Today, anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan announced that she will run for Congress as an Independent against Nancy Pelosi in 2008 unless, by July 23, she puts impeachment back on the table. And while I think a lot of able-minded people on the netroots will have enough sense to oppose this distracting bit of grandstanding, I want to affirm just that here and now - a Cindy Sheehan independent run for Congress against the Democratic Speaker of the House is BAD for our party, our country, and our political system.
The American two-party system certainly has its advantages and disadvantages. As a die-hard Democrat, I must admit that there are times when even I become frustrated with our party and some of the things it does. And there are times in which, as a Democrat, I can make an impact on the shaping of the direction of our party. For example, I am from Connecticut. Last August, I cast my vote in the Democratic primary for Ned Lamont because I believe he was better suited to represent our party in the Senate as opposed to Joe Lieberman. Next year, on February 5th, I will cast my vote for one of the Democratic presidential candidates and thus let my voice be heard about the future of the party. Breaking from the party, as Cindy Sheehan would do should she in fact run against Pelosi next year, is not the right way of changing your party for the better to suit it to your desires - it is abandoning it and making it worse.
Like it or not, this is a two-party system of government. It is hard to imagine the rise of a third party in the near future and therefore those of us who care about politics and issues must work within either of those two parties in order to make a reasonable impact on the national debate. For those of us on the left, working with and in the Democratic Party helps drive it to where we want to see it. If we try and try to do that and the party still does not give way, we must keep on trying. Failure is not an option - for us or the party.
So not only is Cindy Sheehan wrong to go outside the party system in order to make a statement she could easily make within the party, she is doing this for the wrong reasons. Reason, as Al Gore states in his new book, needs to be put back into political thought in this country. And if Cindy were to use this notion of reason in her thought, she would clearly see that she is jumping the gun here.
Nancy Pelosi has been Speaker for six months. In that six months, she has dealt with one of the most fragile majorities in the history of Congress. She presides over a rag-tag coalition of Democrats and must blend their sometimes conflicting interests (somehow) into a united front. She wants to end this war. If she had her way, she would probably tell you that Bush should be impeached for his actions during this presidency. But she is not at liberty to be a Cindy Sheehan-esqe warrior for the peace movement - she is the Speaker of the House. She needs to compromise. She needs to be pragmatic. She needs to deliver results to the American voting base in order to maintain the luxury of the majority that we have so recently found ourselves in and would like to find ourselves in in the future.
Would I like to see the troops out of Iraq? Yes. Would I like to see Bush & Co. tried for their crimes against this country? Yes. But am I willing to let the leaders of our party figure out the best course of action and have patience? Absolutely.
Cindy Sheehan does not have patience. If my son died in Iraq, I would not have patience either. But that is not the kind of leader these times call for. She is frustrated, and rightly so. But please, if she does in fact run, do not support her. Do not give her money. Do not volunteer on her campaign. Do not recommend her diaries on DailyKos.
Let the process work.
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