I disagree with the diarist's prognostications regarding the supposed coming Democratic realignment towards corporatists, but it got me thinking, what is it that I actually disagree with?
As a Westerner, I firmly believe that most major Democrats' poll driven beliefs about what they have to do to appeal to the Mountain West, if not completely incorrect, lack sufficient resolution and finesse.
We hear a lot about how Democrats believe that potential Democratic voters in the Mountain West are less liberal and more "libertarian", they trust the marketplace to solve most problems.
I do not know how typical I am as a Western (Coloradoan) voter but offering myself and the people I know anecdotally, this is (at least to my eyes) a misapprehension. Having traveled to both eastern states and west coast states and seeing the liberal attitudes there, attitudes are indeed different, but as to how they're different, I think just sticking the "libertarian" label on the differences is a mistake.
So, I want to offer up a slate of purely personal opinions as a Westerner about how the Democratic Party could appeal to western Democrats and just see how many people in the Western states (CO, NV, AZ, NM, ID, UT, WY, MT) agree with these changes.
Issue 1: "Small business" versus "Micro business"
From my experience, it is true that the west is a hotbed of entrepreneurial spirit. I am a member of a 3 person corporation and sit on the board; I'm no socialist in the micro-sense. And knowing that the Republicans bill themselves as the "party of small business" I realize that over time, the definition of small business has been twisted beyond all recognition.
A thriving company of 50 people is NOT the "small business" I believe the government should be helping explicitly. The government can best help these people by instituting single payer health care.
I would like to see the Democratic Party become the party of the micro-business. These are the true growth engines of our economy, they are the seeds from which our future mega employers come from. But when you grow and do become a mega-corp, you need to be regulated for the common good.
The western states are often held hostage by the large employers, rather than extolling their virtues, I would like to see them more heavily regulated than they are now, and in particular, prevented from using the "do what we say or we'll take our ball and go home" tactics they tend to employ.
Issue 2: True energy independence and the environment
In Colorado, the energy crisis is alarming for more reasons than just the energy. We are sitting on the largest shale reserves in the United States, potentially representing billions of dollars in potential oil reserves.
With the potential gold mine there, I am alarmed at the prospect of the large energy companies despoiling our environment to get at these reserves. We need more power to control the energy companies and force them to respect the environment.
We also need to be able to get companies off our backs in the "do what we say or we'll take our ball and go home". If we can't hold the energy companies accountable, the beauty that is Colorado will be destroyed forever.
I am also not as anti-nuclear as I believe many liberals are and Daily Kos in general is. Yes, there's a nuclear waste issue, but we're talking about thousands of tons of radioactive materials versus billions of tons of Carbon Dioxide greenhouse gases.
However, the issue of disposing of nuclear waste is not being handled democratically. Western States are being bullied by the larger states, who want to use the Western states as a nuclear dumping ground.
Issue 3: Privacy
This is something I'm sad to say most "libertarian" (read: conservative) thinkers rarely mention except as lip service. Just in my case, along with my friends out here, more visceral about being left alone than my west coast or east coast liberal brethren.
Sadly, in this case, I believe the so-called libertarians have lost their way. It's not about gun rights, it's about the right to not be monitored and the right to be left alone if one is not a criminal.
Issue 4: Water
The larger states (particularly California) are after our water. We need safeguards and federal government assistance to prevent this. (How did their water flow from our mountains and our lands?)
Yes, water needs to be shared, but the mountain states need at least an equal voice at the table. Bullying us because we're fewer in number about the issue of water sharing is not the way.
Issue 5: Civil rights
I am as big a proponent of all the civil liberties (and more) that people on the west coast or east coast are.
However, in the West, the fight for civil rights has to be handled differently. We do not want to plead or whine for our rights here, we want to fight for them, and vociferously.
Whining is for babies. The way you do this is you appeal to the conscience but in a no nonsense, comparative way. ("Would YOU want to be denied your right to be married?")
As Democrats, we don't need to tone down or abandon the civil rights arguments in the West, we need to go about it differently. (Not like this:)
Issue 6: Technology and space exploration
I'm a big proponent of massive technological advancement and all my friends are, too. There is an element (a "strain", dare I say) of superstitious mistrust of technology among many liberals, especially non-Western liberals, I've never been comfortable with.
In particular, when people have issues with the use of a particular technology, I greatly dislike flaccid reactive thinking that is too typical of many liberals. There are technologies that do need to be regulated and monitored more carefully than they have been under the Republican regime. But, as a pro-technology person, I want to see rigorous argument rather than appealing to fear, which is what liberals often do with that which they dislike, too.
Like all things, base and raw political appellations are blunt instruments, while having an element of truth, I don't consider myself a "libertarian". I consider myself a pragmatic Western liberal.
I believe it is a mistake to either implicitly or explicitly call Mountain States liberalism in any way "corporatist".
Are there issues I've forgotten here? What do other Westerners on Daily Kos think?
