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In Opposing A Vote On Rail, Hawaii Democrats Have Forsaken Core Party Values
Earlier this year, scores of Hawaii Democrats rolled on the floor laughing and delighted themselves as the Hawaii Republican Party imploded over their party platform and leaders. As conservative mujahedeen declared political jihad against the party elephant trainers and zookeepers, members of the Hawaii Democratic Party shook their heads and reassured one another, “This type of hypocrisy is precisely why we’re Democrats. We stick together, we are united, and like Obama, we are the voice of the people. We don’t suppress opinions, we don’t silence people, we are the Democratic Party.” And, just like in 2006, the Hawaii Democratic Party wants people to vote for its candidates in November because they want you to know that every true Republican is just like George W. Bush and Dick Cheney: they do things without consulting the people, they seek to benefit a privileged few, and most of all, they are a bunch of hypocrites who talk big about morals but don’t have any themselves.
If you ask me, in criticizing the Hawaii Republican Party for hermetically sealed leadership and hypocritically emboldened policy, local Democrats are suffering from a severe case of political schizophrenia and have themselves forsaken sacred values which are at the very core of being a Democrat, and more to the point, being a liberal. Today’s Hawaii Democratic Party is anything but democratic, and hopefully by the end of this essay, you will see why, and if you’re a Democrat like me, you’ll begin to question what has truly happened to the party of FDR, Andrew Jackson, and Thomas Jefferson.
The 1976 Democratic National Convention
As stated previously, Hawaii Democrats and indeed, Democrats in general, pride themselves on being the party that has their finger on the pulse of America and listens to people. Democrats pride themselves on being the party of civil rights, intellectual open-mindedness, and freedom for all. This belief was perfectly encapsulated by the riveting speech of U.S. Representative Barbara Charline Jordan of Texas at the 1976 Democratic National Convention in Madison Square Garden in which she said “We believe that the people are the source of all governmental power, that the authority of the people is to be extended, not restricted. This can only be accomplished by providing each citizen with every opportunity to participate in the management of the government. They must have that, we believe. We believe that the government which represents the authority of all the people, not just one interest group, but all the people, has an obligation to actively – underscore actively – seek to remove those obstacles which would block individual achievement – obstacles emanating from race, sex, economic condition. The government must remove them, seek to remove them.”
At that convention, the Democrats established for the people of America that they were for government of the people, by the people, not government of the few, by the few. That convention was perhaps one of the most eloquent moments for the Democratic Party, because it reaffirmed that the kind of change that real Democrats stand for is the change that empowers people to stop existing and start living by giving every one of them a chance to vote, speak, and participate in their American government.
The Beliefs Of Today’s Hawaii Democratic Party
Now let’s look at our present-past and present-day 2008 situation here in Hawaii. During the early days of the presidential caucuses when Hillary Clinton appeared to have the lead in something we called superdelegates, scores of Hawaii Democrats loyal to Barack Hussein Obama flashed out in anger and fear, claiming “one man, one vote” and demanded that the people’s choice be reflected by the choice of their party leadership with the motto “respect the will of the people.” If the people want Obama, so they argued, their party leaders better not support Clinton. Democracy in action in the Democratic Party, right?
Strangely enough, the same people who were professing “one man, one vote” and “leaders must respect the will of the people” fell incredibly silent when calls for a vote over the proposed multibillion dollar steel wheel on steel rail mass transit project began to rise up in Honolulu. The people who played the patriotic tune of “one man, one vote” changed to the dirge of “in a representative democracy, our elected leaders know what is best, the Mayor and City Council have a right to decide what is best for us.” We were suddenly told that the good of the individual is outweighed by the good of the community, and that because the community needs rail, individuals against rail should have to sacrifice their will for the sake of the community will, and therefore, the real fight is not to put rail on the ballot, but to keep it off the ballot. We were told that the Democratic Party of Hawaii supports rail, and that all real Hawaii Democrats will support it too. I was told by one Democrat, “allowing the people to vote for the rail is like allowing people to vote on tax increases: they’d never support it, and so it would never get done.” Where is the party that screamed out for “respect the will of the people” and “one man, one vote” on the rail debate? Where is the party of Barbara Charline Jordan that respects the individual over the whole?
In 2006, the Democratic Party, and especially the Hawaii Democratic Party, launched an all out attack on the Bush Administration over the war of Iraq. There is scarcely a person in the Hawaiian Islands who did not receive dozens of glossy, high quality, full-color brochures in the mail that talked about how the majority of Americans want out of Iraq, but President George W. Bush insists on staying the course in Iraq. The message was clear: the people have a right to say what their national security policy is, and Bush needs to listen. Republicans, they told us, were out of step with public opinion. Democrats listen to the people and obey the people, therefore, if you want to take back Washington, put Democrats in office. To this day, the Hawaii Democrats lambaste the Bush Administration over how he has hijacked our government and is ruling with an iron fist.
