Abstract

Dan Carter

The article discusses changes the Democratic Party should make before its political campaigning of 2008. We delude ourselves if we believe there is a vast untapped liberal electorate waiting to be unleashed if we could only nominate a photogenic Dennis Kucinich. Support in this country for a Western European style social democracy has been withering for thirty-five years. We should not underestimate the importance of the presidency as a megaphone for shaping public opinion and redirecting political priorities, but electing a pragmatic Democrat will do little to reverse this long march to the right. Add the Republican lock on most of the electoral votes of the Old Confederacy and the Rocky Mountain states, a sclerotic political system, a campaign financing system run amok, a ruthlessly efficient right-wing political and propaganda apparatus and an electorate befuddled by a lap-dog media. We now face a generation-long campaign to reconnect our liberal traditions and policies to the day-to-day struggles--and best aspirations--of working Americans. While there are many battles to be fought in the years to come, nothing is more important than attacking the dog-eat-dog ideological assumptions of the new corporate state that now dominate American politics.