Why, Democrats? WHY?!

Let me just preface this by saying, again, that I am a lifelong Democrat. I'm crazy liberal, for real. But I'm also more liberal than my party tends to like. Democrats evidently like staying towards the center on, oh, I don't know, EVERYTHING. Therein lies the problem.

Last night, Massachusetts attorney general Martha Coakley lost the special election for the late Teddy Kennedy's senate seat to a funny little fellow named Scott Brown. Yeah, read that a couple of times to let it sink in. Democrats let Teddy Kennedy's seat go to a Republican. A Republican who, even though there was an Independent also running in this race, evidently doesn't think he's a Republican, because he almost never mentioned it and told people at his acceptance speech that the "independent-minded" of Massachusetts had spoken, or something to that affect. I mean, come on guys, we're going to lose that seat, of all seats? Shameful, pitiful and embarrassing.

It's not all Martha Coakley's fault, but most of it is. She was a horridly weak candidate who spent a great deal of the time she should have been campaigning taking a vacation. Sorry, you're not George W. Bush, Martha, you don't get to spend most of your time on vacation. Apparently the Democratic Party just thought it was a given that no Republican would ever take the seat that once belonged to the Lion of the Senate, Teddy Kennedy. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

My theory on all of this is that the Democratic Party has lost its way, big time. They believe that being centrists and never really having a staunch, heavy footed stance on anything is what is going to win for them every time. Well, yeah, maybe they'll win a lot with that approach, but don't we expect more of them? I do, especially as a very far left progressive member of the party. I want my voice heard, and no one seems to be hearing it. Barack Obama certainly isn't hearing it. Obama is no progressive, don't be fooled and don't talk yourself into believing that he is. He is as centrist at worst and a lackadaisical liberal at best. I'm pretty sure progressives knew this three years ago when Obama announced his candidacy, but no one else ever caught on. The same could be said for Hillary Clinton and Rahm Emanuel and the majority of Obama's cabinet, though I think Joe Biden is quite progressive, but it seems his pull on this president is not quite as heavy as the pull Dick Cheney had on our last president. Which, to be honest, is probably a good thing, though I'd like to believe Joe Biden would use his powers for good instead of evil.

I just can't get my head around what Democrats think that they're doing. We have a majority, which means we get to make the rules. That's why we voted for Democrats, across the board, in 2008. So what do they do? They become a bunch of pussies and refuse to even consider using reconciliation because they have the magic "60." Well, call bullshit on that, because if you even have the slightest inkling that Joe Lieberman is a Democrat, you're wrong. Technically he's registered as a Democrat, but what Democrat in their right mind would endorse a man who is clearly losing his mind (John McCain) and that half-wit running mate, who is clearly out of her mind (Sarah Palin)? I mean, come on. Joe Lieberman may be a Democrat, but he acts like a Republican and he runs as an Independent. Which is silly, because he's clearly not an Independent. And he is also clearly not our 60th vote, which is a stupid fucking concept to begin with. We have the majority, we get to make the big decisions. You know why? BECAUSE WE'RE THE FUCKING MAJORITY! Am I missing something? We should only need 51 votes to pass anything because, again, MAJORITY RULES. Further proof that the government in our country is completely blind to what the people want and refuse to explain to us, in layman's terms, what all of this crap means. I consider myself pretty "up" on what's going on in politics, especially now that I'm unemployed and I watch or listen to the news most of the day, even in my car, but there are just some things that the average person (Average Joe? Gross) will never comprehend, namely anything having to do with economics or anything having to do with health care. This is something the else the Democratic Party should be adept at, but they aren't. Party of the people, my ass.

The Democrats (sorry, I'm not sure when that should or should not be capitalized so I'm just doing it every time) have failed, miserably, with the task we gave them. They were voted in as a referendum on George W. Bush and his massive failure of a presidency (and it still boggles my mind that he was a elected to a second term). They have dropped the ball. Does that mean I want Republicans taking over again? Fuck no. They're worse now than they ever have been. But, you have to say this for them, they are far better organized than we are. That is their strong suit, their ace in the hole: they can organize. Democrats can't organize for shit. I mean, come on, we suck at this. You think the senate floor is like hoarding cats? Try organizing a bunch of Democrats to do something. We can't get behind a single message, which is fine, we don't have to agree on everything, but we need to have an overall goal for ourselves. We want national health care, for everyone, paid for by the government? Then we better get off of our asses and demand it. Because Republicans (Teabaggers especially) are out there making it look like they are the disgruntled masses. They're stealing our thunder. We bitched and whined for eight years about George W. Bush and his complete and utter insanity (not to mention the truly crazy rantings and behind-the-scenes manipulations one Dick Cheney) and then, as soon as we get our new guy in office (who was a bad choice as a candidate but, evidently, was the only one who was ever going to win) we peace out and let them go back to doing what they were doing.

We can't only be involved in this shit every four years, when we elect a new president. We have to give a shit all year, every year. Otherwise, they just do what they want and they see these Teabaggers out there, screaming and ranting like the crazed, Mountain Dew motivated, yee-haw racists they are, and they think that that's what is happening to everyone in this country. It's not. We're not all Teabaggers (yes, I capitalize that, because I can), though the fact that I agree with them about this awful health care bill is terrifying. I mean, I don't really agree with them, but we're oddly on the same side, which just makes my skin crawl.

Do I even have a point? I'm not sure. All I know is that I'm sick of the Democratic Party's inability to get anything done. We've wasted a year and they've barely accomplished anything. Maybe Scott Brown winning in Massachusetts is a blessing in disguise. Maybe this is what Democrats needed to light a fire under their ass and make them realize that things are possible without that mythological 60th vote. Either way, they just need to do something. That's all I'm saying.