Yet, as stated earlier, when it comes to the administration of Mayor Mufi Hannemann and the proposed multibillion dollar rail system, though there are growing voices calling for a vote, the same voices that criticize President Bush with a manic obsession to put freedom back in the hands of soccer moms and taxi cab drivers are now suddenly hushed, saying that “our elected Mayor has the right to choose for us.” Let me get this straight: we have a right to tell President Bush who he can and can’t go to war with, but when it comes to something like a mass transit system for Honolulu, we don’t have the right to vote? We should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former. Are we honestly to believe that average citizens know best about national security, the targeting of precision guided munitions against enemy targets, the complicated balance of geopolitics, but when it comes to their pocketbooks and their choice over a Honolulu transit system, their same wisdom and intellect is so inferior, so self-centered, so flawed that representative governance is superior?
How can Hawaii Democrats look at themselves in the mirror and call themselves Democrats or liberals with this pattern of “promote direct democracy and one man, one vote when it suits us, but promote nanny governance when it doesn’t suit us”?
The core of Democratic thought and indeed, the liberalism it is founded upon, is the belief that the individual has the right to determine what is good and excellent for themselves. That is precisely what Barbara Charline Jordan spoke of in 1976, and that is what liberal philosophers have been speaking about for centuries. Adam Smith, Montesquieu, Thomas Paine, Voltaire and many more believed in limited government and unlimited human potential. How are we to reconcile the schizophrenia of the Hawaii Democratic Party to these core traditions of liberalism? How are we to preserve this community when we now believe that the people should never have a say in what their government does, because if the people get to choose, they might mess things up?
If we as Hawaii Democrats have arrived at the point where we no longer have faith in the people, where we believe that big government is our teacher, instructor, and guardian, where we believe that liberalism means take from others whether they agree or not, where government might always makes right, then we have stopped living in a free country and wandered too far from that which makes us Americans.
It’s time that the Hawaii Democratic Party consider how they have fallen from grace and quickly turn back towards true freedom and true liberty and justice for all. This is supposed to be the Democratic Party of Hawaii, not the Socialist Party of Hawaii.
If you ask me, in criticizing the Hawaii Republican Party for hermetically sealed leadership and hypocritically emboldened policy, local Democrats are suffering from a severe case of political schizophrenia and have themselves forsaken sacred values which are at the very core of being a Democrat, and more to the point, being a liberal. Today’s Hawaii Democratic Party is anything but democratic, and hopefully by the end of this essay, you will see why, and if you’re a Democrat like me, you’ll begin to question what has truly happened to the party of FDR, Andrew Jackson, and Thomas Jefferson.
The 1976 Democratic National Convention
As stated previously, Hawaii Democrats and indeed, Democrats in general, pride themselves on being the party that has their finger on the pulse of America and listens to people. Democrats pride themselves on being the party of civil rights, intellectual open-mindedness, and freedom for all. This belief was perfectly encapsulated by the riveting speech of U.S. Representative Barbara Charline Jordan of Texas at the 1976 Democratic National Convention in Madison Square Garden in which she said “We believe that the people are the source of all governmental power, that the authority of the people is to be extended, not restricted. This can only be accomplished by providing each citizen with every opportunity to participate in the management of the government. They must have that, we believe. We believe that the government which represents the authority of all the people, not just one interest group, but all the people, has an obligation to actively – underscore actively – seek to remove those obstacles which would block individual achievement – obstacles emanating from race, sex, economic condition. The government must remove them, seek to remove them.”
At that convention, the Democrats established for the people of America that they were for government of the people, by the people, not government of the few, by the few. That convention was perhaps one of the most eloquent moments for the Democratic Party, because it reaffirmed that the kind of change that real Democrats stand for is the change that empowers people to stop existing and start living by giving every one of them a chance to vote, speak, and participate in their American government.
The Beliefs Of Today’s Hawaii Democratic Party
Now let’s look at our present-past and present-day 2008 situation here in Hawaii. During the early days of the presidential caucuses when Hillary Clinton appeared to have the lead in something we called superdelegates, scores of Hawaii Democrats loyal to Barack Hussein Obama flashed out in anger and fear, claiming “one man, one vote” and demanded that the people’s choice be reflected by the choice of their party leadership with the motto “respect the will of the people.” If the people want Obama, so they argued, their party leaders better not support Clinton. Democracy in action in the Democratic Party, right?
Strangely enough, the same people who were professing “one man, one vote” and “leaders must respect the will of the people” fell incredibly silent when calls for a vote over the proposed multibillion dollar steel wheel on steel rail mass transit project began to rise up in Honolulu. The people who played the patriotic tune of “one man, one vote” changed to the dirge of “in a representative democracy, our elected leaders know what is best, the Mayor and City Council have a right to decide what is best for us.” We were suddenly told that the good of the individual is outweighed by the good of the community, and that because the community needs rail, individuals against rail should have to sacrifice their will for the sake of the community will, and therefore, the real fight is not to put rail on the ballot, but to keep it off the ballot. We were told that the Democratic Party of Hawaii supports rail, and that all real Hawaii Democrats will support it too. I was told by one Democrat, “allowing the people to vote for the rail is like allowing people to vote on tax increases: they’d never support it, and so it would never get done.” Where is the party that screamed out for “respect the will of the people” and “one man, one vote” on the rail debate? Where is the party of Barbara Charline Jordan that respects the individual over the whole?
