Tell me what you think of the realization that I had in the last month: as much as it pains me to suggest this, the best thing that can happen for someone of my political leanings (conservative libertarian), and, I'd argue, the country as a whole, is Hillary Clinton as the Democratic nominee. (Which, I believe leads to her winning in the general election.)
Why? Because I'm hoping that the Democratic party spurning Obama in spite of the vote & delegate advantages would splinter the monolithic African-American voting block. I think the implicit message in an HRC-nomination that the Democratic party isn't any more favorable to African-Americans than the Republicans would allow these voters to consider other options, facilitating both a more diverse Republican party, and perhaps a viable third party.
But more important than party politics, spurned African-American voters could break the logjam on issues that I believe we need to move on to make a better America. African-Americans have been voting for the status quo and against change to their own detriment. (Ironic, eh?) Best example: school choice. I really think the biggest beneficiaries of increased school choice will be the least advantaged students, but African-American voting in support of the traditional Democrat lobbies (in this case, teacher's unions) sustains the status quo. Plenty of polls show that core African-American issues/stances actually match up well with Republican policies, but since buying into the Great Society, African-Americans have been solidly, and perhaps blindly Democrats.
(Counter-interpretation: Party elders (Dean, Pelosi, etc.) realize the long-term stakes, and that's why Obama will be the nominee.)
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With my new friends on the Great Wall of China
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1 comment:
(Dave Tayman here, its like a never-ending process to maintain a google/blogger account for me)
What do you think of HRC's speech last night? I thought that last night was the night that it became clear that the Democrats are going to lose the general election. She is running such a lackluster campaign and seems simply not to be appealing to a large enough segment of the base AND YET Obama does not seem to be able to knock her out. How will he ever compete against an organized John McCain campaign that by default will have the backing of most if not all of the traditional republican voters and a good portion of democrats as well. Remember, McCain is not some kind of arch conservative and, setting aside the very recent murmurings about his cozying up to the religious right, he has traditionally been very critical of the extreme wing of the republican party.
As a lifelong Democrat (who would probably have been a Reagan democrat 30 years ago) the malaise of the Democratic party and its ability to continually advance candidates who are simply too liberal for most Americans to vote for makes me sad. Although I am not really sure what I am sad about -- other than the 8 years of Clinton that has been the case since LBJ. I think the Democratic party is out of synch with America. They didn't get that when they lost to George II in 2004 and they don't seem to be getting it now. Although I like McCain, I do not appreciate what is effectively a one party system in the United States and wish there was some viable alternative to the republicans. On a national level the Democratic party is no longer viable as far as I am concerned.
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