The Democrats Haven’t Made History

Making history is about more than electing people to office. Taking the country to a new direction involves a vision that the Democrats have not exhibited in the past few years. That they seized any power at all last night is largely the result of recent Republican sex scandals and an unpopular war in Iraq. Not all of the Democrats who were elected to Congressional seats (for example Heath Shuler in North Carolina and Brad Ellsworth in Indiana) are card-carrying members of the left. Which does not bode well for the very people who need crusading friends in Congress the most.

For the poor and the working-class, it’s been a long hard six years since George Bush first took office. Massive HUD (Housing and Urban Development) budget cuts have left local Housing Authorities scrambling for ways to maintain the subsidized units they provide. Many tenants in those apartments have watched their rents go up and services go down. The Bush administration’s prescription program for seniors has forced many to choose between paying the bills and buying medicines they desperately need to stay alive. Homelessness is at an all-time high. Americans are losing more and more of their safety nets. Meanwhile, the government is spending trillions on a war it can’t win, a price tag that will ultimately be paid by the working-class in cuts to social services upon which it so desperately depends.

During the Republican reign of terror in Washington, the Democrats have not exactly been the great defenders of the ideals for which people believed they stood. Since 9/11, the Democrats have rolled over and played dead as the Republicans pushed through cuts in social service programs, approval for two wars in the Middle East, the Patriot Act, an end to habeas corpus and spying on American citizens.

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