I've read a ton of blogs and news articles saying there is populist movement going on in the democratic party. Much of it driven, I think, by those people who are against the war in Iraq.

John Edwards' stump speech is about the "two americas". John Kerry spouts about those "special interests", and Howard Dean preaches his "Take Back the Power" drivel.

And I'm like I sort of relate and I can't relate. Most of it has to do with the fact that I agreed with Thomas Friedman and Christopher Hitchens in supporting the US led war with Iraq.

Howard Dean's "Take Back the Power" speeches don't mean a thing to me, because I don't feel like I've lost my power as a voter. Dean's rhetoric annoys me a little because the assumption is you as a voter either willingly or unwillingly gave your power away in the first place.

I vote. I've voted in practically every federal, state and local election since I was 18 years old. I read. I wasn't blindsided by the republican take over of the government. People have been writing about it, and trying to sound the alarm bell for years.

I think Dean appeals to people who didn't care enough to vote, or were so cynical they didn't want to or gave away their vote because they didn't think in the long it mattered. They gave away their power by not voting, by not staying informed, and by thinking their vote wasn't worth anything and threw it away when it really mattered. And now they're mad and upset, and I'm supposed to care.

Kerry's speeches are about "special interests" make a little bit more sense, but I'm a cynic and if it's not business' special interests it's somebody else's and everybody wants things their way without compromise. Decisions from either side are never about what would be good for the whole country, but what would be good for my group.

John Edwards' "two americas" speeches make the most sense. It's the closest to class warfare, and I totally despise the notion of "class warfare", but there are definitely people out there who a have a ton and people out there who don't have much at all, with the middle still trying to figure which side they belong on.

I feel like I'm in the middle in every thing. I was for the war, but think the handling of everything from the reasons to the war itself, and to the post war activities were very badly handled by the Bush administration.

I'm cynical about "special interests" because either extreme only seems to care about their own groups, and to hell with everybody else.

And I can't decide if I'm really poor and have no hope and am too stupid to know it, or if there's still a chance for me to get the things I want in life. Because in my reality, in my little world, I have achieved many of the things I've wanted in life so far. And I like to stay positive which means I'm going to think I'll keep achieving my goals.

Sure I've had disappointments in my life, who hasn't? But I've had many more successes than disappointments so far, and I don't expect that to stop.

Maybe I'm just fooling myself, or maybe I'm a victim of what is popularly called "lowered expectations", I don't know. I'm still a happy camper, I like being a happy camper, and I see no reason to change my outlook.

I got behind in my reading as usual, but I managed to read three books in January.

"Golf in the Kingdom" by Michael Murphy
"Mystic River" by Dennis Lehane
"James and the Giant Peach" by Roald Dahl (picked this book up at a garage sale and it looked like a fun short read, besides loved the movie version!)

For February my reading list books are:

"A Thousand Acres" by Jane Smiley
"Midnight's Children" by Salman Rushdie
"Silas Mariner" by George Eliot

And if I'm lucky I'll get through Poet and Peasant through Peasant Eyes: A Literary-Cultural Approach to the Parables of Luke by Kenneth E. Bailey. The writing is very dry and it's hard to get through.

"Kenneth Bailey draws on more than twenty years of experience with Middle Eastern peasant culture in his study of the literary structure and cultural milieu of sixteen of Jesus' most significant parables as they are recorded in Luke. "

I think the conservative movement became so popular because it appeals to people's common sense. I made myself listen to Rush Limbaugh, and I mean really listen. I wanted to find out why this guy is so popular.

Rush appeals most of the time to common sense. I found myself listening, and if I wasn't really thinking too much about what he was really saying and taking his ideas to their logical conclusion, and agreeing with him.

He appeals to your common sense, if you don't think too deeply about what he's saying. He's funny, he's witty, he has funny nicknames for people, he's entertaining, and most of all he doesn't make you feel stupid when he talks to you.

Democrats do something different. They don't appeal to common sense, they take the moral high ground. I go to church every Sunday and listen to sermons, and sometimes I have to tell you most democrats sound like they're preaching to me.

And I'm like, wait a minute, if I want to be preached to about doing the right thing I go to my church. That's what a church sermon is about. So when I hear a preachy type speech coming out of a politician's mouth, it kind of annoys me.

I don't know. Maybe they're trying to imitate Martin Luther King Jr, but the guy was not a politician. Dr. King was a baptist preacher. If they wanted to really emulate Dr. King, politicians who preach should become preachers and should stay out of politics.

Plus, taking the moral high ground is dicey. Not to mention, it sounds so fake coming out of the mouth of somebody who is not a preacher, minister or priest.

Maybe I'm biased because I go to church and I get preached to every Sunday, and perhaps they're trying to appeal to people who don't do the church thing. But if the demos appealed to people's common sense more, I think they'd find that they will appeal to more people.

I go to church and all, but most of the time common sense trumps morality every time.

Interesting essay from Robert B. Reich in the NY Times on the Democractic party, The Dead Center.

I don't buy into Howard Dean's populist rhetoric, so for me there's no reform movement. Whatever happened to Bill Clinton's democratic rhetoric? I loved his stuff.