Confused
and Cynical
Voters
have every reason to be disenchanted with political
parties that articulate no consistent principles or
agendas.
Since
Election Day, Democrats at the national level have
moved sharply left. Virginia Democrats, meanwhile,
are trying to get to the right of Republicans.
Or
are they?
Lawrence
H. Framme, III, who chairs the Democratic Party in
Virginia, has been lashing out at GOP elected
officials as big spenders, but he also wants his
party to be seen as more compassionate than the GOP.
Framme’s
ploy is reminiscent of the Dems’ media event a
couple of years ago in front of the Harry F. Byrd,
Sr. statue in Capitol Square where they claimed to
be the true and rightful heirs of Byrd, the very
embodiment of fiscal restraint. At the same time,
they attacked the GOP for a lack of compassion
because Republicans in the General Assembly were
proposing spending cuts.
All
of this leaves the voters confused or cynical — or
both. Just what is the agenda of the Virginia
Democratic Party? According to Framme, the party’s
mission is to return Virginia government to its core
values, which transcend partisan politics and bring
us back to the great commandment — service to the
people. That’s hardly an agenda.
And
where is the Republican Party? It, too, has no clear
agenda.
Platitudes
don’t amount to a program. Both parties owe the
voters a clear agenda. In our republican form of
government, the choice of the policy direction the
Commonwealth should take is left to the electorate.
That opportunity to choose is lost when the parties
fail in their most important responsibility — to
articulate an agenda.
It’s
no mystery why more and more voters consider
themselves unattached to either of the two major
parties. Without a clash of competing political
agendas, these voters are left to choose the
“better candidate” on election day. This kind of
politics leaves elected officials with no clear
guidance from the voters. It produces the kind of
cynicism and mistrust we wallow in today.
Coherence
and accountability are impossible without
responsible political parties. Voters will never
exercise control over the most important decisions
without such parties.
Thomas
Jefferson, James Madison and John Taylor came to
understand this political principle at the inception
of the Republic. Each of these Virginians initially
considered parties a menace, but each came to
realize that strong parties were essential to the
functioning of government and politics.
Even
a legislature composed of the most virtuous will not
assure accountability and coherence. To provide the
voters with a real choice, there must be an agenda
for them to accept or reject. When parties are
healthy, candidates are chosen to advance or oppose
an agenda. Once elected, officials can be judged in
light of their support or opposition to that agenda,
not in a vacuum or in relation to less important or
even irrelevant factors.
Republicans
at the national level and Democrats in Virginia are
blind to the potential appeal of a Democratic Party
that dares to stand for something other than
platitudes. So frustrated are the voters with power
politics, incumbent protection and a lack of
leadership that a coherent message might galvanize
voters who have lost faith that politics has a
higher purpose.
A
Democratic Party with a bold, liberal agenda would
surely fare no worse in future elections than the
one that just got whipped. During the 2002 campaign,
President Bush managed to nationalize the
congressional elections. Whether his agenda was a
good one or not, it was the only one the voters
understood. That trumps a vacuum every time.
--
November 25, 2002
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