Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Zell Miller and the Democratic Party

While on vacation, I borrowed and read Senator Zell Miller’s book, A National Party No More. This is an excellent book about the Democratic Party, their demise, and Southern politics with a little autobiographical touch thrown in for fun. Zell gets his points across and has some memorable lines. For instance when he says Pat Buchannan is so pessimistic that he "looks both ways before crossing a one-way street."

Senator Miller correctly notes that Southern men like himself a Democrats not by choice, but because it is "in the DNA." He goes through his opinions which include pro-life, pro-second amendment, and pro-education. He is a Democrat so he sees some place for Democrat stances such as a lottery to fund education. Georgia’s is the only one in the nation that actually works for education by the way. He shows how just a little common sense and focus on issues that mean something to normal folks, the Democrats would sweep through the elections as they have in the past. He shows how the only Democrtic Presidential winners in the recent past were those that would be thrown out of the party today. Bill Clinton won by having a common sense approach in the elections. He won several Southern States, but he acted against his campaign promises. Jimmy Carter won Southern states his first time around before going super liberal in office. Even JFK lowered taxes, a must for Southern Democrats. Traditional Democratic values according to Senator Miller.

Miller gives some inside info on how the Special Interest Groups run Washington on both sides of the isle. The book was written in 2003, so it pre-dates Jack Abramoff, but does mention how wives of Senators get jobs as lobbyists. He has some good ideas to save the Democratic Party. If they listen to him, they will put up former Virginia Governor Warner, support the military, lower taxes, and win the election. I do not agree with all of Mr. Miller’s political thought in the book, but it is an honest, well written, and stinging critic.

3 Comments:

Gone for now said...

They won't listen to him. Dems hate him. But, they will probably still win elections. Good policy is no longer the name of the game. Talking points and idiocy rule the day. The whole debacle in New Orleans should demonstrate this rather decidedly.

Andrew

Lee said...

Andy,
They will not listen to him, but I disagree that they will win very often. I do not think that politics has descended that far yet.

In fact, I am going to go ahead and go on record with my prediction that the Republicans will still control both Houses of Congress after the elections, and could pick up Senate seats. The Dems do not have a plan, and I still think people want a plan. The 94 Republican Revolution had a 'Contract with America' that they could sell. Dems do not have that sort of plan. Without they will sink.

Gone for now said...

I am not so confident that the average voter thinks about things that deeply. This is why popular opinion seems to sway with the pervailing media stories. In truth, the Democrats have not had a plan or vision for decades, if they ever did, yet they continue to survive and thrive. Coming from NJ, I am fully convinced that Democrats can win elections no matter what they do simply by villifying their opponents, playing the race card, and talking to predefined points. The unpopulated south, midwest, and west cannot hold out for long. The "swing" states (PA, OH, etc.) are too liberal to engender confidence. Finally, I am not so sure the Republicans have a plan. At least, they have not effectively communicated it. They talk, but it is just that...talk. People are not content, and with malcontent comes change, albiet irrational.

Andrew