Blue Grit - Book Report

Laura Flanders is one of the founding commentators on Air America Radio - the new voice of the American left. Her book, Blue Grit, is an examination of what is happening at the grass roots level of the Democratic party and how this is at odds with the D.C. based national Democratic party establishments.

Flanders holds that the true strength of the Democratic party is at the grassroots and is divided among local single issue groups who are variously patronized and denigrated by the far more conservative national party. In recent years, the Republican party has been a three-way coalition among right-wing Evangelicals, anti-tax Libertarians, and powerful big business interests. The Democratic coalition is far more diverse - including environmentalists, civil libertarians and their vast multitude of client demographics, labor leadership, and consumer advocates.

In Blue Grit, Flanders tells several stories about local Democratic electoral successes despite deliberate neglect from the national party. Among her stories is the newly elected Sheriff of Dallas County, Texas. Their first Democratic Sheriff in decades. Their first Hispanic Sheriff probably ever. Their first woman Sheriff ever. Their first openly lesbian Sheriff. Simply because the citizens of the county were sick of business as usual and wanted someone who would talk straight and get the work done.

Americans will vote for liberal values - if the Democratic party will bother to offer them. But the national party has been chasing the Republicans farther and farther to the right under the illusion that they can out-center the Republicans and the left has nowhere else to go. Blue Grit is a rallying cry to local single-issue liberal groups to take over the Democratic party. It’s really not an astounding work or a great read, but it is good practical advice to us local activists. The American public is better than we think they are. They will vote for liberal values - but only if given the opportunity. The old saw is - run a conservative Democrat against a Republican and the American people will vote for the real thing every time.

I don’t know if Flanders will influence the national party, but she certainly influenced me. I am active in the local Democratic party. Now I will do some research to find those local single-issue groups and try to knit them together under our banner. We can work together and make this a better country.

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