There seems to be a rebellion forming against Democratic members of Congress who could well be called "phony Democrats." Glenn Greenwald writes today that at least one is being targeted for a knock-out by Howard Dean's Democracy for America.
They are supporting and funding a primary challenger who actually believes in opposing the administration's radicalism and the war. That's what is needed. Democrats who support Bush and enable the war and who are forced to face difficult primary challenges will -- even if they win -- emerge much weaker and with far fewer resources to defend their seat in the general election. As Matt Stoller said:
I don't know about you, but I'm tired of writing and calling representatives and feeling they will ignore me. I don't like that the ACLU is cut out of civil liberties legislative drafting, or that net neutrality is still nowhere in Congress. All of this is actually wasted energy; it's a negative feedback loop that substantially dampens the effectiveness of liberal activism. And obviously, I don't think that getting rid of Republicans is the whole answer, any more than electing a Democratic Congress did anything to slow the war. Politics is complex, but sometimes we can identify a systemic problem and a model to address it. The broken market for primaries is one such problem, and it's very fixable. Once Democratic leaders recognize that they represent both the Democratic Party and their district/state, their behavior will shift in important ways, and allow us to focus on other activities.
Primaries are strong positive feedback loops for activists, and a good insurance policy against betrayal.
The goal is to have a Congress that does the right thing, not a "Democratic Congress" that doesn't. As much pressure as possible should be brought to bear on the Democrats who have made the 2006 change of control virtually worthless.
Amen.
