Legal Commentary

Democratic Ideological Diversity

By Big Tent Democrat

I like this piece from The Democratic Strategist on making the debate about "What Dems Should Do" a constructive one. But I take issue with this portion:

While various elements of both the centrist and progressive wings of the party may sincerely believe that in the long run a smaller but more ideologically united party would ultimately be preferable, the present moment categorically demands a basic level of Democratic unity from every element of the coalition.

(Emphasis supplied.) This is silly. No one wants a SMALLER party. Everyone wants a larger party that adheres to the views they espouse. Ed Kilgore, one of the authors of this piece, wrote a terrific piece last December regarding the very real substantive differences on health care policy in the Democratic Party. The group whose view prevailed love that Affordable Health Care Act. The rest of us think the "reform" part of the bill is a bad joke (we like Medicaid expansion of course.) What both groups want is for MORE people to agree with them. I say let the debate go forward, with respect of course. But more importantly, with honesty. The Third Way is not an honest organization. And I won't stop saying that until The Third Way stops being dishonest. The virtue of folks like Ed Kilgore, Stan Greenberg, Ruy Texeira and William Galston (the folks behind TDS) is their ability to argue their views with respect and integrity. I don't agree with them that much on the politics, but I will defend their way of handling the debate. They are models to us all.

Speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on November 04, 2010 (boomark / email).