Howard Dean

Although I do profess to be non-partisan, I must say that I am encouraged by the election of Howard Dean to the chairman of the DNC. It seems that finally a liberal who is not afraid of being labled as such has found a position with the power to enact real change, and despite what many Republicans and conservative Democrats have expressed, I believe that it will only help the Democrats in the future. Howard Dean has the opportunity now to bring those like me, on the far left, back to the Democratic party, while at the same time winning the vote of the more moderate swing voters by showing strength and leadership.

The repeated failures of the Democrats in recent elections can be attributed in a large part to a sense among the public of a lack of backbone. The Republicans had a great deal of success in portraying John Kerry as a "flip-flopper" because he was too careful to not alienate anyone, and therefore never chose a decisive stance on any issue. The Republicans did not win the vote of the right-leaning moderates by pandering to the left, and watering down their stances on issues. They won votes by taking strong stances on issues. While many did not agree with most of Bush's policys, they liked him as a candidate because they knew what he stood for. They were able to see him as a leader because he was not afraid to take a stand on issues. Republicans right now have an ultra-conservative platform, and are doing better than ever.

The greatest failure of the Democrats has been in allowing the Republicans steal the position as the "moral" party. The party who's foreign policy consists of sending our troops to war under false pretenses to ensure economic dominance throughout the world is now accepted as the "moral" party. The party who's economic policy consists of eliminating social welfare programs and creating record deficits to fund tax cuts for the rich and billion-dollar-a-day wars in multiple countries is now known as the "moral" party. The party that opposes abortion under all circumstances while at the same time advocates eliminating sex education in schools, and funding for programs to take care of unwanted children is known as the "moral" party. The party that is in favor of eliminating the right to overtime pay for millions of workers is the "moral" party. The party who's plan to fight forrest fires is to open national parks to logging companies is the "moral" party. The party who appointed Antonio Gonzalez as Attorney General, the man who called the Geneva conventions "quaint" and helped create a list of acceptable forms of torture when interrogating foreign prisoners, is known as the "moral" party. This list can go on and on. What Howard Dean needs to do is stand up, as he has done in the past, and scream that these corporate, neo-conservative imperialists do not represent American morality.