From the way many leftists are treating the results of this election, you’d think that world was about to end now that Republicans are in control. Why now we’re going to start launching nuclear weapons at everyone who doesn’t agree with us! (I’m looking at you, France!) The GOP is going to publicly shred the Constitution! All liberals will be sent to McCartyite reeducation camps! It’s the end of the world!
All I can say to that is get a fucking grip!
The reason why the Democrats lost big is plainly evident in the way they’re handling this defeat – by saying that it’s all some Evil Republican Conspiracy and that Republicans are Evil Corporate Stooges Who Want To Screw Over Children And Old People. The left is waving their arms about and yelling in the streets "can’t you see these people are evil! Evil I tell you!"
Except the only people who believe that line are the hard-core members of the left. The rest of the country has no problem with locking up terrorists and throwing away the key. The rest of the country may be cautious over Iraq, but they also realize that we have to do something before something is done to us. The rest of the country thinks that President Bush is a decent, hardworking guy and not some kind of Lovecraftian monster who wants to enslave the world under his bootheels. The rest of the country is just damn sick of the excessive partisanship, the constant criticism, and the half-cocked accusations that have come from the left.
How has the left reacted? By ratcheting up their attacks against Bush, and by still trying to convince the world that Republicans are evil. The left better learn fast that demonizing the opposition doesn’t win friends or influence people. Half the people in this country are Republicans or lean Republican, and if the Democrats ever want to be a real opposition party they’d better realize that not all those people are greedy, self-centered, or stupid. There are people who are perfectly capable of seeing the Democratic message and will still think it’s shortsighted. Republicans aren’t all drones who take their marching orders from Rush Limbaugh and National Review. We actually read books, and we’re not stupid. We’re just people who believe in the principles of free enterprise, limited government, and individual rights.
Of course, such a rational maneuver would require the DNC to drop their sanctimony and start treating voters like adults rather than children who need to adapt themselves to the ways of their liberal betters. Until the Democratic Party can do that, they will never truly be an effective opposition party.
UPDATE: Steven Greene has an open letter to the Democratic Party that’s well worth reading.
