Yes, the Democrats blew it big time. And, we all know that this was quite expectable, but not many will know exactly what the failure involves. In reality it is a failure of courage, one that is pretty much epidemic in politicians in any case. The first error begins when the politician acts in ways by which he/she wishes to conserve their potential for re-election, and gets worse from there.

By continually making choices in a self defined context in which the primary value is positioning one's self in the best way possible for re-election, this places all other values in the background. There is nothing really to be for in such a case, except in the most bland fashion. Someone who stands in favor of nothing of import (drugs for the elderly is hardly a courageous position) really doesn't understand what it means to "stand up" for something.

This observation is true for the Republicans as well, of course. Even so, one wishes that politicians would somehow find out what it means to be Statesmen in America, namely that one takes risks and has some core beliefs for which one might even be willing to die.

Certainly the excesses of the Bush administration makes possible all manner of courageous and risky possible positions, but somehow the Democrats couldn't find their way.

And, people wonder why so few of us vote, or even care. How can one care about someone who doesn't themselves have something about which they care? Originally posted November 07, 2002.