American Politics Journal

An Open Letter to Tom Daschle
Seize the Agenda
by Gene Gaudette
With comments by the staff of American Politics Journal and our online friends

American Politics Journal Publications
459 Columbus Avenue -- Suite 294
New York NY 10024

Friday, May 25, 2001

Dear Senator Daschle:

In a matter of days, thanks to yesterday's "Declaration of Independence" by Vermont Senator James Jeffords, you will officially become Majority Leader of the Senate.

At this time, Senate Democrats face a major problem. It has to do with the way in which they are perceived -- by rank-and-file Democrats, fence-sitters, and the GOP. They are seen as having caved into the demands of the Dick Cheney-Andrew Card wrecking crew on every pivotal decision beginning with this year's electoral vote, when Congressperson after Congressperson stood up to denounce the de facto appointment of former Texas governor George W. Bush to the highest office in the land by five Supreme Court Justices. Senate Democrats could have spoken up -- but did nothing.

This disheartening assessment of Democrat passivity has not changed one whit since that -- right up to and including yesterday's confirmation of the unctuous Theodore Olson as Solicitor General.

Even though you do not officially hold the title of Majority Leader today, it is my hope -- and the hope of millions of Americans -- that you act as such starting now.

Seize the agenda.

Now.

Last November, Al Gore won the popular vote -- his vision, policies, and agenda were supported by not only a majority of voters who went to the polls, but those who did not or could not. If we lived in a nation that had truly free and fair elections -- the type in which the winner of the popular vote were elected -- Al Gore would be President, working with you on a popular and progressive agenda. If the electoral vote had not been hijacked by intervention by the Supreme Court, it is likely the same would be true.

Instead, we are seeing a replay of the Age of Gipper, only far worse. The people spoke, yet Cheney, Card and their team have shoved an agenda antithetical to the needs, views, and aspirations of America down our throats.

Since Gore is not in the Oval Office where he belongs, it falls to you, as the top Democrat in the federal government, to champion this agenda.

I urge you not only to seize the agenda, but to do so with courage and vigor. Remind your Republican colleagues in the Senate -- and the House of Representatives -- that in the most important race of 2000, the people voted for a different agenda than the one being steamrolled through Congress by the West Wing, and that Mr. Bush does not have a mandate. Instead, he has a stack of IOUs from energy brokers, fossil fuel extractors, media conglomerates, big businesses, and lobbyists. Quid-pro-quos do not constitute a legitimate agenda.

Rest assured that the majority of Americans will rally around not only you but your fellow Democrats and independents with the courage and wherewithal to back the people. They already associate "bipartisanship" with surrender, but you can also be certain that they will know the difference between your defense of the majority's interests and what are sure to be coming cheap-shot accusations of "gridlock."

I have attached comments not only from writers on our staff but from many of our online friends and colleagues -- a diversity of views and opinion that share one common thread:

Senator Daschle, you are the standard-bearer for the American agenda.

Seize it. Now.

Yours very truly,

Gene Gaudette
Publisher
American Politics Journal

From Tamara Baker, American Politics Journal
Agenda #1 (for the Dem politicians): Ignore the Scare Tactics of the Mainstream Media and Do the Right Thing.

The Press, GOP-controlled as it is, will try to frighten Dems into hiding under their beds wearing pink tutus. Don't let them.

The Press is bloviating about how That Nasty Traitor Jeffords Has Committed Political Suicide. Bullshit. He beat his last opponent by around a 30-point margin. His constituents love him.

I wish all Dems could be as brave as Jim Jeffords, and just do what they know is right.

Agenda #2 (outside of the halls of Congress): In the meantime, it's time that Democratic operatives start doing what the Repubs did, and buy themselves a TV network.

The Dems need a media network that will REALLY be a Dem network: the anti-FOX. This network must not be so ideologically driven that it falls into the FOX trap of lies and poorly sourced "journalism"; if we want people to watch us and take us seriously, we HAVE to avoid the GOP trait of lying about everything.

If the Dems do these two things, they will be unstoppable.

From Edmund Zimmerman, Tongue Magazine
If I had a wish list, paramount would be the elimination of the concept of bipartisanship.

In the past, concessions have been made by the Democratic party to racists, religious fundamentalists, and most recently to soft-money contributors. Modern day Dixiecrats (the Democratic Leadership Council) should be shunned...it should be enough that we have to listen to the Lotts and the Cheneys, that serious media outlets from PBS to CBS accept unquestioningly their most vile and dishonest pronouncements while dismissing progressive thought as divisive or extremist. Democrats must stand up to this cabal of rich white guys who are dragging us further and further into our own inglorious past. Unfortunately, the rewards available to Democrats who acquiesce are formidable...some may say irresistible.