In 2006, the Democratic Party, and especially the Hawaii Democratic Party, launched an all out attack on the Bush Administration over the war of Iraq. There is scarcely a person in the Hawaiian Islands who did not receive dozens of glossy, high quality, full-color brochures in the mail that talked about how the majority of Americans want out of Iraq, but President George W. Bush insists on staying the course in Iraq. The message was clear: the people have a right to say what their national security policy is, and Bush needs to listen. Republicans, they told us, were out of step with public opinion. Democrats listen to the people and obey the people, therefore, if you want to take back Washington, put Democrats in office. To this day, the Hawaii Democrats lambaste the Bush Administration over how he has hijacked our government and is ruling with an iron fist.
Yet, as stated earlier, when it comes to the administration of Mayor Mufi Hannemann and the proposed multibillion dollar rail system, though there are growing voices calling for a vote, the same voices that criticize President Bush with a manic obsession to put freedom back in the hands of soccer moms and taxi cab drivers are now suddenly hushed, saying that “our elected Mayor has the right to choose for us.” Let me get this straight: we have a right to tell President Bush who he can and can’t go to war with, but when it comes to something like a mass transit system for Honolulu, we don’t have the right to vote? We should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former. Are we honestly to believe that average citizens know best about national security, the targeting of precision guided munitions against enemy targets, the complicated balance of geopolitics, but when it comes to their pocketbooks and their choice over a Honolulu transit system, their same wisdom and intellect is so inferior, so self-centered, so flawed that representative governance is superior?
How can Hawaii Democrats look at themselves in the mirror and call themselves Democrats or liberals with this pattern of “promote direct democracy and one man, one vote when it suits us, but promote nanny governance when it doesn’t suit us”?
The core of Democratic thought and indeed, the liberalism it is founded upon, is the belief that the individual has the right to determine what is good and excellent for themselves. That is precisely what Barbara Charline Jordan spoke of in 1976, and that is what liberal philosophers have been speaking about for centuries. Adam Smith, Montesquieu, Thomas Paine, Voltaire and many more believed in limited government and unlimited human potential. How are we to reconcile the schizophrenia of the Hawaii Democratic Party to these core traditions of liberalism? How are we to preserve this community when we now believe that the people should never have a say in what their government does, because if the people get to choose, they might mess things up?
If we as Hawaii Democrats have arrived at the point where we no longer have faith in the people, where we believe that big government is our teacher, instructor, and guardian, where we believe that liberalism means take from others whether they agree or not, where government might always makes right, then we have stopped living in a free country and wandered too far from that which makes us Americans.
It’s time that the Hawaii Democratic Party consider how they have fallen from grace and quickly turn back towards true freedom and true liberty and justice for all. This is supposed to be the Democratic Party of Hawaii, not the Socialist Party of Hawaii.
Comment
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Comment by Kaunaloa on July 28, 2008 at 6:59pm -
"What would be a danger in making voting mandatory in Hawaii constitution?"
because it then changes from being a right & privelege to something else the government compels you to do.
Switzerland, long held up as the model democracy, generally gets ~90% voter turnout. They don't sanction the remaining 10% [tho there may or may not be some community scorn put on them, but that's different anyway].
The best weapon remains participation. hence, without knowing where you stand on a single issue, i wish you best of luck in your council race because you are doing what needs to be done, giving voters a choice.
Likewise, this site gives anyone who wishes a chance to participate, and perhaps be able to do as you and see how they can potentially change things for their local offices.
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Comment by Emil Svrcina on July 28, 2008 at 12:25pm -
I don't think "they" are able by themselves to consider how they have fallen from grace and quickly turned back towards life in this country, true liberty, and pursuit of happiness for all. They believe foolishly they are "The Elite", drunk with power and greed. The only hope for USA left is "we the people" at the ballot box. We have to get rid of or minimalise the shameful number of 64% registered voters in Hawaii exercising their perverted freedom not to vote. What would be a danger in making voting mandatory in Hawaii constitution? Ruling class/media complex propaganda machine knows how to hypnotize, numb, and frustrate many of us so they not participate actively. They believe the nonsense, that their vote doesn’t count or everything is expensive because it is a price of living in paradise. 64% of people are ignoring their RIGHT many people in USA gave their lives for in the past and they simply don’t vote. I came to USA to be part of true representative democracy. That is why I'm running for office in my district 9 (Mililani Town, Waikele, Waipahu, Village Park, Kunia, and Makakilo)
emil4citycouncil.com
What else there is left to do, before is too late and we Americans blessed to live here today will cross the line of no return and all people of this planet loose this only inspirational and the greatest country? I won't just complacently stand by as useful idiot “they” want me to be.
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