are popular, while regulatory agencies, while useful, are unpopular. What wins elections isn’t necessarily good.
Amnesty in 1984. If that didn’t happen and the law was upheld we wouldn’t have 12,000,000 more here now.
The way the GOP frames the abortion debate. Everyone wants fewer abortions, but I think they simply ignore the the consequences of their desires should it be passed into law.
Dems = good
The Dems were on the right side in the hullabaloo over Elian Gonzalez.
The Dems position of wanting abortions to be legal, safe, and rare.
GOP = good
Tax cuts. All of them.
The aid given to Africa during Bush’s term.
Dems = bad
The blind eye they turn to illegal aliens.
The way they’ve allowed the party to be hijacked by the extreme left.
*I get to play twice since I’m a registered Independent and hate both parties.
Welfare reform would be in there, as well. But I didn’t want to start a debate about which side actually made it happen. (But we know, don’t we…)
Pretty much same here on all counts. I could almost imagine myself voting Republican (in fact, I did once consider myself Republican) if the party were more towards the fiscally responsible libertarian end of things rather than the socially conservative/religious end of things. If the Republican party truly were the party of fiscal responsibility and “less government”, I could consider them.
I’m not sure I agree that Democrats have been hijacked by the “extreme left.” If they have, then certainly you must agree Republicans have been hijacked by the “extreme right.” I personally don’t think either party has been hijacked by either extremity. Then again, what someone considers “extreme left” may be just plain ol’ vanilla left to me.
So, unfortunately, I don’t really think I can establish any current bipartisan cred here, not with the way the Republican party is now. The only Republican I can ever see myself voting for with politics in its current state is whomever runs agains Rod Blagojavich for Illinois governor.
Republicans:
*Alliance with the Christian Fundamentalists. Alienated a lot of people who otherwise wouldn’t have a problem with GOP policies. Allowed the Religious Right a foothold in to change those policies to fit their own narrow worldview.
*Pushing the war in Iraq. Caused a massive hemorrhage of dollars. Caused massive damage to the way other nations perceive us and set a dangerous precedent in terms of future wars. To be fair, the Democrats bear the blame for this as well since they just rolled over and showed their soft underbelly rather than fighting it.
Democrats:
*Escalating the Vietnam War. Caused massive damage to the way other nations perceive us and set a dangerous precedent in terms of future wars. Damaged an entire generation (PTSD, etc).
*Gun control. Made a mountain out of a molehill. Alienated a lot of people who otherwise wouldn’t have a problem with Democratic policies. Put the emphasis on banning rather than teaching safety.
Republicans
-their constant affiliation with the interests of big business.
-the all consuming obsession with abortion and gay marriage.
Democrats
-Nominating Kerry. I’ll jump on the band wagon. I voted for him, because I couldn’t stand another four years of bush. It was a “clothespin” vote. Hated both candidates.
-making the Iraq war their hill to die on. We are involved now, pulling out before we did our job would make a lot of the lives lost be in vain.
Both Parties
Oh…where do I start. Giving the middle class no party that consistently supports their interests. The Democrats refuse to revisit the Alternative Minimum Tax and adjust it for inflation, meaning more and more people are getting caught up in it, at the same time that they are trying to make enough money to send kids to college and plan responsibly for retirement. The Republicans’ consistent support for big businesses, allowing them to shop for labor overseas (devaluing American salaries), and enabling them to pillage employee retirement funds and cut back on healthcare while allowing the executives to walk away with billions of dollars. Also, the recent trend on both parties to allow mergers that are creating trusts and reducing both competition for services and limiting employees’ mobility between companies (to improve wages and work conditions).
Tandem major mistake #1, Democrats and Republicans: Getting involved in and staying mired in Vietnam. Plenty of blame to go around. A wretched, useless, costly, lost war.
Tandem major mistake #2, Democrats and Republicans: Letting themselves be defined and controlled by minority elements in their parties that ultimately disgusted large segments of the electorate and were easily demonized by the opposition. Lack of initiative on major policy questions. Failure to lead.
Bipartisan thought: While I would not vote for him if the election was today, and noting the ways he has disappointed me recently, John McCain still gets my respect for doing the right things even when it looked like it would cost him key party support (i.e. working for campaign finance reform and challenging Bush on treatment of terrorism suspects).
That’s a good list. Republicans without fundie ties and Democrats without the gun control issue . . . either of those parties would be a lot easier to vote for than what we’ve got now.
GOP 1: Another vote for their unswerving alliance with the Religious Right. Their shift in emphasis from fiscal conservatism to social conservatism has alienated more people than it’s attracted. Not to mention the atrocities it spawned, such as the attempted politicization of the Justice Department. Justice is supposed to be blind–apparently the fundies figured Jesus could heal that blindness.
GOP 2: Backing Bush over McCain in 2000. When McCain started winning primaries, they should have had the good sense to adjust their game plan to fit the wishes of their electorate, rather than shifting the electorate’s perception to fit their agenda. One can only wonder how differently things would have turned out had a younger, more independent McCain won.
I disagree. Kerry was strategically a good choice–a decorated combat veteran running against a wartime President with no combat experience of questionable popularity. The mistake was:
Dem 1: Not answering the Swiftboaters quickly and severely. I mean, here’s the party that professes to “support the troops” attempting to belittle the record of a man who served honorably in combat. The Democrats could have made massive amounts of political hay out of that, and ridden that haywagon all the way to Pennsylvania Avenue. Instead, they chose to downplay it and hope it would go away–a failed strategy they’ve nevertheless continued to implement since Willie Horton. Hopefully, they’ve learned that it’s hard to fight by Marquess of Queensberry rules when your opponent is allowed to kick you repeatedly in the nuts.
Dem 2: The escalation of the Vietnam war–the Democrats’ Iraq.
I think this would need the corrective of restricting the timeframe to the current decade, or maybe from 1993 to the present. Neither party is the same as it was 20 years ago, let alone 40-50 years ago.
That said, I see no need to establish bipartisan cred. Unlike when I was growing up, today the parties are fundamentally different in governing philosophy. There really is no ‘middle’ between believing and not believing in government as a means of solving collective problems.
