Abstract

Richard Rorty

The article focuses on the Democratic Party in the United States, following its defeat in the 2004 elections. Half the electorate managed to keep on believing both that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was preparing to use weapons of mass destruction and that he was somehow linked to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. They did so because, in their minds, to abandon those beliefs would be to withdraw support from our troops. So presidential candidate John Kerry did himself little good with the voters by demonstrating that President George W. Bush had deceived the nation in order to invade Iraq. The sort of people who make up Bush's base cannot be won over by insisting that Christianity mandates concern for the poor, and that Bush has shown none. It would be a mistake for Democrats to start sounding more pious. They cannot give up on abortion rights and gay rights without alienating many voters. As far as I can see, the only recourse Democrats have is to reverse the drift toward the center, and once again put themselves forward as the Party of the Poor. This may not work, but it is the only card they have left to play. They should beat the drum about the widening gap between haves and have-nots, about the humiliation and misery of families without health insurance, about the scandal of disappearing pensions and about corporate tax dodges, about overpaid corporate executives, about Halliburton and Enron.