Pope Francis shows Democrats how to take back America [View all]

[MannyGoldstein]

Last edited Tue Dec 24, 2013, 11:58 PM - Edit history (2)

I read today that Pope Francis' approval rating among US Catholics is 88%.

88% is an extraordinary number. I grew up in a household where the breadwinner ran a marketing research firm - I learned at the dinner table that polls almost never go above 67%, or below 33%.

Extraordinary.

Francis has earned this approval by preaching that we're all in this together, and we must all work together to make our lives better. He has excoriated "trickle-down" economics, the overarching Republican/Third-Way article of faith, calling it what it is - a total pantload of crap that simply steals from the poor to enricherer the rich (yes, that's a paraphrase).

88%.

Friends, the way forward is clear. Most Americans have been fooled most of the time over the past few decades, but we've woken up and now we want change. Real change. We want help in the streets, not in the boardrooms. We want love for one another, not responsible adult cuts to the social safety net so the wealthiest can pay hyperlow taxes.

We want fairness and justice.

88%

Republicans cannot provide fairness and justice - their philosophy, bankrupt for the last 50 years or so, is no longer even a philosophy, having become merely the yammerings of petulant feral children.

For decades, Democrats were the force of enabling fairness and justice in our country, and we had many good years. And then our party lost its way.

Pope Francis' popularity is a clarion call to our party to get back on track, a call to return to our core principle of helping all Americans to get a fair deal: economic security, dignity, and a place at the table. Americans don't want catfood commissions and speaking tours of Wall Street - we want politicians that will work for all of us, who'll work to rebuild a fair America that's prosperous for all.

If we want to win elections - to really win, to own the Presidency and both houses of Congress - we'll learn the lesson of the 88%.