Falling in line

By Carter Bundy

Recent events have convinced me that unless Democrats, liberals and progressives start coalescing around Obama, the GOP is going to survive what should be a free fall in local and national politics just fine.

Republican hierarchies

One of my favorite theories about the two major parties is that people drawn to the Republican Party generally believe in following orders and staying within a firmly established hierarchy. Think about three of the key legs of the GOP stool: military, church and corporate America.

In the military, there can be a discussion of strategy behind closed doors by leaders, but once a decision is made, it’s absolutely critical that orders be followed. Soldiers aren’t there to question; they’re there to carry out the mission.

In churches, once a directive is issued from on high, it’s treated as God’s word by the flock. It’s only in the liberal churches like the Episcopalian Church that there are serious challenges to anti-gay or misogynistic rules.

Corporate America is famous for its internal battles for power, but once the battles are settled, everyone knows his or her place.

You won’t meet many Republicans who don’t have a strong affiliation with at least one of those three hierarchies.

Democratic questioning

Democrats, on the other hand, love to be free thinkers. They don’t do things because people tell them to. Progressives, liberals and Democrats tend to value individual expression and activity while denigrating the idea of being a sheep.

Democrats’ major bases of support tend to come from lawyers who believe in enforcing the law to protect individuals, unions who represent individual workers against the corporate hierarchy, well-educated professionals who often work for themselves or have wide individual latitude in professional firm settings and minority groups who have had to fight for individual civil rights against our government and society’s hierarchy.

In other words, Democrats are often those with little power or with power that’s derived from helping others challenge the status quo. Liberals have a natural affinity for questioning authority, standing up for individuals and challenging hierarchies.

While the diversity of thought and constant challenges to ideas makes liberals and Democrats more capable of developing well-thought-out policies, that same strength is a substantial weakness when it comes time for battles in the political realm.

Contrasting visits

For all the divisiveness within the GOP during primary season and moaning by conservatives about how McCain wasn’t conservative enough for them, polls and a sampling of Rush, Sean and FOX News indicate that conservatives have fallen completely in line.

While a moderate VP pick may cause another brief firestorm, McCain’s already locked down his base. From the questions I’ve seen from Las Cruces, he’s doing just fine.

Meanwhile, Obama’s fighting multiple fronts within liberal, progressive and Democratic America. He’s being attacked by a handful of African Americans for not paying enough attention to black issues, whatever that may mean (see, e.g., Jesse Jackson’s graphic wish list and Gene Grant’s excellent recent piece about African American dissension).

A significant number of Hillary supporters are still withholding their support, frustrated at a flawed primary process and crushed that the first (and likely for foreseeable future, only) serious female candidate was edged out for the nomination.

Obama’s even facing strong challenges from the left. Nader’s drawing a couple of percentage points. Liberal Albuquerque activist (and friend) Dallas Timmons’ substantively excellent questions about the war and FISA surveillance rules at Obama’s Albuquerque stop neatly summed up the resistance some progressives are putting up to the Dems’ nominee. The questions were excellent. So was Obama’s response.

Dallas’ intellectual honesty and willingness to hold Obama accountable are great. Dallas was a strong Obama supporter before the question, and still is. But you can be sure that some other progressives are going to use issues like war funding or FISA to vote for Nader or not vote at all.

By contrast, McCain won’t lose his conservative base to libertarian Bob Barr, even though Barr may pick up some moderates who usually vote Republican.

Imitation isn’t always bad

Dems are in a tough position every election, because the very things that make them better at policy and governing — challenging assumptions, questioning authority, introspection and self-questioning, disregarding hierarchy and holding people accountable — are the things that make it tougher to win elections.

If the Hillary supporters and left wing of the party can’t find it in themselves to give full support to Obama, they’ll have no one but themselves to blame for four more years of wars, deficits, jobs fleeing overseas, middle-class decimation, environmental degradation and constitutional violations.

When Hillary spoke in Española last Sunday, she didn’t say “I hope you’ll consider supporting Obama.” Hillary directly asked her supporters to back Obama, but went further. She said she wants her supporters to work just as hard for Obama as they did for her.

Dems don’t much like following just for the sake of following. But the next 10 weeks might be a very good time to take Hillary’s advice to fall in line as hard for Obama as the conservative base is falling in line for McCain.

Bundy is the political and legislative director for AFSCME in New Mexico. The opinions in his column are personal and do not necessarily reflect any official AFSCME position. You can learn more about him by clicking here. Contact him at carterbundy@yahoo.com.