We've got them right where we want them

Flashback. March 4, 1933. "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Franklin Delano Roosevelt gives his first inaugural address. It is a bright day in the history of the Democratic Party. A leader is emerging from the midst of the Great Depression. He will capture the hope and imagination of the American people and, for the next decade, his unapologetic liberalism will be the guiding force in American history. The economy will be restored. The war will be won. Roosevelt will be elected President twice as many times as anyone in American history.

Fast-forward. November 6th, 2002. Democrats all around the United States wake up find out Republicans have wrested an astounding victory from the grip of what summer analyses called certain defeat. It is a shameful day in the history of the Democratic Party. And it is all because they forgot the most memorable message of their greatest leader. They let fear distract them from their fundamental principles and lead them into the deadly quagmire of polling analysis. They bungled circumstances that should have led to a majestic takeover of Congress and instead walked away dejected and embarrassed. They should be.

Flashback. 1933. A flurry of legislation initiated by FDR is passed by a democratic Congress. New innovations include a minimum wage, the Securities Exchange Commission, and Social Security. Conservatives and big business leaders fight back ferociously, but their efforts to erode Roosevelt's popularity are almost entirely unsuccessful.

Fast Forward. 2002. Because of their lack of unity, Democrats loose control of all three branches of the federal government, allowing one of the most right-wing administrations in US history to have unchecked control. Their failure will result in conservative legislation, foreign policy decisions, and judicial nominations, the effects of which will impact the country for years to come.

How did the Democrats possibly lose? They were up against a party represented by a president that gave the positions of Secretary of the Army, Federal Trade Representative, and Chief Economic Advisor to high-ranking employees at Enron _ the company whose financial misdeeds cost thousands of ordinary people, like my mother, part or all of their retirement savings. They were fighting a president who removed controls on arsenic levels in drinking water. A president who admitted global warming is a serious problem, but refused to participate in the Kyoto Protocol to reduce it. A president who perpetrated one of the largest civil rights abuses in recent history by holding thousands of people captive without charging them with a crime in the name of a "war" on terrorism. A president who still favors privatizing Social Security even as the stock market plummets 30 percent. A president who was elected by less than half of the people who voted. A president who has been arrested for driving drunk. A president who although he is a Yale graduate, has said things like, "It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it." (Reuters, May 5, 2000.) Oh please, God, make it stop!

How did the Democrats lose?! They had only 13 senators up for reelection compared to the Republicans' 20. The election took place as the horrific actions of the snipers underscored the need for gun control. The election took place as Bush tried to force his invasion of Iraq on both his own country and the world as a whole. It is a policy that only 49 percent of Americans indicate they will support in the face of significant casualties. It is a policy that has been met by every nation other than our lapdog Britain with varying degrees of fear and trepidation.

So how did the Democrats lose? The answer is simple. They lost because they sat in dark rooms pouring over poll results. They refused to confront a popular president and offer their own alternatives, and thus the alternatives were lost. They did not address the traditional issues on which they hold the moral high ground and thus the moral high ground was lost.

Don't believe me? It's a trend that has existed for years. Consider the good old days of Clinton/Gore. They were the first administration since that of Lyndon Johnson to not require high fuel efficiency standards from auto makers. They opened up large portions of Alaska for oil drilling. (That's right. Bush just wants to drill in the Wildlife Refuge.) The Kyoto protocol I mentioned earlier? It's ability to control global warming in the first place is questionable at best. How about the arsenic? Clinton's effort at reduction was passed in the last few hours of his term and wouldn't take effect until 2004. Did he not have time in the first eight years? Minimum wage was about half of what it was in 1967, adjusted for inflation. Al Gore, the man who would be a populist, cast a vote to confirm Clarence Thomas as Supreme Court justice, helping Thomas secure his seat even in the face of a Democratically controlled Congress.

How about current Congressional Democrats? For the most part, they are just as miserable. Nearly half of them voted to support Bush's invasion of Iraq, even as the public indicated it was unconvinced. Embarrassments like Torricelli and Traficant caught the public's attention. Numerous senators such as Joe Lieberman, the man that used to be called the "Conscience of the Senate" accepted huge donations from Enron and the like. Massachusetts' very own John Kerry, one of the most liberal members, voted for Bush's war.

When was the last time you heard universal health care discussed? How about a repeal of the suffocating the Taft-Hartley Law, which seriously interferes with the ability of labor to organize? A moratorium on the death penalty? A control on genetic manipulation of food? Funding for renewable energy sources so we don't have to rely on OPEC? Give me something! Anything! Many of the great reforms of the past century, from workplace safety and civil rights to Medicare and women's equality, were initiated by self-described liberals. It is not something to hide. It is not something to apologize for.

Robert Reich, Clinton's Secretary of Labor and a professor at Brandeis University, indicated that the recent Republican victory will guarantee Bush's removal in 2004. It is a hilarious notion. I can just picture Dick Gephardt and Tom Daschle snickering as Tuesday's election results came in. "You see? They fell for it! We've got them right where we want them."

No, you don't go about winning an election by losing one. If the Democrats hope to evict Bush in two years they must select an unapologetically liberal candidate and become, once again, the party of the common man and woman. They must take a cue from good ol' FDR and realize that, truthfully, there is nothing to fear but fear itself.

Timothy J. Ryan is a freshman who has yet to declare a major.