Why do Democrats behave badly?

I made the point in a debate with Professor Natelson one time over at Electric City Weblog a long time ago that the leadership of our country is far to the right of the citizens of this country. He sees just the opposite. I see strong validation for my side of the argument in the current health care debate.

The American public, under various polls (see here, here, here for example) have for a long time and overwhelming supported either “national health care”, “national health insurance”, or even “single payer”, though the latter by a smaller margin.

In Washington, it doesn’t even get on the table – politicians like Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) sneer at it with contempt. He is far to the right of the public, as are most of them, on this issue.

It’s no different on other issues – check out the summary of various polls on various issues here. The question is, why can we not we not have leaders who harmonize with us on the important issues of the day?

I won’t go too deep on this – there’s a large public attitude control apparatus at work in this country called the mainstream media. While the right wing likes to paint it as leftish, it is far more “mainstream” in that it supports the attitudes of the ownership class. I don’t want to sound Marxist in that analysis – I am merely referring to that top 20% that owns 85-90% of our wealth, and more specifically, that top 1% that owns 35% of our wealth. They make policy. They finance political campaigns, and politicians of both parties reflect their attitudes.

The political apparatus that keeps mainstream public opinion from becoming public policy is the Democratic Party. Republicans have it easy in office – they have the luxury of being true to their real beliefs. Democrats have to work behind a façade.

Confusion abounds, perceptions conflict. There are two Democratic Parties – one runs for office, and the one that holds office. People are learning now that President Obama, like Clinton before him, is no liberal, no reformer, hardly a guy who favors even modest change. Candidate Obama was far to the left of the guy holding office.

It’s no different with most of the others – there are very few true public representatives within the party, and they are marginalized. Third parties are aggressively pushed out of the picture, even demonized by the Democrats.

So when an issue like health care comes to a head, and public opinion is solidifying around something like single payer, or at least a viable “public option”, the Democrats assume leadership on the issue, and true to their financiers, prevent meaningful change.

Is this a conscious act on the part of the Democrats? In my opinion, yes. The leadership of the party actively tries to undermine public opinion. Conservative Democrats like Baucus have easy access to finance, wide media support, and actively pursue office against progressives, who usually lack the financial means to put up a real challenge.

What about he followership? Followers follow. Most Democrats cannot see beyond the party itself, and are swayed by arguments such as “gradualism”, where they get what they want slowly (actually, never). They are told they must never let the perfect interfere with the good, not noticing they get neither.

But most importantly, and this is where Baucus shines, when the politicians actually decide to go with the public on an issue like health care, it is with a different goal than that of the public. So I have been very aggressively urging people to fight Max Baucus, as he is no reformer. He is heavily financed by the private health insurance sector, and is carrying out their will. What he wants for us is quite different from what we want for ourselves. He is a false friend, but a true Democrat.

He did this with Medicare D a few years back – he undercut progressive opposition to support a GOP-crafted prescription drug bill for the elderly. The final product was a massive subsidy for the pharmaceutical companies. Seniors get very little out of it, while the drug companies rake in the dough. He did his job.

Many thought that with the ascendancy of the Democrats, that part of Medicare D that prevents government from negotiating prices with drug companies would be scuttled. Not so. It hasn’t happened. It won’t happen. Democrats support drug companies too.

It’s the old song and dance, what Gore Vidal referred to as an eagle with two right wings that flies in circles. Democrats represent the same people as Republicans, and only go about it differently. They are far more clever, and for that reason, far more dangerous.