Right Voices

Democratic Party Has Long List of Resolutions for 2005

Shaking off their post-election hangovers, Democrats are getting into the New Year’s spirit with a slew of resolutions aimed at restoring their lost political primacy.

Among the vows on some of their lists:

Get rid of unnecessary layers of political consultants.

Elect a party chairman who understands the revolutionary changes brought by Internet fund-raising and the rise of the influential entities known as “527″ groups.

Throw no cause or constituency group overboard in the scramble to rehabilitate the party’s image.

And, foremost, come up with a clear answer to the question that puzzles many voters: What does the Democratic Party stand for, anyway?

Democrats see two near-perfect opportunities on this front: They should battle with their backs to the wall President Bush’s efforts to substitute private investment accounts for any part of Social Security. And they should defend to the death the Senate rules allowing filibusters against judicial nominees.

Some of their resolutions are worthy, but they are mostly concerned with Social Security and Supreme Court appointments as a starting point so their voters can define better who they are and what they are about – - For a long time the Democrats have lined themselves up with far leaning left organizations and therefore they need to be careful because in defining themselves they could also eliminate a lot of their own support and financial backing.