Subject: Washington and the Left


Dear  ... ,

This message is being sent to the White House, Senator Boxer,
Senator Feinstein, and to Congresswoman Anna Eshoo.  I am
sending it now in response to recent statements by Press
Secretary Robert Gibbs about the "Professional Left", but it
is about things I have been thinking about for many months.

I consider myself to be a member of the Left, but definitely
am not a member of the "Professional Left".

I think Mr. Gibbs frustration is understandable.  I also think
it shows a severe lack of understanding of what is happening.
I wonder to what extent that lack of understanding is shared
by other Democratic leaders.

When Bush was president, the Republicans just had a slim
majority in Congress.  And the Republicans aggressively
pursued their agenda, and received a lot of cooperation
from the Democrats.  Now Obama is president, and the
Democrats have a greater majority than Bush did, but the
Democrats are not aggressive.  In general it appears that
the Republicans are fighters, and the Democrats are timid.

We have very serious problems these days: global warming;
the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; severe unemployment;
leading to insecurity, homelessness, and occasional
suicides; a huge national debt and deficit that may hurt
the country for years to come; health care more expensive
than anywhere else in the world; a declining industrial
base, a declining educational system; a declining
national infrastructure; and our civil liberties are in
tatters..  In short, a nation that is in decline, or may
even be in collapse.

The stimulus bill was better than nothing, but it was not
enough.  It is unclear whether the health care reform bill
is even an improvement.  Global warming may well be the most
serious crisis ever faced by humanity, deserving an effort
comparable to fighting World War II, but the U.S. government
is doing little about it, not even as much as some states
and cities.

Democrats whine that it is all due to Republican obstructionism.
Ok, that is true to some extent.  But the Democrats don't make
a real case for any positive vision, and don't really fight
for it.  Democrats just seem to be "rearranging the deck chairs
on the Titanic".  Democrats were handed a major victory in 2008
and seem bent on squandering it.

And in some cases the Democrats are worse than the Republicans.
More Democrats voted for the bank bailouts than Republicans
and have never done anything substantial about obtaining
accountability for the banks.

The banks mess up, are bailed out, and the bankers continue to
get huge bonuses, while the rest of the country suffers from the
bankers mistakes.  I believe that the causes of the banking
crisis are still in place, and a repeat occurrence in the near
future is definitely possible.  We still have banks "too big to
fail".  As far as I know, no banker has been indicted.  There
has been no or little appreciable reregulation of banks.

It is clear that under the current electoral system those with
money have clout in Washington, and those without money have
little to no influence.  And it is only going to be worse after
the "Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission".  But
what have Democrats done about it?  Thye made a feeble failing
effort to pass the "DISCLOSE" bill, which would only require
disclosure, but no more.  We need public financing of campaigns
instead.

Times like this require something more like FDR and the New Deal,
and we are not even close.

If the Democrats lose a lot of seats this November, which now
seems likely, they will have earned it.

Gerald Gras
Palo Alto, CA  94306