Liberals Need to Grow a Pair

It's taken me about 6 months to internalize the reelection of George W. to be President a second time around. I did a lot of work on the Kerry campaign, and I think I've finally worked my way through all of the stages of grief. Time to start talkin' politics again. (Feel free to tune out now.)

It's finally dawned on me the exact moment when liberals and liberalism took the wrong turn that keeps them out of the presidency. A defining moment, this short exchange firmly established that liberals lack the plain guts to speak their minds and be bold, firm, and demonstrate their values and resolve. We became wusses when Michael Dukakis was asked by Bernie Shaw if he would still be opposed to the death penalty if his wife was raped and murdered.

I remember watching that debate back in 1988 and thinking; "Dang! That's an outrageous question. Dukakis better come back strong at him on that one."

But he didn't, he waffled and hemmed and hawed and gave an answer out of a law book. He was wishy-washy when what was needed was more like this:

"Bernie, if that happened to my wife I'd want to personally kill the man who did it. But in a society like ours we have given the right to seek retribution to the government. I would want that man caught, tried and punished, and I'd be certain that he got the full penalty of the law. But, in the case of capital punishment, I feel that sanctioning the death of another person by the state has a coarsening effect on our society. Not to mention the opportunity for error when a huge government agency gets put in charge of something. I'd sleep just fine knowing that anyone who harmed a member of my family would spend the rest of their natural lives locked up somewhere."

Americans want to hear plain talk from their leaders, and it's too rare that they get to hear it. And worst of all are my fellow liberals who insist on seeing every side of an issue and talking around problems until the average American is just dizzy from it all. And so we get stuck with the much lesser of the possibilities, a President who talks plain and straight because he is. Sadly he's also surrounded himself with men and women and supporters who haven taken America in directions that are just wrong. The liberals who could have made a difference in the last election let us down by once again coming off as mealy-mouthed on the one hand, but willing to say just about anything to get elected on the other.

Americans want values yes, but not the intolerance represented by the religious right and their, a relatively small minority that votes well. No, Americans want to know from a leader's actions and words exactly where he stands and what he is all about. George W. does that exceedingly well, while no Democrat that I have seen lately is able to do the same. (That Bill guy was sure good at sounding sincere. Too bad he was a liar who also damaged his party and cheapened the office of the Presidency.)

But even beyond the election, what Democrats and liberals desperately need to do is to start engaging the debate on all of the issues that surround our society and its direction. And I don't mean seating another panel of experts, holding hearings, or even getting on the Sunday new shows. I mean standing up and saying the things that need to be said.

That we do have problems with popular culture. It's not right that any kid in America can turn on their TV and see the worst of our nation displayed as a model of behavior. We need to get a handle on the kind of cheap trash that is on display and bring it under control of America's parents. Why should the parents of America have to condone a media conglomerate the chance to make a profit by pandering to our worst impulses and less mature instincts? Liberals are for family values? I want to hear more about it.

Liberals need to frame the whole debate about abortion and a woman's right to choose in the larger debate of what the heck has happened to fatherhood in our nation? Have we developed sub-cultures where it's common and acceptable for girls to be having babies at 14, 15, 16? And why is it that the boys get a pass on the consequences of their actions? When did our society decide it was OK for boys to just skip from girl to girl and have as many babies as they wanna? Or so disrespect the women in their lives that they think this is proper behavior? No. It's wrong and our society needs to do something about pregnancy prevention in a big way so that boys and girls learn to do the right thing. Abstinence, prevention, safe sex are all part of that debate, but liberals ought to be standing up and demanding responsibility from fathers too.

The list goes on, but the equation for other topics is just as basic. Americans don't want to hear catch phrases and buzz words, or a message crafted for a candidate by some consulting group. They want to hear about those values that matter--their families, their work, their neighborhoods. They want to have respect shown to their faith. Liberals need to find a way to be plain about those things, and to enunciate the real core values of what's important in our society. To stand up for something and believe it's important and to be unwavering in that belief in the face of criticism. To have the intestinal fortitude to stand firm.

Until they do they'll be giving over the reigns of power to those who do stand up for their beliefs, not matter how wrong they may be.