As we go about regrouping, let's take good advice, regardless of its dubious source, even from the Philistines. -- Tim Wooten's advice to the Demo's.

Jim Wooten, self-proclaimed Goliath of the Philistines (OK, so it was me who so proclaimed him as such), concludes a recent column with justifiable criticism of all of the pork contained in the omnibus spending bill that was passed without any of our U.S. Congressman or Senators having had the opportunity to read.

This spending bill was the subject of my 11-24-04 post entitled "'We've reached the bizarre point where we approve hundreds of billions of dollars of bills without anyone seeing them." Sen. John McCain."

Mr. Wooten's advice: "Hint to defeated Democrats: Become fiscal conservatives and run against the tax-and-spenders."

Amen to that I say.
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I put a quote on this on my website this summer that I love (from the Libertine Party of all sources):

"TELL IT ALL BROTHER; TELL IT ALL. WHO WOULD HAVE THUNK IT? SOMETIMES THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY GETS IT RIGHT AFTER ALL (a “roll of Charmin;” I love it. Sid)

“This seems to be an exciting time to be a Libertarian, if such a thing is possible . . . .

"[I]f some pollsters and pundits are correct, this could be the year in which Libertarians stand a fair chance of shaking up the presidential election. Not by winning, mind you -- even the party’s most enthusiastic drug-legalization advocate would have few illusions there.

"Rather, Libertarians are positioned to effect a November surprise by siphoning votes away from an incumbent president who spends our taxes like lottery winnings, invades other countries under false pretexts and treats the U.S. Constitution as if it were a roll of Charmin.

"‘Several of my Republican friends say they’ll stay home or vote Libertarian instead of supporting Bush,’ says Dave Dellinger, press secretary for the party’s Georgia chapter.’

"‘We used to say that the Democrats were the tax-and-spend party,’ Dellinger says, ‘but under Bush, the Republicans have become the borrow-and-spend party.’”
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And in a 09-06-04 post entitled "Suggest to your state legislator that the General Assembly require itself to first review rules' impact on small business," I wrote:

"[W]ouldn't it be nice for Congress to have the General Accounting Office inform states about how much legislation being consider for passage in Washington will cost the states. Sometimes it's unfunded mandates; other times it's Congress cutting taxes on the national level that will result in them going up -- or the states doing without -- on the state level . . . .

In days gone by when the Democratic Party was known as the tax and spend party, it might have been thought Congress would have resisted such legislation.

But with the GOP having won all honors as the borrow and spend party, the Democrats might want such legislation to at least let the states know upfront what it generally takes them several years to find out.
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On the state level, this horse is going to be more difficult to ride this coming legislative session as the GOP, in full control, works to balance the state budget, often on the backs of the poor and needy.

But in fairness to all concerned, much in the state budget needs reviewing, and would have been done had Gov. Barnes been re-elected.

This is the result of successive tax cuts during the Miller and Barnes' administrations, and are reviewed in my post of 10-09-04 post advocating ending the sales tax exemption for "groceries."

But we need to keep to theme "borrow and spend" party and such similar labels as they develop in mind, and screw the labels to the sticking point.

And at the same time, we need to take back some of our characteristics and the very essence of our Party that the Republicans have very skillfully succeeded in convincing many who should be (and were) Democrats now belong to the GOP, causing such voters to vote for Republicans even as they are voting against their own best interests.

I conclude this post with some advice I espoused that we follow back in a post of 08-08-04, and is certainly of relevance after Nov. 2:

Mayday Mayday, we're getting hit on the right and barraged on the left.

The previous post concerns the Democratic Party getting hit on the right. This morning in the ajc we read that the Party is in the process of getting barraged on the left by friendly fire. The article notes:

"More than two decades ago, conservative visionary Newt Gingrich set out a strategy that helped Republicans win control of Congress and a majority of the state legislative houses and governorships.

"Now, some liberals are using the methods of the former House speaker in what they hope will be a Democratic comeback.

"Gloria Totten [a seasoned political organizer from the abortion rights movement] heads Progressive Majority [PROPAC, which echoes Newt's conservative Republican group, GOPAC], which is building a 'farm team' of liberal Democratic politicians.

"In one of the best organized of these efforts, a small but optimistic group named Progressive Majority has already begun coaching 93 left-of-center state and local candidates on how to win elections."

To paraphase someone I have little respect for, "Can't we all just get along without your help ma'am, thank you very much?"

For you see, Ms. Totten, here in Georgia we're about the important task of rebuilding the Democratic Party, and in the process showing Georgia and the rest of the good ole US of A that we are "A National Party, You Damned Right We Are."

If you want to be of help, get behind the Democratic Leadership Council or some similar organization.

We are the party of the people, the party of inclusion, and while we want your help, many good Democrats agree with the skeptic quoted in the above link to the ajc article who states:

"I think there is an unrepresented majority of Americans with middle-of-the-road positions on abortion, guns, taxes and a whole host of other issues that are not pure enough for groups on the left or right. The problem is that the process is driven by ideologues and issue purists on the left and right that are equally removed from where most Americans are."

In the process of rebuilding, we are far less interested in black caucuses and white caucuses and Hispanic caucuses. We want Democratic caucuses.

In the process of rebuilding, we are far less interested in liberal caucuses and conservative caucuses. We want Democratic caucuses.

As we rebuild, we want to attract back many white male voters and others groups who may have abandoned us, and in the process, we think labels -- such as the liberal one that you espouse -- at this time could do us more harm than good.

As I said, we are the party of inclusion and want your help, but at this point we do not need to be taking one step forward and two back.

(END OF POST.)

As we regroup, remembering from whence we came will not interfere with our being flexible, innovative, and above all, inclusive of all, including new and accomodating ideas and platforms.

We are down but not out.

We are in the John Paul Jones mode. In his famous naval battle in which over half of his crew, including Jones himself, were either killed or wounded and many men were horribly burned. It was during this battle, when asked if he wished to surrender, that Jones gave the reply "I have not yet begun to fight."

Let's fight, but let's fight smart.

And to borrow from the Coffee County Democrats' new website from the Ballad of Sir Andrew Barton:

"Fight on, my men," says Sir Andrew Barton,
"I am hurt, but I am not slain;
I'll lay me down and bleed a while,
And then I'll rise and fight again."