Writing approx. 11:00 a.m., Pacific Daylight Time.

I just watched Howard Dean's speech in Burlington, Vermont announcing his candidacy on CSPAN. (It is interesting to note that at this particular moment, all four cable news channels, CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, and, of course, Fox News, chose instead to telecast a speech given by George W. Bush at a 2003 Biotechnology Convention luncheon. We'll see how much coverage Dean's announcement will get on the evening news.)

From what I've seen and heard so far, Howard Dean looks pretty good. He laid it on the line and he minced no words. And I liked what he said very much. But it remains to be seen.

Sometimes you can tell a great deal about a candidate by looking at those who oppose him or her. In a little moseying around the internet I learned that a group called "the Democratic Leadership Council" opposes Howard Dean.

The Democratic Leadership Council advocates moving the whole Democratic Party to the right, so that they will be indistinguishable from Republicans. They have been the ones pretty much picking candidates and platforms for the Democrats within recent years. To me, this goes along way toward explaining why the Democratic Party keeps oozing toward the right, until your choice between Democratic and Republican candidates is the choice between Tweedledum and Tweedledumber. No real alternatives. Basically what the DLC maintains will win elections for Democrats is for them to say, "Look, folks! We're just like the Republicans, only maybe perhaps not quite as much." Translation: if you have a solid set of principles and you take a firm stand in support of those principles, you might offend someone and lose their vote—so divest yourself of your backbone, become a jellyfish, and hope for the best. I leave it to you to determine how successful this policy has been in offering good candidates to chose from.

Rev. Jesse Jackson calls the DLC "Democrats for the Leisure Class." And years ago, Harry Truman said, "When voters are given a choice between voting for a Republican, or a Democrat who acts like a Republican, they'll vote for the Republican every time." In my opinion, the Democratic Leadership Council is the very epitome of the spineless, unprincipled attitude that has rendered the Democratic Party pointless and gutless within recent years. People like the DLC are exactly what is currently wrong with the Democratic Party.

I have posted this link before, but it merits being posted many times until a sufficiently large number of people have read it and are motivated to act on it. It's an article by Thom Hartmann, entitled "How to Take Back America." In it, Hartmann gives a historical perspective on how the right-wing neo-Conservatives gained power in the first place, why, in the American political system, third parties do more harm than good to the causes they represent, and what people need to do if they are genuinely concerned about the future of this country and where it is going. Printed out, it runs about four single-spaced typewritten pages, but it is well worth your time to read and absorb--and act on.   

From what I have seen so far, Howard Dean is on my short list. I know very little about Dennis Kucinich, but I'm reading up on him, and so far, he sounds good, too. Also on my short list.

Don Firth

P.S: Speaking of third parties, and with all due respect to Ralph Nader, I thought that the person in the crowd among all the Dean signs who held up the big yellow Nader sign and kept jockeying for position in front of the cameras was really tacky. This was Dean's announcement, after all, and this sleazy attempt to horn in can't do Nader any good.