It is not my habit to publically contradict the management, but Kos's front page post about the politics of the bankruptcy bill is almost as offensive as congressional Democratic enabling of this deeply appalling bill.
Those of you who have bothered to read my posts over time here know that I lean in the moderate direction on many issues. My idealpolitik may be
anarcho-libertarian, but until that utopia becomes possible (something I don't particularly expect in my lifetime, if ever), I'm perfectly willing to settle for a reasonably just and compassionate America. As such, my practical politics lean to the right of many people here.
I have supported to a greater or lesser extent more than 90% of the DLC agenda over the past decade and a half. I was never crazy about Clinton (in fact I rather liked Ronald Reagan a great deal more - similiar politics as Clinton, but with class, a sense of tradition, and good form), but many of his policies were well designed - in addition to being good politics.
As I pointed out earlier, I supported welfare reform because elements of the welfare state that are not universally distributed tend to breed resentment, and because the policy had created a culture of dependence and perpetuated poverty. I supported the war in Iraq because Saddam Hussein was a brutal tyrant, and I geuinely believed (and continue to believe) that the prospect of a democracy in the heart of the Arab world will be a great boon to the region, at the very least giving the more illiberal elements of Arab society a legitimate outlet for their passions (rather than flying airplanes into our respective places of work), if not ultimately bringing a genuinely profound liberalization to the Arab and wider Muslim world.
I support school vouchers because our public school system is academically ruinous, the bureaucracy distant and anti-kid, and the social culture toxic for young people. And having experienced both sides of the public/private school divide there's absolutely no question in my mind that children would be better served in the latter. I support faith-based funding for social services, in part because I believe people working for religiously-based organizations are at least as competent as government employees and usually more compassionate, and because they have hardly led to a theocracy in the Netherlands. I support limited bureaucracy, and the elimination of at least 300k federal workers, because the American people should not have to pay for a single bureaucrat more than is necessary.
But unlike all of these policies (there are even potential upsides to social security privatization) there is nothing redeeming about this bankruptcy bill, no moral upside. It is a cruel and naked assault on middle class families at their most desperate and vulnerable, and a kind of pandering to corporate special interests that simply cannot be tolerated by a decent, democratic society. What I'm trying to say here is that this bill crosses a line that no either centrist Democratic policy has crossed in the past generation, and to frame it in exclusively political terms - as Kos has - is profoundly offensive, deeply saddening. This is not liberalism or conservativism, both of which have deeply dignified traditions, but plutocracy.
As I have said, this bill is truly a deal breaker for me. I cannot, and will not remain a Democrat unless the party commits - and soon - to the full repeal of this bill, vigorously pursuing that end in the coming years.
UPDATE: To be sure, I wasn't criticizing Kos personally - or aiming to - in this diary, or the wonderful achievement that his brainchild has become. Reading his original post though (particularly before it was updated to address the criticisms in the comments thread) I got the distinct impression that he wasn't simply explaining the politics of the bankruptcy bill, but in some sense apologizing or at least excusing those Democrats who voted for it. And the reason I emphasized my more conservative policy positions (read through the comment thread if you want to know where you'd agree with me) is that this bill is offensive to the point of intolerable to even more moderate and conservative Americans. And to that extent no liberal should for a second countenance it. The Democratic Party must be committed to its repeal.