Value Judgment: Backward Republican logic

Value Judgment is a daily weblog written by two independent voters on the eastern seaboard of the United States. VJ will focus on the 2004 U.S. Presidential campaigns, including strategy, tactics, and substance. The authors supported Howard Dean in the Democratic primary. Accordingly, his activities will be a prominent topic on this site.

Mail us:
V at valuejudgment.org or
J at valuejudgment.org

Link to VJ:

October 31, 2004

Backward Republican logic

From a commenter at The Washington Monthly:

"[Republicans'] campaign pitch follows their usual backward logic: Because we have failed to make you safe, you should re-elect us to make you safer. Because we haven't caught Osama in three years, you need us to catch Osama in the next four years. Because we didn't bother to secure explosives in Iraq, you can count on us to make sure those explosives aren't used against you.

Why hasn't President Bush made it a priority to get bin Laden? And why are so many appeasers making excuses for his failure? They just don't get the nature of evil, and that the only thing evil understands is decisive defeat, do they?"

Posted by V at October 31, 2004 10:30 AM

Comments

The only problem with this is that it's the same arguments the Democrats are making. We've been completely ineffectual at stopping the nazification of this country, so now you need us to hold them at bay. We've let the US turn into a fascist theocracy on our watch and failed to stop them, so now you need to vote for us so we can stop them. Bzuh ...

Posted by: Janis at November 1, 2004 09:08 PM

I don't know - I am still holding fast to Dean's thesis -- we are not as powerless as all that. It wasn't just the Democrats, though I am deeply unhappy with them, who allowed these treasonous fascists to gain power. Prior to this cycle, for example, I had not actively participated (beyond mouthing off and voting) in electoral politics. I'm a policy person, I said. Above all that nitty gritty stuff.

But, as Dean said in his latest book - merely voting gets you a 'D.'

In addition - this election isn't between the Democrats and the Nazis. It's between John Kerry and George Bush. Kerry was not my choice, but he's also not a darling of the Democratic establishment. He wasn't the DLC's candidate. He broke with his party in the 80s rooting out bipartisan corruption. All of the scuttlebutt is that he's kind of a loner whilst simultaneously being willing to take in all kinds of input. He'll do. And I think he'll do a lot better than Clinton did, for example.

As to the broader issue - I'm inclined to go with the Nation's take (they are not happy with the Democrats either):

The Democrats, including Kerry, have been disappointing champions of their namesake, democracy, yet the culture of their party is still an improvement over that of the Republicans. The Democrats are reluctant imperialists; the Republicans are imperialists by avocation. The Democratic Party generally wants to defend civil liberties and does so when it dares; the Republicans, with honorable exceptions, apparently would sweep them aside. The Democrats prefer social justice, however weakly they fight for it; the Republicans would give every dollar they can find to the rich. The Democrats are inclined to limit corporate power; the Republicans are corporate power.

November 3rd, the real struggle begins. It took a generation for the pseudo-fascists to take over as they have, and they did it systematically with an end goal in mind. It will take a long time and a lot of work to rid the system of their corruption. Ousting Bush is the first step. After that, as I've said before, the Democrats and Kerry are on notice and I'm with Howard Dean and his dozens - inch by inch we must continue to overcome.

Posted by: J at November 2, 2004 10:32 AM