Dean, Guerrillas, and Christians

Howard Dean is a tragi-comic character in American politics these days. His inflammatory rhetoric is often so ridiculous that it pokes at even the most serious politico's funny bone. Calling the Republicans the "White Christian Party" was not so off-base in matter of fact, but patently false in the context. The Republican Party is the Party of White Christians. It is the Party of White Christians because the Democrats want little or nothing to do with White Christians.

Dean's pejorative use of the phrase "White Christian" is in fact quite revealing of this reality. The Republican Party, though, is more than just the Party of White Christians. It is also the Party of Black Christians and Hispanic Christians who have more than just a slight problem with the Secularist mindset that has overcome the entirety of the Democrat Party.

The GOP is also the Party of young Hispanic and Black Americans who want the chance to be entrepreneurs, to make something of their lives without the government riding in their backs the entire way. The GOP, at its core (though unfortunately not in its current manifestation of the Bush White House and the Frist/Hastert Congress) is the Party of Fiscal Responsibility, Governmental Restraint, and true, Constitutional rule. The fact that this is no longer the perception in America indicates the dire need for Republicans to examine themselves institutionally and get back on message.

The Republican Party, in contrast to the Democrat Party, believes that individuals, not the government, should control their own future. Republicans believe that individuals, not groups, have rights, and the sooner we start treating and loving people, rather than giving special priveleges and faux rights to groups, the sooner we will ameliorate the malaise of racism, classism, and sexism. The policies currently being propagated by the Democrat Party only further entrench these heinous evils by creating reasons for resentment and anger.

This is what Howard Dean just does not understand. As Howard Fineman wrote today, Howard Dean's problem isn't his mouth, it's mindset. He cannot understand how the word "Christian" could be a good thing, and just assumes that the standard, 60-year old line of the Democrats that Republicans are a bunch of "evil, rich, white men" is true.

Dean has another problem. He thinks that raising money and running a party is sort of like commanding a Guerrilla war. Snipe somebody here, (character) assassinate a leader there, do outrageous things to distract people from other targets while sending a few henchmen to take care of those targets. The trouble of course is that Guerrilla warriors can cause the ruling army a lot of headache and trouble, but Guerrillas are no good at occupying and governing. Their success depends wholly on hiding in the shadows and causing the other side so much pain that it retreats and leaves. This is what is going on with the "insurgency" in Iraq. It is a test of wills and endurance. Although the Republicans under George W. Bush have given in to many Democrat demands in the face of similar Guerrilla tactics, by and large, even this administration has shown a pretty genuine resolve on the things that mattered: tax cuts, judicial nominees, and tort reform. Perhaps the Democrats and Dean will wake up and realize they need to have a plan to govern. That is, unless they like being Guerrillas forever resigned to be in the minority. I'd be fine with that, too.