Remember the Democrats?

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				THE
Column Archive				VIRGINIA GAZETTE
				WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA
Remember the Democrats?				June 14, 2003

According to Garrison Keillor, the lapsed liberal populist who hosts “A Prairie Home Companion,” we’re all Republicans now.

Keillor, like many in his party, is a totally frustrated Democrat. Not only has he seen his party replaying “Silence of the Lambs” in its acquiescence to President Bush’s messy little war in Iraq, but these right-leaning characters on stage called New Democrats make his skin crawl. So out of sorts is he with all this that he’s ready to throw in the towel and admit that, in fact, we’re all Republicans now.

And the word is spreading that Keillor may be on to something. In fact, one area daily was so intent on getting Democrats to vote in the Republican primary last Tuesday that its drumbeat pulsed with the refrain that Democrats can’t win in the 3rd District. Therefore, went their reasoning, we all might just as well vote in the primary for the Republican, who will inevitably win in November.

As we all know, repetitive media rants such as this soon assume the guise of truth. Hence, why worry about Mary Minor, when we’re assured by the pundits that Tommy Norment (R-3^rd) is the only game in town?

Kiss the Democrats goodbye. We’re all Republicans now.

Indeed, that was apparently the prevailing view here in Williamsburg and James city, where Democrats seemed to be falling all over themselves in a headlong rush to get to the polls and vote for Norment. And this despite the apt advice from Mary Minor, their own candidate this fall for the Senate, to avoid getting involved in an election that featured two playground bullies who were, as she said, “pandering to the radical agenda of the far-right and accusing each other of everything from stealing from children to bribery.”

Republican Norment seemed so attractive to Democrat Kathy Hornsby that she took it upon herself to send her fellow party members a letter lauding Norment’s effective service and the fact that he “has always understood that he is elected to represent ALL the people in his District.” And just to prove that she could walk the walk as well as talk the talk, Hornsby, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, contributed $600 to the Norment campaign.

What Hornsby failed to say was that Paul Jost, despite his pinched right-wing agenda, also promised in one of his ubiquitous fliers to represent all the people in his district – all the people, that is, who agreed with his rather bizarre view of things. And the same is true of Norment. There are thousands of people in his district, mostly Democrats, and scores of issues they feel strongly about, that Norment won’t represent. But we’re all Republicans now, so what difference does it make?

Well, it makes a big difference, especially if we are to retain a two party system in these parts. The point is that, when a Democrat of some temerity decides to poke her head out of the foxhole, she shouldn’t expect to be blitzed immediately by friendly fire.

What’s the point of trying to get Democrats to run, if they’re told by their own constituency that the Democratic principles for which they stand are losers? And that they, the Democratic voters, are going to vote for some Republican who might toss them a few capricious crumbs? How dismally demoralizing!

Part of the problem is systemic, in that voters of either party may vote in all primary elections. This inevitably leads to convoluted reasoning on the part of the electorate, as some Democrats try vainly to divine which Republican candidate is the lesser of two evils or will be easier for their candidate to defeat in November.

Republicans likewise vote in Democratic primaries with the same ideas in mind. Such votes tarnish the elective principle and befoul the results. In the end, it would be more advantageous to require that voters register with one of the parties and vote only in that party’s primary.

Crossovers aside, the fact is that the Democrats have a viable candidate for the 3^rd Senate seat, and there is no reason to believe that she would do any less for our district than Tommy Norment.

Expectedly, Minor’s primary interests lie in the area of education and the improvement of the public school system. But more importantly, she is adamant about resolving the problems that now exist between the state and localities when it comes to funding not only schools, but other agencies as well. As she has stated in her platform, we must give “more latitude to localities in controlling their well-being.”

There is no doubt that Minor faces a tough race. Yet, the discussions she should engender relative to education, the environment, funding facilities for the mentally ill, child care, health care, and college tuition will, if nothing else, force Norment to take positions on issues about which we’ve heard very little during the primary campaign.

Finally, it might just turn out that all those Democrats who flocked to the facile feast of Norment will find, after serious consideration, that we’re not all Republicans now.