The Democratic Party has betrayed us

By Libby Mere words cannot convey the depth of my disgust with our current political class in DC. As Cernig, has already pointed out, the Dems failed us and betrayed us so completely this week that we can longer trust them to restore our government to its proper functioning as our Founders intended it. For over 200 years we've survived many corrupt and power mad administrations but never have they been not only left so unchallenged, but actively enabled by the legislative branch of government as they have been for the last seven years. There is only one conclusion that can be reached. The Democrats have no real interest in reining in the recklessness of this adminstration because they believe they will win in 08 and they want that power for themselves. Everything they have pretended to do since 06 especially, has been political posturing designed to portray the illusion of concern but its practical effect has been to solidify the unitary executive theory. In excerpts from a speech by true patriot Dan Ellsberg, that should be read in full, Dan notes, against all common sense that a strike on Iran is almost inevitable and calmly outlines the crisis -- and it is a crisis that needs to be dealt with right now. ...The interests of the empire, the need for hegemony, our right to control and our need to control the oil of the Middle East and many other places. That is consensual in our establishment. That is because two things come together that with the acceptance for various reasons of the Congress – Democrats and Republicans – and the public and the media, we have freed the White House – the president and the vice president – from virtually any restraint by Congress, courts, media, public, whatever. He suggests a solution. On the Democratic side, on the political side, I think we should be demanding of our Democratic leaders in the House and Senate – and frankly of the Republicans – that it is not their highest single absolute priority to be reelected or to maintain a Democratic majority so that Pelosi can still be Speaker of the House and Reid can be in the Senate, or to increase that majority. I think we’ve got to somehow get home to them [in Congress] that this is the time for them to uphold the oath, to preserve the Constitution, which is worth struggling for in part because it’s only with the power that the Constitution gives Congress responding to the public, only with that can we protect the world from mad men in power in the White House who intend an attack on Iran. But this is even bigger than just another insane military strike against a country that poses no immediate threat to us. This is about everything that has defined our form of government and our national identity for over 200 years. Our Congress no longer responds to the will, or serves the interests of the people. Both major parties have put their personal power ahead of national security. The Democrats believe they will sail into increased power in 08 simply because they are not Republicans. Those in power are not in any danger of suffering the reprecussions of their self-serving posturing. They've protected themselves on a personal level and left the people, us, to suffer the consequences. This is no longer about party, this is about incumbency. All but a handful of incumbents have sold us out on both sides of the fence. Kos posts of list today of Dems we can purportedly trust because they refused to endorse the condemnation of free speech in the ridiculous resolution on MoveOn but I don't think we can afford to trust them based on any single issue. What we must do immediately is look at our incumbents voting record in its totality. Any incumbent that has voted to subrogate our civil rights in any way, from the Patriot Act to FISA to handing Bush a free ticket to continue the failed policies of hedgemony over international consenus has got to go. The only way we're going to stop this train is throw all the freeloaders off. Starting today, right this hot minute, we must let our legislators know that in 08 we stand ready to throw all the incumbents out -- starting with Reid and Pelosi.