From an Internet activist

To a large extent, the Democrats will be fighting a defensive battle for many years to come. It's still all too possible for Robert Byrd to pass to the great beyond and for Zell Miller to stop pretending to be a Republican and actually become one. The dynamic in 2002 is favorable, since few Senate Democrats are up for re-election, but the Republicans have so much power that Democrats are at an extreme disadvantage in terms of fund raising. Strategically, therefore, there are four major objectives: prevent the Republicans from destroying the solvency, judiciary and environment of this nation; level the playing field on campaign finance; expose the truth about Florida and other Bush corruption; and--maybe most important-- keep the Democratic coalition together. We should expect to take a lot of losses in the short-term and have a lot of mop up in the long run, but the Republicans have overreached. We HAVE to let African Americans and other members of the coalition know that they have not been forgotten.

These objectives are tactical, not strategic. In the longer view, the Democratic Party must return to its roots of defending the middle class and poor against corporate power, of defending civil liberties against police powers and of demanding justice for all. Some of the main strategic objectives should be:

1. Put teeth back into the anti-trust laws
2. Break up the media monopolies and regain a free press; use public TV for public discourse like campaigns
3. Re-dedicate the nation to lifting up the poor, to ending over a century of separate and not quite equal
4. Re-establish justice in the lawcourts by streamlining and simplifying the law, making resources available to the defense.
5. Re-establish tax justice by simplifying the tax code, imposing a wealth tax against holdings of over $1 million (requires a constitutional amendment) and eliminating the tax penalties and complexity imposed on the self-employed.
6. Develop a strategy for the economy of the future where there will NOT be work for everyone.
7. Turn the medical and scientific knowledge of this country to making old age comfortable
8. Health insurance for all.
9. Make a living wage a constitutional right (which requires a constitutional amendment)
10. Clean up business corruption. Simplify and enforce contracts of all kinds.
11. Dedicate America to helping the Third World develop. Make a substantial commitment to debt relief, agricultural development, development of vaccines and medications for TB, malaria and other scourges of the poor.

To do these things will require not just a Democratic sweep, but a clean up of the Democratic Party. This whole country is corrupt. Shrub is just the symptom.

And for now? PARTY ON!

From Johnny Angel, LA Weekly
The Agenda:
Death Penalty moratorium
Minumum wage hike to at least 7.75/hr.
No aid to the Taliban
End to mandatory minimum sentencing
Anti-trust action against the media monopolies, restoration of the Fairness Doctrine
No more bombing of Vieques
Decriminalization of marijuana, if not the legalization of drugs.

From Dash Riprock, American Politics Journal
My happiness over the principled party switch of Jeffords was quickly doused by the cold water of hearing of the rat-bastard Ted Olson being voted in as Solicitor General. I feel this represents something far more dangerous than even Ashcroft's confirmation, and with Olson as Ashcroft's bookend in the Supreme Court, dire and far-reaching set-backs are inevitable.

Jeffords' switch is a golden opportunity. It exposes the weak underbelly of the extreme and unpopular policies of Bush and the right. It also opens a huge chink in the very thing that the Bushies have so far used so effectively: their ability to make the press, and by extension the public, feel that Dumbo's "administrication" is run by "grown-ups" who, you can rest assured, will do the "right thing." They've managed to project the aura that resistance is futile. But Jeffords' walking away from the GOP exposes that lie, and Dems simply MUST stiffen their opposition and ignore the BS accusations of their not being "bi-partisan" and insist, rightly, that the majority's will be done. The Repugs' whining about there not being enough "bi-partisanship" is only another way of saying that they find ANY argument against their views as distasteful. Screw that!

Democrats must immediately seize this opportunity and show that this is a truly historic opportunity, since it essentially restores democracy to our country.

They must highlight just how extreme and unfair the Repubs have been in ramrodding their extreme policies through the legislative branch, and it must be shown in the strongest way possible that they do NOT have broad popular support by any means.

Olson slipping by is a very depressing reminder that the Dems still can't get their act together to stand up to this juggernaut by the plutocratic brown-shirts of the Chimp administration. And attention paid to the Jeffords decision needs to be seized, amplified, and built upon.

Will the Dems get the job done? I'm not betting on it.

From Linda Starr
How about a Democratic leadership that begins to act like they represent the voters, rather than wimping out all the time? How about they start refusing to confirm any judicial nominations by GWB, refusing to pass the tax cut and get control of legislation for education, protecting the environment, women's rights issues, and Social Security/Medicare? How about they start calling for a congressional judicial investigation into the election fraud and the "Insupremes'" ruling on Bush v. Gore with such conflicts of interests? How about they start researching/enacting a national across the board set of standards to settle federal election results? How about Democrats start acting like Al Gore won and the mandate of the people in NOT with GWB and the GOP?

From Eileen Smith
The agenda should begin with a commitment to telling the truth to the American people in matters large and small. This should begin with the opening of files and the releasing of reports and the declassifying of documents kept secret too long, because one of our clearest ongoing dangers is the ability of extremists to bury their treacheries and secrets (such as Iran-Contra, "Korea-gate", and the machinations of the William Jefferson Clinton impeachment). A calm, courageous and committed effort should be made to advance the agenda without spin, grounded in the simple fact that most Americans and the Democratic party already agree on what's good for America, and there's no need to deceive the people in order to move ahead, as the Republicans must do.



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