BK goes to town on the Democrats

BK has kindly allowed me to post an email that he wrote to a friend this morning. He has also decided that he is going to run for office in a few years.

Wow.

I'm trying not to feel angry and isolated. After all, 48% of the population did vote for my guy. But it's pretty clear that culturally I'm in the minority. (Especially in Texas.)

But what I'm more pissed off about is the democratic party. I'm sick of the Democrats not being forthright about what they believe. Kerry spent so much of this campaign trying to make like he's not a liberal. Instead, he should have been selling liberal values!

Democrats cannot win by pandering to the conservatives: goose-hunting, saying they're personally against abortion but not willing to make it illegal, saying they're against gay marriage. We lose by fighting that way. We cannot out conservative the conservatives. We're not getting those votes, and we need to quit pandering to the Christian Coalition.

Instead, we need to sell our ideas! We're right! We're more reasonable!

1. There is not a single rational reason why gays should not be allowed to marry, or at least have civil unions. Opposition to gay couples is based purely on the idea that being gay is icky or an "abomination."

No one who knows openly gay people could possibly think they "chose" to be gay.

2. The idea that women could be imprisoned for having an abortion is absurd, and this is what is really at stake in the abortion fight. The democrats should propose a constitutional amendment that (1) confirms the right of women to have abortions in the first two trimesters and (2) bans abortion in the last trimester, except where the health of the woman is at stake.

3. Progressive taxation is the only form of taxation that is workable, because the wealthy are the people with the money. Lowering in percentage terms the tax on the wealthy while raising it on the middle class will not create more jobs. It will create more savings by the wealthy, more lavish lifestyles for the wealthy, and a massive federal deficit (which will ultimately cause higher taxes).

4. There is nothing in the world wrong with religion, and we should value it, but it should be no part of government. It is unfair to people who do not share the views of the religious.

5. Wars must be fought only as a very last result and not because we might be safer if we go take over some countries that might one day pose a threat. This breeds even more anti-American sentiment and will simply lead to more attacks.

6. There should not be limits on medical malpractice (or any other sort of professional malpractice) because the legal system is the only significant means of keeping doctors and other professionals accountable for their mistakes. If you put caps on damage awards (unless the caps are very high), you make it impossible for attorneys to take malpractice cases because the potential upside is too low.

7. Gun control is reasonable. Guns should have child safety locks. All gun owners should have to register. Firearm laws should be enforced. Automatic weapons should be illegal. You shouldn't be able to have a handgun unless you have some sort of reason for needing a concealed weapon. The good guys can protect their houses with rifles and shotguns, and there are very few reasons for the good guys to have concealable weapons.

These are the arguments we should be making. A campaign based on these ideas is probably a loser right now. But we're losing anyway! If we can't beat Bush (Bush!) with the Gore/Kerry half-assed pandering to conservatives, we can't beat any republican waving the flag and holding a cross. And even if we did win by abandoning or marginalizing liberal values, it's not really winning -- it's just slightly better than the other option.

On the other hand, vibrant campaigns that liberals can really cheer for might go a long way toward shifting the whole culture to the left.