amen!

February 14, 2005

COLUMN: Male? White? Straight? Don't worry, it's still OK to be a Democrat

By Ethan Newlin, Iowa State Daily columnist

Every once in a while a little voice in my head asks, "Ethan, you're a guy. You're white. You're straight. You're a student, but you're not that poor. You were even raised Mormon. Why are you a Democrat?"

The answer I tell myself is not too different from what many of you think when you consider your political allegiances; they more closely resemble my personal values. Everyone is well aware now that "values" supposedly motivated the 3-percent margin of voters who swung the presidential election in President Bush's favor. Apparently their only values involve useless wedge issues. As a white, male, straight, young, upper-middle class Protestant, allow me to share my values as a Democrat.

I believe in the standard liberal "triple threat" of values: civil rights, freedom of expression and respect for dissent. I believe that the government's role in the economy should be to act as a safety net against fallout, fight corporate corruption, end monopolies and represent the rights of consumers. I also believe, however, that the government should never unnecessarily hinder industry from granting American prosperity, and I believe that Washington should spend as little taxpayer money as possible.

Let me tell you, my very conservative friends, what I do not believe. I do not believe it is right to scare people about Social Security 40 years from now when one out of every three children in America today have no health insurance. I don't see why the richest among us deserve the biggest tax breaks ("hurting" millionaires, they say? Tell Mr. Scrooge he can cry into a handful of Franklins while every school in America gets a makeover. I hear Benjamins and Gucci bags are pretty absorbent.) I do not believe it is right that we give tax breaks to corporations that shift jobs overseas while the average CEO in America makes 531 times the income of the average worker today.

I do not believe that America's greatest domestic threats are big government, frivolous lawsuits and abortion. I believe that America's greatest domestic problems are what they have always been: poverty, health care, corporate crime, corruption, education and racism. I do not believe that warehousing all of our criminals will benefit society, when nearly 60 percent of all first-time inmates return to prison and make the United States the largest prison state in the world. Even communist China does better than us when it comes to incarceration.

I admit that my party took a big hit this November, and it would be naive to say otherwise. If you pay any attention to cable news shows (which you shouldn't, unless it is "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart"), then you have been brainwashed into thinking that losing one election means that the Democrats are foolish for not simultaneously taking their own lives with pistols on the congressional floor. My advice to all of those cheering the "death" of the Democrats is to beware of the sweet-smelling perfume that is hype. Remember when everyone thought Howard Dean was unbeatable?

For better or for worse, the Democrats are here to stay, if only in a wounded state. I say this is a good thing. The Democrats had become bloated with legislative power, lazy in their ideals and failed to represent the best in their supporters. They controlled Congress for too long and grew complacent. Some people are saying this is the worst time to be a Democrat, and I say that is wrong. How often is it that one of the two parties in our system, so humbled that they'll honestly take all the advice and help they can get?

Hopefully, this defeat will put the fear of the voters back into the Washington Democrats, and they can remember that they should never, ever be ashamed of their values.

Copyright © 2004, Iowa State Daily