Few noticed earlier this month when two Democratic state legislators, Senator Dennis Damon of Trenton and Phippsburg Representative Leila Percy, publicly endorsed Independent Eliot Cutler in this fall's gubernatorial race.
However, one veteran Democrat's response to it was a headline grabber. Sam Shapiro of Waterville, Maine's state treasurer from 1981-1996 and an active party member for more than half a century, told a Kennebec Journal reporter he's thinking of ways to ensure elected officials who run as Democrats remain loyal to the Party, and presumably to all its candidates. Susan Cover's article quoted Shapiro as saying, "I think it's a dastardly deed whenever people get elected under the flag of the Democratic Party {and subsequently support someone else}. There has to be a loyalty to that ticket." He added, "If you have a change of heart, you should leave the party."
One wonders exactly what Shapiro is considering in order to assure total devotion to his party. Organizations like the Skull and Bones Society, the Ku Klux Klan, the Hell's Angels, and La Cosa Nostra all demand absolute allegiance, but required inflexibility seems a bit unseemly for the 21st century. Some political organizations have required loyalty oaths in the past, but there probably aren't many Democrats wishing to emulate a tradition made infamous by the Communist, Fascist, and National Socialist (AKA Nazi) parties.
It's unsurprising some Democrats are supporting a candidate outside of their own party's; more than 65% of the over 120,000 who cast ballots in the June 8th primary voted for someone other than Senate President Libby Mitchell of Vassalboro, who won the four-way race. Likewise nearly 62% of the 131,060 Republican primary voters that same day preferred one of the six candidates other than the winner, Waterville mayor Paul LePage. Assuming that Mainers of all political persuasions are capable of independent thought not every Republican will cast a ballot for LePage, nor will every Democrat vote for Mitchell. In fact, since Shapiro's furious, curious statements Orono State Senator Elizabeth Schneider, a Democrat with something at stake (unlike Damon and Percy, she's running for re-election this fall), has also endorsed Cutler.
Karl Rove was justifiably criticized for tactics he used while trying to create a permanent national Republican majority, and it's no coincidence that most of his schemes required complete and utter loyalty from party members.
From 2001-2009 the United States government was run by an administration which valued absolute allegiance over everything, including ability, experience, and competence. As a result America's economy nearly collapsed due to a toxic mixture of greed and unchecked deregulation. The national deficit mushroomed thanks to an unnecessary, obscenely expensive war accompanied by simultaneous massive tax cuts. A foreign policy combining unilateralism, militarism, and arrogance turned the country into an international pariah. Rationalizing the use of torture and quibbling over its definition put the federal government in bad odor at home, as did the politically-motivated outing of a CIA agent and the firings of federal judges who weren't considered "conservative" enough. Yet despite their obvious incompetence and dissembling the Bush-Cheney cabal got consistent, unquestioning obedience (not to mention blank checks) from a Republican-dominated Congress.
Who benefited from the steadfast loyalty congressional Republicans showed the nation's inarticulate commander-in-chief and nominal head of the party? Today the national GOP still stands together, though their present aim is to regain the power they lost due to the Bush administration's transparent ineptitude. But is the willful noncooperation they're using to tie the current president's hands being done for the good of nation, or merely to score political points?
Vowing allegiance to a political party ahead of loyalty to one's nation isn't patriotic; it's selfish and self-serving. Sam Shapiro's surprisingly intemperate public comments earlier this month seem to advocate that Maine Democrats exhibit Rovian-style solidarity themselves, but there's no evidence that Democrats blindly obeying their party's leadership on every issue at the federal, state, or local level is any healthier for the public than Republicans doing it is.
The nation should consider following California's example. Voters there recently approved nonpartisan primaries, a system that would pit the top two finishers against one another in the general election regardless of party affiliation. Too many people currently base their electoral choice(s) solely on whether a candidate's name has a "D" or and "R" after it. Removing party labels would require voters to actually learn something about office-seekers' stands on relevant issues, rather than just rubber-stamping (or rejecting) a candidate based on his or her political affiliation.
Loyalty that is given willingly when it is earned is admirable, but required obedience smacks of totalitarianism. Mr. Shapiro insinuating that Maine Democrats ought to shun or exclude colleagues who endorse candidates from other parties was ill-advised, short-sighted, and counterproductive.
Andy YoungReturn to main page
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