Democratic values

Ever since the GOP thought they had Clinton nailed in 1992 with their family values campaign, folks have begun to wonder what values the Democrats believe in. After rather a lot of Republican yammering about this, I drafted a list:Respect for veterans: Democrats don’t like it when draft dodgers like Bush, Cheney and the gang lead the attack on guys like McCain, Murtha and Kerry, who actually put their necks on the line.

Presidential accountability: Democrats believe no president is above the law. They don’t like to hear “I’m the president, and I don’t care about the law. I can spy on you, detain you, torture you, and you can’t stop us. My Attorney General nominee says I can ignore not only international law but US law if I decide it’s a national security issue – however I define it. If I don’t like a law passed by Congress, I can attach one of my 750 signing statements, saying I can re-write the law any old way I want, even if it contravenes the law. I’ll even launch an FBI raid in Capitol Hill – even if the GOP members of Congress think it’s crazy.”

Accountability II: Abu Ghuraib, Haditha…A vice president going out drinking and then shooting some guy’s face off with a gun he wasn’t even licensed to carry.

Abuse of power: Democrats don’t like to see a president condemning classified leaks and then…indulging in classified leaks, with the aim of destroying political enemies.

Fighting corruption: Democrats don’t like to see the president’s corporate pals evading justice for corporate crimes just because of their campaign contributions, to include gasoline price-gouging at the pumps.

Honesty: Bush got us into war on a lie, but Clinton is the one who deserved impeachment…?

Integrity: Abramoff, Delay, Rove, Libby….

Competence: Democrats could have done better in managing the war in Iraq, providing proper body armor for our troops, managing Katrina, finding bin Laden, nominating a qualified Supreme Court justice instead of Harriet Miers, setting up a port deal with an Arab country with proper consultation….

Responsible handing of money: Democrats liked Clinton’s success in creating actual budget surpluses, contrary to Bush’s deficits which mortgage our future to the Chinese, tax breaks for the rich and for campaign contributors, sky-high gas prices, 40 million without health insurance, thousands of whom go bankrupt through Bush’s incompetence.

Keeping US commitments: Democrats would never countenance Bush’s attack on the social security network, which consists of money which legitimately belongs to the contributors, not Bush.

Freedom: Democrats still want an explanation for how the Patriot Act is constitutional, no matter how afraid we are.

Democracy: Democrats are concerned when the entire leadership of a major political party runs into the streets screaming “don’t count the votes” as they did in 2000, and then set about illegally gerrymandering the Texas congressional districts, and then trying to kill the 200-year-old right of extended debate in the Senate just because the Senate Democrats were legitimately using it to further honest ends.

Tolerance: the Democrats oppose the GOP effort to peddle hate, fear and intolerance, peddling gay marriage and flag burning as issues worth constitutional amendments, just to spin up the GOP base of mouth-breathing Neanderthals.

Getting government off our backs: Democrats believe in the right to choose.

Freedom of religious choice: Democrats don’t want to ram their beliefs down anyone else’s throats in the form of school prayer or anything else. Or whip up hysteria over the non-existent issue of the alleged attack on Christianity.

Upholding a strong press, not attacking it endlessly as too liberal or trying to subvert the process by means of secret governmental propaganda in Iraq.

Facing facts: …global warming…is derided as “reality-based science”?So that’s what the Democrats believe in: respect for veterans, accountability, fighting corruption, honesty, integrity, competence, the responsible handling of money, keeping our commitments, freedom, democracy, tolerance, getting government off our backs, religious choice, freedom of the press, and facing facts.

And the Republicans? All they stand for is…trying to grab and hold power so they can continue to destroy the country.