Avoiding the Whig Fate

Authored by Michael Pate on November 4th, 2004 at 10:44 PM

Some Democrats knew what would happen.

This election validated not just freedom, but also the faith our Founding Fathers placed in average folks to navigate the course of this great nation. By weighing the greatest issues at the gravest times and choosing our path, ordinary people have again accomplished extraordinary things. With courage and caution, rather than fear and timidity, the voters chose a path to ensure others would enjoy the same freedom to set their own path. - Zell Miller

Some understand what happened.

Most basically, the Democratic strategists do not trust the American people. They do not believe that Americans will respond to a well-thought-out, open and honest discussion of the profound questions that vex our society. In fact Americans are hungry to be engaged about these issues. Just note what the “market” say by way of the political books on the best-seller list, the success of movies about politics, and the strength of both talk radio and Fox television. People love this stuff. - James Moore

Some haven’t a clue.

But best of all, we’ll continue to see this great resurgence in progressive activism - the kind not seen in American politics in over a generation. None of these new activists heeded the call to arms only to abandon the fight today. We are energised, and will continue to fight for a better future for our country. - Markos Moulitsas

The only question is now, which of the views above prevail? Because if it is the last one, you will be able to substitute the word “Democrats” for “Whigs” in the paragraph below.

Ultimately, however, the Whigs are best understood as an American major party trying to be many things to many men, ready to abandon one deeply held “conviction” for another in the drive for political power. The party died not because its unique aura no longer appealed to voters but because it could not cope effectively or persuasively with what after the Compromise of 1850 became the great issue of American politics, the expansion of slavery. - The Reader’s Companion to American History