aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Caged Canaries: The Southern Democrats

You may recall that before the election I dubbed the congressional Democrats seeking reelection in my area two canaries in a Republican coal mine. When their wins were up in the air, I worried that my birds are croaking and argued the value of Blue Dog Democrats. They did finally win, so now are they singing my song?

Well, not exactly. I saw last week that they “crossed over” and voted with Republicans on the Iraq Supplemental Funding bill:

Four Southern Democrats “crossed over” to vote against the bill. They were Barrow and Marshall from Georgia, Taylor from Mississippi, and Lincoln Davis from Tennessee. (Lewis of Georgia voted against the bill, but for a different reason, see below.) Only one Southern Republican, Jones of North Carolina, “crossed over” to vote for the bill. [...]

Here’s what two of them had to say:

Barrow of Georgia: “That’s no way to fight a war.” (There’s also some circular logic regarding “acts of Congress.")

Lincoln Davis of Tennessee: “ I have been clear with leadership from day one that I can’t support a bill with a day certain for withdrawal without waiver provisions.”

And from the principled vote against the whole mess:

Lewis of Georgia: “I will not and cannot in good conscience vote for another dollar or another dime to support this war. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.”

So with our differences, why do I continue to support these Southern Dems? Yes, it’s true, where else am I going to go? To the far worse local Republican alternative? But I don’t stick with them because I feel trapped. Rather, I see them as the ones in a cage. The reality of where they and I live is that they’re voting with the popular sentiment here and they cannot go far afield.

My goal is to change that popular sentiment, and towards that end they are the change agents. They will allow our locals to tune in to that more liberal message whereas Republican group-think would allow locals to just tune out those perspectives.

The Blue Dogs also keep Democratic group-think from setting in. My wisdom-of-crowds ideology believes a diverse party (which I define as diverse opinions and views, not just ethnic, racial and economic diversity) is a good and desirable thing.

Finally, I see our two party system as a fundamental part of the process of bringing together our geographically large and diverse nation. Shoehorning all of us into two parties works to hold us together where a multi-party system might more likely break us apart.

So I am a big fan of electing Democrats even if they will argue against what I see as my interests (gay rights, for example) within the party. I like to think that my arguments will win them over but even if they don’t, my arguments will grow stronger for the fact of the debate.

With that, I’m all for John Arthur Eaves, the holy-roller Democrat candidate for governor of Mississippi. Beyond the fact that he is far and away better than Haley Barbour, he’s making the economic argument I find so appealing:

Eaves roots his populism in the same evangelical Christianity as his social positions. “A lot of people ask me, ‘How are you a Democrat and a Christian?’ “ he says in his Jackson office, festooned with photos from his 1996 trip to Israel to baptize his sons. “And I say, ‘Because I’m a Christian, I’m a Democrat.’ Christ healed the sick, reached out to the poor and came to tell us the truth, which today would translate into support for health care and education. Christ came to help people, and I believe that’s the role of the Democratic Party.”

So do I.