Desiring Machine

We live in interesting times indeed. Joe Lieberman has declared that he will run as an independent candidate in light of the fact that he lost the senate primary race in Connecticut to Ned Lamont. As someone who voted for Nader in 2000 I find this turn of events sublimely ironic. It just proves that those in power want to cling to power at all costs and at the end of the day don’t really have much respect for the political process.

As Nader supporters in 2000 we would hear endless exhortations about respecting the process. We have been called everything from fringe to “angry left”. And I can respect the frustration of party loyalists and people who felt that the political process should be respected above individual idealisms and ambitions. This makes sense on a lot of levels. And I am willing to accept the error of my ways in not voting for Gore in 2000. However, the key difference is that Nader never represented a prospect of working within the process of Democratic party politics. Nader ran from the start as a Green candidate. In a very real sense Nader was always cynical about the current two party system and the political process. Nader never felt that he had a home within the Democratic party. As a result he sought out the Green party as a means of bringing different perspectives to the national debate and campaign. Many of us who voted Nader in 2000 felt energized by this sentiment. I think very few people held in their mind the idea that Nader could actually win. The thinking was about reaching critical mass and help bring on the birth of a new party, the Green party. Nader lost a lot of that initial justification in 2004 because he did not run as a Green, thereby in effect abandoning the party so many of us hoped to form in 2000.

Underneath all this, at least in my mind, was a general understanding of the role of party politics and a sense of the importance of respecting process within the scope of a party. Independent runs are important to politics but they are ultimately meaningless outside the frame of some sort of party framework. That was the justification I had in my mind to vote Green and Nader in 2000. I really did believe that the nation deserved a new direction and a new party voice at that time. Since then I have been convinced to come back into the Democratic fold and respect the process within the party and the primaries. In my state of Washington anti-war candidate Mark Wilson dropped out of a primary in support of Maria Cantwell. Even though I don’t agree with Cantwell on the war position, I can respect the process and the agreement of the candidates to get along for the sake of the party in the general election.

Joe Lieberman’s response to losing the primary holds none of this respect for party political process. Behind Joe’s non-concession speech is an arrogance and presumption of entitlement. Well Joe you are not entitled. The voice of the Connecticut voters have spoken and they have not said your name. You are not an independent, you are a sore loser who feels that you are above the Democratic party. If you feel that you must run as an independent that is your constitutional perogrative as a citizen of the United States. But please spare us your platitudes of the incivility of current politics. If you want to run please run with a party affiliation, it is official you no longer represent the Democratic party. I am sure the Connecticut Green Party has some open volunteer positions. Maybe you can start out phone banking and work your way up the organization.