Republicans should approve of this Congress as much as Democrats and Independents. This is the conservative working majority in action. Republicans have lower bars to pass legislation. Out of fear of election repercussions, Democrats fail to employ aggressive tactics to protest Republican filibusters and vetoes, and yet Democrats do poorly in special elections anyway. Bush Dogs vote with Republicans to block all Democratic legislation, and instead of using election resources as leverage to apply pressure on Bush Dogs, Democrats change legislation to suit Bush Dogs and pour money into their campaign coffers while Bush Dogs withhold money from other Democrats. Democrats can't change the direction of the war, but are willing to take Iraq off the table and chastise their allies who are still working to stop the war. In this Congress, there is a consistent cycle of deference to conservatives by the leadership, and progressives still find themselves in the minority overall. Democratic control of Congress did not alter Democratic capitulation and deference to conservatives and Republicans, allowing Bush to continue to govern more or less unimpeded despite an approval rating that has been stuck in the low thirties for most of the last two years. It could allow conservative to govern even under a Democratic trifecta.
Hopefully Dodd can make a dent in pattern, but even if he does, we need to make sure that it is more than a one-time affair. I'm tired of asking people to call Democratic Senators who are doing the wrong thing. I am tired of moving from fight to fight, and losing most of them to capitulation. I'm tired of giving time and resources to institutions that perpetuate the cycle of Democratic deference to conservatives and Republicans. If we pour our resources into those institutions and candidates who perpetuate the cycle, then we are propping up the problem rather than helping to fix it. We have to offer incentives to people who break the cycle, and we need leaders in Congress who are willing to stand up against this cycle on a systematic basis. Filibusters are good, but we need Democrats in Congress who are willing to use their Leadership PACs to do things like raise money for primary challenges, and only support progressive Democrats in the general election. Without systematic, alternative, leadership structures like this, our resources will always be used, to some extent, to prop up the conservative working majority rather than tearing it down.
So yeah, let's cheer on this filibuster, but it is going to take more than the occasional grand gesture to end the conservative working majority and replace it with a progressive one.
