(I’ll come back and clean this up later, but I have to go cook now)

Although I don’t live in the Beltway anymore, I still correspond with friends and progressives there regularly. It’s frustrating, because I never quite adopted that Beltway mindset; too much about it reminded me of the Queer Clubbing circuit to make me comfortable (that is, clubbing drama is fine in a club, but not in national politics). But in the spirit of “never give in, never surrender,” let me see if I can recap the major points in the argument/perspective that I hold as a progressive.

1. The purpose of electing Democrats and keeping them in the majority is not so that elected Democrats can stay in their jobs forever. At least, that’s not why I write things I believe may help support them. I vote Democratic because I can’t vote Republican, and because most of the alternatives aren’t much better. But I still expect some return for my vote. “Return” for me isn’t “making sure Senator X has a job in the Senate for life.” It means that at least once in a while, elected officials will do what’s right, act according to popular will, and help people…even if it means they may not get reelected the next time around.

2. Every day the war drags on, people lose their lives. Americans, Iraqis, foreign fighters. We may not be able to stop the bloodshed in Iraq, and leaving may in fact result in an upsurge in violence, for some time afterwards. But if the equation is either “dead Americans, Iraqis and foreigners” or “dead Iraqi and foreigners,” I’ll choose the latter. It’s not the best choice, but as far as the moral calculus goes, the former is clearly at least a bit worse than the latter.

3. Being equally cold and calculating: I want an end to the squandering of my newphew’s future. Billions a day are spent in Iraq. For what? At this point, it’s pretty clear to me that we’re trading things like universal health care and solutions to global climate change for…contractor profit margins. I don’t think anyone believes that’s a good use of our taxdollars. I think that people also understand that because the war is paid for with borrowed money, the interest future generations will pay is also not a “sound investment strategy.”

4. It does not matter what we do, or say, or what the leadership of the Democratic party does or says, the SCLM and their Republican codependents will always moan, bitch, and misrepresent the facts. I thought smart progressives would’ve figured this out by now. When there is a veto proof Democratic majority, or Democratic president, or both, we can get busy with fixing the problem of having a corporate and unfree media. But for now, nothing we say or do will ever placate them, or make them treat us fairly. Nothing. Pelosi could resign and announce her conversion to fundamentalist xtianity and go home to bake cookies, and they would still demonize her.

5. Bush’s actual support in the actual public, and not in carefully selected and/or manipulated polling groups, is well below 30%, and will continue to fall. Nothing will change that. It’s not that people even necessarily hate Bush himself and blame him, but a simple matter of what it’s like “out here,” for those of us who aren’t in the top tier of the economy. The housing market, prices for things like food and energy, the job market, the state of public education…the list goes on and on. Things are getting worse, and most people understand this. And if they don’t directly blame Bush (and most do) they certainly aren’t going to rush to his defense. Go to a country club or other gathering of traditionally Republican types- they just don’t speak of the party right now, or if they do, they aren’t speaking with passionate, supportive intensity. Indeed, most are ashamed to have once supported Bush. Even rich ones.

6. The point of impeachment isn’t to send Bush to jail, it’s to slow down his progress in his authoritarian projects. Clinton has said several times that if not for the constant circus coming out of a Monica obsessed Congress, he would’ve gotten a lot more progressive things done. He was a brilliant and savvy leader- Bush, Rove and Cheney are bull-headed ideologues who buy their own bullshit and are essentially cowards. The one thing they don’t want is a real fight. Not against a group who could actually beat them- look at the record, they’ve yet to take on any such entity. No, the Repubicans count on one thing: timidity and “serious bipartisanship” from the other side. Giving it to them is stupid. Instead, Democratic efforts should be directed at making the fascists dance on hot coals, now with Gonzo, now with corruption in the Republican Party, now with factual information about their failures in Iraq. I admit I haven’t been paying close attention to Democratic action these last few weeks and months, but as far as I can see, there haven’t really been significant challenges to the Bush Cabal’s many overreaching assertions of authority. You can’t beat someone if you don’t even try.

7. “If you build it, they will come/ everyone likes a winner and/or fighter.” Again, if you don’t try, you won’t know what is possible. People keep telling me that impeachment would divide…something. Crisscrossing the country in the last few months, I’m pretty sure that something isn’t the American public. I’m very vocal in public these days, I bring up impeachment all the time. For months now, all I have heard in response is “that sounds like a good idea.” Several recent polls back me up on my own interpretation of my experience talking to friends, neighbors, strangers, waitresses, dykes…I honestly don’t know why this isn’t clear to more national level Democrats. Oh, yes I do- they still watch FOX news and think that millions do the same every day. Look at some numbers, Dems. FOX represents a tiny minority when compared to the whole population, which includes people who don’t follow Beltway insider baseball minutae during the summer. At the same time, those folks haven’t forgotten why they put you in office.

8. There has never been a better time to take advantage of Republican Party disarry. Seriously, they are in such a mess right now, does anyone dispute that? Sure, the SCLM is going to skip over the constant discovery of Republican scandal, but even still, most people can perceive slime from only a little whiff. Who, that matters and can influence a majority, is going to repeatedly and forcefully defend people like Stevens, Foley, the Dukester, Lay…Most Republicans I know gave up even talking about their party months ago. That hasn’t changed. There’s also that elusive “moderate Republican” type. They won’t support Dems who seem “weak,” because that narrative is programmed into them. But an assertive, go get ’em, fighting Dem like Webb wants us to believe he is? Hell yes moderate conservatives will come out for that.

9. Impeachment + investigation = popcorn time! People in this country do in fact like scandal, so long as there is a clear narrative of “good guy going after bad guy.” It has never been easier for Democrats to portray themeselves as good guys, despite almost 30 years of being demonized in the media. Republicans can’t play the faith card any more, too many are proven liars that even Joe Sixpack is aware of that fact. Republicans can’t play “friend to the oppressed tax payer” anymore because people are paying more in direct or indirect taxes than ever, unless they are stinking rich, in which case they’re paying less. At the same time, even Republicans are noticing that although they may be saving some small amount a la Bush’s $300 tax refund, that amount is eradicated in just a month’s worth of driving. Democrats could also energize a huge reserve of angry, frustrated people who are looking to take out their emotions on someone. Why not direct them towards those who are actually to blame? And if I may just be radical- instead of spending millions on consultants who advise Democrats into defeat and TV ads that reach only a few who have mostly made up their minds, how about taking a page from the Republican playbook? Spend that money on proven organizing tactics and genuine direct voter outreach. Ask people to get behind an impeachment effort, seriously and with their time and money. I keep saying it, but people would get very, very excited about such an effort, there would be a groundswell of folks from all across the spectrum, should we believe the Dem leadership were serious about it.

10. This really is the last chance to save our constitutional republic of representative democracy. I suspect behind closed doors, the major candidates are salivating at the prospect of having Bush’s imperial powers, Dem and Repub alike. But what about lifetime members of Congress, or those who wish to be? The Roman Senate quickly regretted giving up its powers as the Old Republic fell, I’m sure a lot of elected officials today would feel very sad that they didn’t act to save their authority, but too late to do anything about it. Letting Bush go scott free, without even an attempt to hold him responsible for his crimes, is basically helping him destroy our democracy and pave the way for permanent imperial rule. Letting Nixon go brought us Bush/Raygun, and then the Republican majority, and finally Bush and Republican control of all three branches. For crying out loud- they are often the same fucking people from Nixon’s days. Criminals must be sent to jail, or they will commit crimes again. It’s really that simple.