Strengthening Constitutional Self-Government

No Left Turns

Hacks vs. wonks in the Democratic Party

This post at MyDD is quite interesting. The author, who proudly calls himself a hack, thinks that the Democratic Party’s problems are not intellectual or ideological, but amenable to nuts-and-bolts movement construction (hackery, in other words). What this means is simply the politics of ideological opposition at the national level and the construction and pursuit of local and state agendas:

We are going to need an alternative agenda that has not only a practical appeal, but an ideological one. We are going to have to start implementing this agenda at the local and statewide level, because right now we simply can’t implement one in Washington.

Time was when party hacks weren’t ideological at all, but largely interested in the perquisites of power. This redefinition of hackery amounts to an affirmation, not of party loyalty, but of blind ideological zeal, buttressed by such organizational sophistication as zealots are capable of. This strikes me as the domestic political equivalent of the "insurgency" in Iraq: capable of making a lot of noise and wounding those who are trying to govern, but not capable of (or interested in?) governing itself.

Hat tip: Beltway Blogroll.

Discussions - 1 Comment

I agree. Just reading that one paragraph the first thing that came to mind was, "They want to put ideology ahead of practicallity."


I think we should encourage them on this endeavor. If the left wants to take the road to obscurity then why should we put up roadblocks? I, for one, wish them the best of luck. Just like I did when the Dems picked Howard Dean to be chairman.

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