What's A Poor Liberal To Do?
I see a problem that I have no satisfactory solution for
. So I'll describe that problem and then invite you to comment. I'll put this opinion piece on my blog. You can respond to it by directing your browser to:
http://www.calcomui.org/blog2Here is the problem
I think the Democrats take sexual, ethnic, and racial minorities for granted. They give us a minimum of what we need and then forget us. Every election day I face two choices; voting for Democrats (fair at best) and Republicans (absolutely awful). I could vote for the Greens, or some other minority party, but they are unlikely to win any significant election in the foreseeable future. So voting for them is like not voting at all.
What is the evidence of the problem?
During his administration, Democratic President Clinton signed both the Defense of Marriage Act and the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Law DADT). Before he signed DADT, he could have ended the ban on gays in the military, just like President Truman ended racial segregation in the military in the 1950s. But, because Clinton signed DADT, no President now has the executive power to end the ban.
President Obama (whom I greatly admire) has repeatedly said he does not favor same sex marriage. I think that, with our nation's economic problems, and the number of people without health insurance, he needs to focus on those critical problems. Im willing to give him some slack on gay rights. But he could simply say nothing on the issue of marriage. Saying he thinks only men and women should be allowed to marry empowers our enemies who oppose the rights of same sex couples to marry. If asked about same sex marriage he could simply say, "That's up to the states to decide." That would do less damage to the cause of same sex marriage.
Public schools in California are a disgrace. According to a recent report, from the Schott Foundation, only 54% of black male students in California graduate from highschool. In New York State, only 25% do. Those who don't graduate from highschool are condemned to a life of poverty. If the needs of African Americans really mattered to the Democrats, they would be administering a major overhaul of our education system (kind of a Marshall Plan for the United States) to correct this problem.
President Obama announced he would end the dramatic raids on employers by immigration agents looking for undocumented immigrants. That sounded wonderful. But he has replaced those immigration agents with auditors who check the social security numbers of employees at the work site and require the firing of suspected undocumented immigrants. This way it takes only one auditor to force the firing of many workers. One auditor can have the same result as a dozen immigration agents raiding a work site.
Earlier this year a fruit packing company in northern California, was forced by the feds to lay off 500 undocumented immigrants. They couldn't find any people locally willing to take the jobs. Eventually they had to import legal temporary workers from Mexico. If the Democrats cared enough about the Latino community immigration reform, and a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, would be one of their major priorities. But it isn't.
So here are the choices I think are available to dissatisfied liberals like me.
1. Don't vote. (That helps Republicans and conservatives take control.)
2. Vote for minority party candidates. (Same result as #1 above.)
3. Refuse to vote for conservative, Blue Dog Democrats. (Probably the same result.)
4. Withhold all financial support to Democrats and the Democratic Party until they turn around. (LGBT people and racial and ethnic minorities probably don't contribute enough to make this option effective.)
5. Become deeply involved in the Democratic Party operation, gain leadership positions in the party, and move it in the right direction. (If we tried this method it would be necessary to focus on organizing the Democratic Party in support of minorities rather than the other way around. In my past experience, LGBTI Democratic Clubs seemed more focused on organizing the LGBTI party in support of Democrats.)
None of the above seem to offer much hope of improvement. But, I think the current situation is intolerable. What do you think?
Boyce Hinman
California Communities United Institute
What's A Poor Liberal To Do?
By: Boyce Hinman
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