An open letter to the DCCC

(to kossacks and dharmaniacs – I’d like your help with this)

To whom it may concern:

You recently asked me for money.  You do that a lot.  This time, I gave you some. Very little.  Some of my friends on blogs like dailyKos and docudharma will be wondering why I gave you anything at all.  You, on the other hand, may be wondering why I gave so little.

The reason I gave so little is the same reason I might leave a tiny tip in a restaurant with really horrible service: I intend it as an insult.  Why?  

“Why” you ask “is XXXX, who has been a lifelong Democrat, who got beat up working for McGovern, who started working in campaigns when he was 6, and who has been  a generous donor in the past, insulting us?”

I am insulting you because you are insulting me.

Indeed, you are insulting not only me, but the Democratic Party and the entire United States.

“How,” you may ask “can we get him back on our side? How can we get him to donate generously again? How can we get him to ask his friends to donate, and to write diaries extolling us?”

I’m glad you asked.

It isn’t hard.  I have a seven point plan for you.  And I’ve gone to the trouble of making all the points win-win.

1.  Impeach Bush

2.  Defund the war

3.  Repeal the Patriot Stolen Freedom act

4.  End NCLB

5.  Pass an inclusive ENDA

6.  Eliminate the Department of Homeland Security Privacy Invasion

7.  Repeal all the changes Bush made to the tax code.

I hear you screaming “We don’t have the votes!”.  I don’t like to curse, so….. BALDERDASH!  Leaders lead.  They GET the votes.  Lyndon Johnson didn’t have the votes for Civil Rights…. until he got them.  

But you, evidently, are not leaders.  So, I will help.

1.  Impeach Bush.   This is easy.  Bush says criminals belong in jail.  Bush is a criminal.  QED.  Oh, although Bush and his conservatives don’t like the insanity defense, I’ll grant it, provided it’s public and provided he spends the rest of his life in a publicly funded mental institution.

Phrase to repeat: Criminals belong in jail.  

2.  Defund the war.  That’s right.  Democrats support the troops, Republicans support the war.  How is it ‘supporting the troops’ to let more of them die? How is it supporting the troops to fail to send them into battle underequipped and undertrained, and welcome them home to scam artists and inadequate care? How is it supporting the troops to send them to war with too little armor?  How is it supporting the troops to send the national guard to do work they did not sign up to do, or to hire unsupervised mercenaries?  The troops belong at home.  With a hero’s welcome and lifetime support.  

Phrase to repeat: Democrats support the troops.  Republicans support the war

3.  No patriot could pass that act.  It’s reprehensible.  It’s unAmerican.  It violates the constitution.  It’s stupid.  It’s costly. And it’s ineffective.  To allow the government to run rampant over the rights of all Americans in order to catch terrorists would be wrong; but this isn’t even that, because the Stolen Freedom Act does not work.

This act puts 4 year olds on ‘no-fly’ lists and lets people carry weapons onto planes.  This is the act that lets the government spy on anyone it feels like, and never tell anyone.  This is the act that makes borrowing a library book a suspicious act.  

Might terrorists change their names?  Get books from foreign libraries? Use throwaway cell-phones gotten from illegal sources?  Of course they might.

The Republicans  may say these laws are necessary.  I quote William Pitt (the younger):

Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom.  It is the argument of tyrants, and the creed of slaves

Phrase to repeat: Bush wants to be a tyrant, but we will not be slaves

4. No Child Left Behind should better be called “No child learns bull****”.  I am a psychometrician by training, and I can tell you, this act is abusing tests, forcing the creation of low-quality tests, misusing the results of tests, and testing the wrong things.  It seems to have been primarily designed to support companies that provide the tests and texts (and Bush’s family is involved in some of these companies…. coincidence?)

Phrase to repeat: Let teachers teach

5. A truly inclusive ENDA.  To remove transgender people from this bill was a travesty of justice.  But the problem goes much farther than that, and this bill, even including transgender people, does not go nearly far enough.  There’s a better bill, and it’s an easier sell.  Make it illegal to make any workplace decision about a person based on anything other than how well or badly he or she does the job.  Not sex, not gender, not sexual preference.  Not race or ethnicity.  Not disability or learning disability.  Not political opinion or religion.  Just how well they do the job.  Simple, right?

Phrase to repeat: Reward performance

6. Eliminate the Department of Privacy Invasion. Has this department done anything to keep us safer?  Well, if it has, they won’t tell you.  It’s a secret.  Has it done anything illegal? It won’t tell you, it’s a secret.  Might it be spying on Rep. Pelosi? They won’t tell you, it’s a secret.  Has it cost us a lot of money? Oh yeah.  That’s not a secret

Phrase to repeat: If it’s not wrong, why is it secret?

7. Repeal the Bush tax idiocy. This was a boondoggle for the rich at the expense of young people and our children.

KOSSACKS and DHARMANIACS: ANYONE HAVE SOME GOOD NUMBERS HERE?

Phrase to repeat: You can’t balance the budget by stealing from our children