We're Winning

Noticing the news and diaries here lately, I've recently emerged with a more positive view about the future of the Democratic Party, liberalism, and the United States of America.  Sure, we are still having some intra-party spats here and there, today's back and forth on Kos about the Cynthia McKinney kerfuffle is evidence of that, but follow me below the fold for some much needed positivity.

Look at the news lately: the indicators, the conventional wisdom, the fundraising, the positions of Democratic leaders; we're winning.  We are winning because the debate is shifting left, and the country is shifting with it.

Feingold has become one of the first major Democratic leaders (and presidential candidates) to come out in support of gay marriage.  Massachusetts has just passed mandatory health insurance that provides at least a basic scheme that might actually pull it off.  Tom Delay soon will no longer hold a position of power (and you may even get photos of him in an orange jumpsuit, if you're good this year).  The Democrats have found wedge issues (stem cells, unwanted pregnancy prevention) and are actually playing offense.  The culture has shifted.  People are tired of creeping Big Brother.  They're tried of religious fundamentalists and crazy government.

The polls show pro-Democratic shifts on almost every single issue.  Many people I know have changed their voter registration from Republican to Independent.  This is not something done passively.  It takes an affirmative act to actually contact the voter registration office and fill out the form to change your registration.  Not a huge act (we're not talking about going to the DMV, after all), but an affirmative act nonetheless.  Hell, even John Cole (an editor at Redstate, at least nominally at last check) has announced that he's done with the Republicans for the near future.  My fellow Kossacks, these are signs.  

No, everything is not well in the world, and victory is by no means certain.  But we are winning.  We must continue our fight and not give an inch.  We may not even win immediately this fall, but the tide has turned and the pendulum swings back.  We are laying the groundwork for a progressive America we can all be proud of.  Hopefully this groundwork will lessen anxiety about the America we hand over to our children.

P.S. - If you think this is nothing but over-optimistic clap-trap, sorry, I've been watching a fair amount of Star Trek reruns lately, and that tends to put me in optimistic moods.