Blue-Dog Wal-mart Degrees and the Absence of Any Foresight

The Governor's proposal of "Wal-Mart degrees" has to be at once the high-water mark of Blue-Dog Democratic initiative and thus the low-water mark of general Democratic vision. The political head of the state party seems to totally lack any kind of prescience or passion for a better life with greater opportunities for all. Governor Bredesen appears to be content with a workforce that simply gets by in the service sector, while the middle class shrinks and the divide between poor and rich grows.

Some might call this "Wal-Mart degrees" initiative lighting a candle rather than cursing the darkness; I would compare it to holding a wickless candle but trying to light the wax regardless. It is a regressive and ineffective agenda for our future. It is a concession to the status quo and to the corporate guardians of this mess that we are in. It is digging the hole deeper for many families who need real opportunities, rather than half-baked ones. Worst of all, it may show that the Republicans no longer have to worry about the Tennessee Democrats, whose hope for the future seems to have gone belly-up.