It's Justice, Stupid

David Sirota

"...Dobbs-style populism, along with opposition to the Iraq War, was the overwhelming theme of the 2006 elections. There is no denying it. In the last few days, there have been a barrage of right-wingers and DLCers trying to hide this very simple fact. They have said the election was about Democrats pretending to be Republicans, citing people like Virginia Senator-elect Jim Webb - even as Webb himself has appeared on Dobbs’ show to give voice to the very kind of economic populism many of us have been pushing for years. And, of course, even in the face of the New York Times’ own news page admitting the rise of populism, we are asked by the Establishment revisionists to simply forget about the election of red-region economic populists like Sherrod Brown, Jon Tester, Heath Shuler, Nancy Boyda and others..."

Iraq, anti-discrimination, job loss, immigration-- these are all issues tied to well-being of the eroding middle class. The middle of the political spectrum wants its due-- and it wants it sooner than later, else, next time, the bums will be tossed again-- and again, and again, until we get what we want-- a nation of opportunity and fairness, where competence, not connections, are rewarded. The party label matters less to the middle than what it delivers, so listen-up Democrats-- if you want to be our party, give us what we want, and leave the rest (like guns) alone.