Kissing Off the Democratic Party?

For more decades than I care to number, I have confidently identified myself as a Democrat. Over the past 2 years I have been suffering from an identify crisis.

During the Bush years, being a Democrat seemed to be a no-brainer. I abhorred Bush's foreign and domestic policies, found his vice president extremely easy to demonize and shuddered as I witnessed the dismantling of the Bill of Rights.

Along came the Obama hope campaign and, after initial disappointment over Hillary Clinton's withdrawal from the race, I eagerly jumped on board. He would close Guantanamo Bay, reestablish the Bill of Rights, unite the country, reinvigorate the economy, rein in the financial industry and bring peace and justice to all. All right, so maybe my expectations were unrealistic. At the very least, I expected strong leadership from the Oval Office that would reestablish a progressive agenda and speak for the "small" people.

What I got was a president who began slipping to the right almost from the minute he took office. A half-assed stimulus - half-assed because it was half tax cuts and half job stimulus. It managed to stop the downward spiral of the economy but failed to reverse direction. I got more war in Afghanistan. I saw his political capital squandered on two years devoted to passing a health care bill that far from reforming the system, more firmly entrenched the control over our health by the private insurers and big pharma. I got more erosion of the Bill of Rights. I got the Obama/McConnell tax bill last December. I saw half-hearted financial reform neutralized almost from its enactment.

I have witnessed the dismantling of public education; further deterioration of our nation's infrastructure; our nation bullied by multi-national corporations like BP as they laid waste to vast swathes of our environment. Guantanamo Bay remains open. Rumors abound that rendition continues. The financial industry gave its members obscene bonuses after raiding the U. S. Treasury. Unemployed and underemployed Americans continue to struggle to survive with increasingly threadbare safety nets under them.

The definition of "centrist" inexorably drifts to the right. Progressive has become a "code word" for radical Leftist.

The swelling ranks of America's poor are blamed for our failing economy while the wealthiest corporations hoard trillions and continue to ship jobs overseas to countries willing to permit conditions little better than slave labor.

I believe that only serious sacrifice by all members of our society will bring us out of the doldrums in which we are stuck. But sacrifice is not being asked of the wealthiest among us. It is being forced upon those least able to oppose it or support it.

I have watched the Democratic Party play a complicit role in the ever widening stratification of American society. It has betrayed the unions. It has betrayed the environment. It has betrayed voters who put it in power. It has become a faint echo of its former self and I no longer expect either progress or constructive, forceful action from its officials.

President Obama is scheduled to make a "major" speech on jobs next week to a joint session of Congress. By now I anticipate a "campaign 2012" speech that perhaps will seek to rectify the mistakes of the past 3 years. To paraphrase Margaret Mitchell, "Frankly, Mr. President, I no longer give a damn."

Taking that walk into the County Office Building to remove my party affiliation from my voting registration is not something I take lightly. I am very close to taking that walk.