Need a reason to reform the Democratic Party? I’ll give you three reasons:

- Evan Bayh of Indiana
- Robert Byrd of West Virginia
- Mary Landrieu of Louisiana

These three Senators joined the Republicans to block the Creating Long-Term Energy Alternatives for the Nation Act from coming to the floor of the Senate for a vote. 53 senators voted in favor of a full vote on the legislation, but that wasn’t enough to block the Republican block on the bill. Senators Bayh, Byrd and Landrieu helped to sustain that block.

The Creating Long-Term Energy Alternatives for the Nation Act was an extremely important piece of economic and environmental legislation that would have saved consumers tens of billions of dollars every year and helped clean the air and combat global warming by requiring an average of 35 miles per gallon for automobiles driven on American roads. It would have been the first time since the 1970s that fuel efficiency standards had been updated. The legislation would also have strengthened markets in clean, alternative electrical energy by requiring 15 percent of American power to come from renewable sources.

Evan Bayh, Robert Byrd and Mary Landrieu helped to kill the bill. That’s not what Democrats elect their politicians to do. So, now it’s up to Democratic voters in Indiana, West Virginia and Louisiana to remember this betrayal, and vote accordingly when their senators are next up for re-election.

Whether we are represented by the particular senators or not, we all can take a lesson on this failure of Democratic politicians to act as Democratic politicians ought to - and scrutinize the Democratic politicians running for President in 2008 with a critical eye, ready to honestly evaluate whether their records are truly progressive on economic and environmental issues.

(Source: Library of Congress)