The Gored Ox

No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.323 / Virus Database: 267.8.1/28 - Release Date: 6/24/2005

The Gored Ox

Charlie Reese
June 24, 2005

The Democratic Party has a simple problem: Its leaders lack the courage and vision to come up with defensible alternatives to the policies of the Bush administration.

That's really no surprise. I once observed that when Sens. Daniel Moynihan and S.I. Hayakawa entered the Senate, the average IQ for that body went up 200 points. Now that Sen. Edward Kennedy looks like a statesman, people forget that he was always openly acknowledged as the dimmest bulb on the Kennedy Christmas tree.

What is the Democrats' position on the war, which most of them voted for? Well, now that we are there, we have to stay. A young GI sweltering in the heat of Iraq would be justified in saying, "What is this 'we' business?"

What is their solution to the budget deficit, the trade deficit, the off-shoring of American jobs, the pending bankruptcy of Medicare and Medicaid, monetary inflation, dangerously open borders, young people's doubts about Social Security and the growing gap between the very rich and the rest of us? If they have any solutions, they have so muddled their message that nobody can figure them out. The truth is, there really isn't a dime's worth of difference between the parties. Both parties are addicted to big money — mostly corporate — and to their respective bases of out-of-the-mainstream groups.

Well, the Democrats are for abortion on demand, gun control and acceptance of homosexuals. None of those is a pressing problem for our republic, or what's left of it. They, like the Republicans, are adrift on a sea of cliches and canards.

In my checkered past, I once worked as a professional in political campaigns. An absolute necessity in unseating an incumbent is to present the voters with a clear and better alternative. Otherwise, people tend to stay with the devil they know. As of today, the Democrats have no alternative. They will have to wait until the public gets so disillusioned by the Republicans that it will dump them regardless of the alternative. But even if that happens, it will not solve the problems America faces because Democrats, in power or out, have no solutions.

One of the flaws in democracy that is becoming increasingly apparent is that the general public doesn't give a hoot about the common good. It never has given a hoot about foreign affairs. One reason I like to hang out with recent immigrants is that they are about the only people willing to talk about serious subjects. Most Americans like to talk about TV, Michael Jackson and sports. Until their ox is gored by some bad public policy, most people are content to be complacent.

Most of the Founding Fathers were deeply skeptical of democracy, which is why they gave us a republic rather than a parliamentary-style democracy. Thomas Jefferson had the most faith in the people, but even he supposed that what he called "an aristocracy of merit" would arise to lead the country. Let's face it: Most humans, including ourselves, are followers, not leaders. Therefore, the fate of all countries rests in the hands of the leaders.

For a while, America did produce an aristocracy of merit. Comparing the debate and speeches of 19th-century America with the debates and speeches of today's politicians is like comparing graduate school with kindergarten. It turns out that the greatest generation produced one of the worst, for the decline in American leadership began about 1960 and accelerated in the 1970s. Since then, it's been all about money and marketing.

The good news is that there is no such thing as an insoluble political problem. Human beings have free will. We can change. We can come up with alternatives. We can revitalize political parties and the political process. We can produce another aristocracy of merit. I believe the day will come when enough oxen get gored that we will reawaken to our responsibilities as citizens.

© 2005 by King Features Syndicate, Inc.