We need more Democrats like this

Sometimes we need to get angry. We need this passion. Frankly, the whole country should be angry about what the Republicans are doing, putting partisan politics above our country. I don't know how Weiner's outburst will play out politically, and I don't care. Sometimes, you just have to do the right thing.

In this case, it was a bill to provide health care aid to 9/11 rescue and recovery workers who've faced health problems since the attack. Republicans claimed that they supported the bill, but voted against it for "procedural reasons." In reality, the GOP is trying to stop - or at least delay - all legislation, simply because the Democrats are in charge. If it hadn't been this excuse, it would have been another.

There's an editorial in my local newspaper today which praises Sen. Mike Johanns (R - NE) for voting against the DISCLOSE Act, the current campaign finance bill. No, Johanns didn't actually vote against the bill, because - as usual - Republicans didn't even allow the bill to get a vote. (It would have passed easily if they'd permitted a vote.) He joined every other Republican in their filibuster, and his excuse was the exception carved out of the bill for the NRA. Seriously. That was his excuse.

Leaving aside the laughable suggestion that any Republican would object to giving the NRA exactly what it wanted, the fact is that Johanns, like every other Republican, would have filibustered the bill no matter what it included - just like they've filibustered everything. It has nothing to do with the contents of the bill and everything to do with partisan politics. After all, Republicans could always have proposed an amendment removing the exemption. Why didn't they, if that was their real objection?

Indeed, the only reason the exemption was included in the first place was in a vain attempt to get some Republican to put our country above partisan politics (and because, while the GOP continues to play its partisan political games, bills must try to get every single Democratic vote - even those from very conservative Democrats). That means that bills are weakened, and loaded with exemptions, in order to get every single Democrat in agreement - including some who are Democrats in name only - and in the further hope of getting just one Republican to do the right thing.

The pattern has been that one or two Republicans - no more - indicate that they might be willing to break a filibuster if the Democrats accede to their every whim. So the Democrats compromise, and the Republicans find new objections. Eventually (all this takes time, which is the whole point), there's only a small kernel of value still remaining in the bill,... and then the Republicans don't break the filibuster after all. It was all just a head-fake, just a political game, just a way to keep the Democrats beating their heads against a brick wall.

This is not how our government was ever designed to work, and it has never been this way in the past. Our democracy is broken because Republicans are playing political games and we citizens aren't holding them accountable. Indeed, hard as this is to believe, their disgusting political tactics actually seem to be working. How dumb can we be to not just let this continue, but to actually reward them for it?

Normally, when a political party moves to the extremes, as the Republican Party has, they lose in the general election. Normally, when a political party plays partisan games instead of working for the good of our country, they fail to get majority support. This tends to keep both parties near the political center. But when the economy is hurting like this, when times are really bad, voters almost always punish the party in power,... even when it was the other party which collapsed the economy in the first place!

Furthermore, these days we've got Fox "News" pushing right-wing propaganda day and night. Thanks to previous Republican administrations, we've got the Supreme Court packed with right-wing extremists who've decided that multinational corporations need even more power to influence our elections. Sure, none of this would work if we Americans were smart enough and courageous enough, but it seems that we're not. And with our first non-white president in office, racism is also a big part of this. It's easy for many whites to believe the worst of blacks, even when it's nonsensical.

But the biggest problem right now might be the enthusiasm gap. After nearly destroying America in recent years, thanks to the worst presidential administration in U.S. history, you'd think the right-wing would be hanging their heads in shame. But given this bad economy (which the Republicans are doing their best to prolong) the extremists sense blood in the water.

Progressives, on the other hand, are discouraged. Government is harder than they expected. Americans are dumber. And Democratic politicians are all too eager to compromise with people who have no interest in compromising. Democrats, you need to start behaving like Anthony Weiner if you ever hope to bridge this enthusiasm gap. Progressive politicians need to start fighting for what is right. What's the worst that could happen, you'd lose? You're losing already.