Notes from Evil Bender

Democrats will control at least the House, and possibly the Senate as well, in 2007. I’ve long decried the Dem’s lack of backbone in standing up to the Republican spin machine, but recently we’ve seen that begin to change: Democratic candidates made great gains by clearly linking their opponents to Bush’s extremist agenda. Now will they learn their lesson, realize that Americans are with them on many social and almost all economic issues? I hope so. If they don’t, the best we can hope for in Washington is Gridlock, and I sincerely hope they plan to do more to roll back the travesty that is the right’s political policy than simply keep the status quo.

Marc at Punkass Blog has a plan for making 2007 the Year of the Liberal, and I couldn’t agree more. I’m going to chip in as well, and make my case for a Democratic agenda, one which combines already-popular positions with wise use of political capital:

• Push hard for serious reforms in Washington. Make Republicans who want to keep their ties to lobbyists come out and actively fight to do so.
• Raise the minimum wage. Not only is it the right thing to do, but there is wide voter support for it.
• Begin a phased withdraw from Iraq, on a schedule.
• Use the money we won’t be dumping into Iraq to secure our ports and airports.
• Aggressively work to implement all of the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations. Take the terror high-ground away from Republicans who have so badly botched the job.
• Work for a single-payer healthcare system. The Republicans will block it, but it still needs doing, and voters want to see it happen.
• Pass legislation that guarantees habeas corpus rights to every American, and that guarantees that prisoners cannot be held indefinitely without trial through an indefinitely long and ill-defined war.

It’s time for the Democrats to press the advantage, and illustrate to voters exactly why their vision is better than the Republican’s failed theocratic regime. And they need to start now, immediately, before Rove and company find another way to terrify the country into submission.