I Want to Believe: An Open Letter to the Democrats in Congress

I remember wearing, in my childhood, a button with the smiling face of the Republican presidential candidate, above a logo which read, I like Ike! I can see my young self, wearing my favorite checked coat with the black velvet collar. My mother kneels in front of me to help me pin on the button, and gently explains that we like Adlai Stevenson, the liberal Democrat from Illinois. I wonder, in retrospect, if I wanted to like Ike because everybody else did. That was the last time I supported a Republican for president.

Since turning twenty-one, I’ve voted in every election— even the ones nobody else was enthusiastic about. With one exception, I’ve voted straight Democratic, because I’ve always believed that Democrats were for the working man, championing civil rights and putting into place a structure for protecting those most in need of uplifting. Hubert Humphrey, with his defense of Liberalism, was my hero.

Lately, I’ve heard a lot of people saying that there are no differences between Republicans and Democrats; in fact, I’ve heard myself saying it.  I desperately hope that’s not true. Like Fox Mulder, I want to believe in Democrats, starting with Obama.

I’ve been disappointed in our President, but I like his new jobs bill, and his new-found feistiness, and I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I’m sure that we –at least those of us who are not millionaires– would be a lot worse off with almost any Republican president. You may have noticed that there’s only one thing that trickles down, and it’s not wealth.

“What have they done for us lately?” some liberal friends asked about the Democrats in Congress. I wanted to defend my party, but I had nothing.

An hours-long Internet search didn’t turn up anything except the discouraging news that Harry Reid hasn’t even put the jobs bill on the table. He’s too busy with China. I located Democrats.org, and learned which issues Democrats claim to support: civil rights, education, the environment, voting rights, health care, and other goodies. Those things are good. We need help with all of those issues and more.

But what have you done lately, Democrats, to make our lives better? Tell me, if you can, or do something, so I can believe, and continue to defend the party of my parents.