I'm disgusted by Democratic disloyalty doing the Koch Brother's job for them

[Savannahmann]

42. Very powerfully written.

So the Democratic Party reflects your views 1000 times more than the Republicans. I'm actually very sorry to hear that.

Because this Democratic Party is a pale shadow of the one I respect and love. We used to call on people to strive for the common good, now, we just want them to strive for the good of our richest supporters.

JFK, announced that we would go to the moon. He did not promise us that we would be first, but absent the effort, we would certainly be last. He did not promise it would be easy. In fact he was right up front with us when he said it would be hard.

But if I were to say, my fellow citizens, that we shall send to the moon, 240,000 miles away from the control station in Houston, a giant rocket more than 300 feet tall, the length of this football field, made of new metal alloys, some of which have not yet been invented, capable of standing heat and stresses several times more than have ever been experienced, fitted together with a precision better than the finest watch, carrying all the equipment needed for propulsion, guidance, control, communications, food and survival, on an untried mission, to an unknown celestial body, and then return it safely to earth, re-entering the atmosphere at speeds of over 25,000 miles per hour, causing heat about half that of the temperature of the sun--almost as hot as it is here today--and do all this, and do it right, and do it first before this decade is out--then we must be bold.

Kennedy made no bones about how hard it would be. It would be nearly impossible to do it before the end of the decade, and it would be after he left the White House no matter what happened. So he could not hope to bask in the glory from the Oval Office when man first stepped on the moon. But it was a goal worth achieving, a goal worth striving for. A burden our nation had to shoulder, together.

How about FDR. His brilliant speech on the Four Freedoms. Talk about grand idealism beyond the reach of mortal men.

In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.

The first is freedom of speech and expression -- everywhere in the world.

The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way -- everywhere in the world.

The third is freedom from want, which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants -- everywhere in the world.

The fourth is freedom from fear, which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor -- anywhere in the world.

That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called “new order” of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb.

I could go on, and on, and on. I could list speeches from the Senate about how our world could be better, but we must strive together to reach that place. I could quote Supreme Court decisions that ordered equality and freedom.

Now days, it seems all I can quote is the disappointments. No charges will be filed by a Democratically managed Justice Department over the murder of unarmed black men. No charges will be filed in the actions of the police to abuse the citizenry of their civil rights. We can't go for Single payer, it's too hard. Imagine my disappointment when I realize the same party that told the world we were going to the moon because it was hard now announces that we can't do things, things that need to be done, because it is too hard.

We used to reach towards the stars, and we reached the moon. We used to strive to improve mankind, and we used to speak from the heart as we described our dreams. Dreams that inspired generations before us. Dreams that filled hearts with joy, the downtrodden with hope, and filled the Congress with Democrats.

Today, we don't dream big, we dream of winning. We don't know what we'll do if we win, but we want to win. We had giants who stood on the mountain and cried out the hopes of the people. Now, we have mice who squeek that the cat won't let us do anything.

I am terribly disappointed in the Democratic Party. I'm disappointed that we aren't doing more. That we aren't striving to right the wrongs. That we aren't holding our hands out and helping the lowest among us stand beside us. I'm disappointed that we have forsaken the ideals of those great men and women who came before us. Some of those older than even myself marched in protests to demand that Blacks be given the right to vote. That segregation be abolished once and for all.

Think about that. Think about it for a minute. There was a time when people like you, and I and most of the folks here would have marched in protests to demand justice for the abused minorities. I marched, and I stood there and demanded that people recognize AIDS was a killer and we should strive for a cure. I protested the asinine sodomy charges that too many of our brothers and sisters endured. I protested an end to the threat of Nuclear War.

We used to demand more from our elected leaders. We used to demand more of our Government. Now we're happy to get less, so long as the other side doesn't get anything. We have become the party that exists for one reason, to oppose anything the Republicans support, and to support anything that the Republicans oppose. That isn't a political party. That isn't even a good script for a half assed B movie about politics.

But this is good for you. This is what you want to see. This is perfect, the awesome culmination of a lifes work, and generations of dreams.

I'm saddened. I'm convinced that those Giants, FDR, Truman, and JFK. I'm convinced that those men would spit on us and call us cowards. I feel certain that those greats who set a standard that we should all strive for would be ashamed to be in the same party with us.

LBJ was a low point, but sadly he seems to have been the mold for the rest of those that came next. Because after LBJ, it seems that we've become casual, relaxed. It's good enough, it's almost like our motto became that of a half assed repairman. That'll do.

That attitude would have prevented Bobby Kennedy from trying to do more after he had given his Brother to the world. But even despite that, Teddy Kennedy stood up and said he would take up the mantle. While he wasn't nominated, he did serve this nation until his death in the Senate, giving us many speeches and votes, and laws that strove to make a difference. That'll do never entered his vocabulary. He fought until the very end for what he believed in. Always striving to do more.

We've set our sights so low that we're in no danger of tripping over them. That's not a good thing. That's not something to cheer. It's something to lament. This is why so many people tune us out. This is why there were four million fewer voters for President Obama in 2012 than in 2008. Because we have decided that'll do is good enough. We don't need to try harder than that.