The Value of Values

Over at David Sirota’s Blog, “Sirotablog” he is writing about an Op-Ed in the Chicago Tribune in which author Rick Perlstein is questioning how a new Democratic majority that “has made itself a “K Street party” will perform. In the Op-ed, Perlstein says, ”“I worry about the next 100 weeks. In another office on Capitol Hill, Pelosi’s colleague, U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, has boasted that his Democratic Party in power will open the doors wide to corporate donors once only welcomed by Republicans–including, he has said, ‘the distressed-debt world.’”

Sirota suggests that it is reasonable to be concerned about the value of a Democratic majority if it does not represent Democratic values. He brings up a comment from Jerome Armstrong at MyDD, ”…there is not a single issue that takes precedent to the Democrats winning back a majority in the US Senate this year.”” and says, ”I understand Jerome’s general point in the short-term, especially 12 days out from an election. But like Perlstein, I worry about this kind of thinking among some Democrats who somehow believe politics should always and forever more be waged only for politics’ sake - not for actual issues.”

This concern is of particular interest to me. During the recent “primary contest” here in Washington State, I was often confronted by the argument that I should not be so concerned with whether or not Maria Cantwell supported the issues that were important to me but, rather, I should help get her re-elected for the sake of a Democratic majority. As a matter of fact, at one point in July (shortly after Mark Wilson had ended his run and joined the Cantwell campaign), Josh Feit over at The Stranger’s Slog had this to say about my post on that scenario and it’s impact on my continuing efforts:

” The news that anti-war candidate Mark Wilson dropped out of the running—he was challenging Maria Cantwell for the Democratic nomination—elicited a revealing response from Chad Shue, the anti-war vice-chair of the 38th District Democrats (Snohomish, Marysville, Everett). Shue was one of Wilson’s biggest supporters. The 38th had even endorsed Wilson until local electeds came in and rescinded it. Check out Shue’s post on his blog about the Wilson news. It’s soaked in the self-righteous tone (emphasis on self) that I’m talking about. It sounds much like a fundie who’s (sic) only argument against gay marriage is that they don’t believe in it.”

In the post, I talk about Wilson moving to the Cantwell camp and wishing them both well. I then attempt to pre-empt those who would be asking me if I would also be abandoning my challenges to Senator Cantwell now that Wilson had abandoned the effort. The key sentence that most seemed to concern Feit was this one: ” However, the race was never about him, but, rather, about those issues and values that I care about most.” Feit ended his post by repeating that sentence and then adding, ”Good God, man. The race is not about the issues and values that you care about most (meaning, I guess, stopping the war)…the race is about helping the Democrats win back Congress. That’s bigger than just your issues, Mr. Shue.” Now Sirota says that he understands Jerome Armstrong’s point, “especially 12 days out from an election.” but I think it is only fair to point out that Feit’s admonishment was issued some 12 WEEKS away from a Primary which, arguably, should be about nothing else than issues and values.

In the end, Sirota says, ”My optimism comes from the fact that the progressives who are in Congress will have more power to fight the good fight - both against Republicans and against the faction of Democrats like Rahm Emanuel and others who have made a career out of being auctioneers at the firesale of the Democratic Party’s principles.” I can only hope that he is right.

Peace,
Chad (The Left) Shue