U.S.-led airstrike kills seven Afghan children,” “Iraq now ranked second among world’s failed states,” “36 killed in southern Iraq.” This week’s headlines – who can stand them anymore?

Every morning, before my feet even hit the floor, I try to think of something for which I am grateful. It’s pretty easy for me. I just think of my kids. Lately I don’t even get there anymore. Lately, I’m opening my eyes thinking how dang grateful I am that I’m not a member of the Democratic Party.

“Clinton’s in double digits over Obama.” Does that party have any guts left at all? All that headline tells us is that the woman who voted to give her authority as a member of Congress to the worst president in the history of the United States is beating the guy who wants to give insurance companies even more control over our health care system. Appalling!

What in heaven’s name does it take to be a Democratic front runner? It appears to require that someone is too afraid to use the power the American people gave them. Monday a Reuter’s news story titled “Newly empowered Democrats draw wrath of voters,” explains how, in 2006, the electorate instructed the Democratic Party to end the war and how this party failed miserably at every turn. The story then goes on to relate the whining and whimpering performed by party leadership as they describe their frustration because they can’t get the job done.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada explained, “We raised the bar too high.” Too high? Does that mean that they promised to do the will of the American people but forgot that they lacked the necessary guts and gristle? Does that mean that they deluded themselves into thinking that they could lead? Does that mean that the ever-increasing gap between the haves and have-nots, the skyrocketing gas prices, escalation of violent crime on our streets, the daily increasing death toll in Iraq and the corruption in the Justice Department just aren’t enough to get them off their duffs and moving the country in the right direction?

Does that mean that as leaders they haven’t 1/100 the courage of the military men and women whom they send to their deaths in Iraq? Is it OK with the rank-and-file Democrats that their two front runners refuse to stop the killing and the fighting “no matter what it takes?”

Really, Sen. Reid, maybe you could explain. How high is the bar if you can’t find a way to end a war that two-thirds of the country wants ended?

That bar is too high for one reason: because the opposition party, now in control of Congress, is too cowardly to take on the Bush administration face first. You know, the way those poor folks in New Orleans took on Hurricane Katrina. The way minimum wage earners take on the price of gas. The way 45 million uninsured Americans take on disease. When confronted with something horrendous, there’s only one way to take it on: bravely, even if you take it on alone.

Confucius once said, “To see what is right and not to do it, is want of courage.” Or if you prefer a more recent wise man: John Wayne once said, “Courage is being scared to death – but saddling up anyway.”

How do you stop calamity, unnecessary death, unjust war, needless suffering? How? You do whatever it takes.

So, senators and representatives, get a dictionary, look up the word representative and start doing your job! Propose legislation to demand accountability. If you can’t do the work of the people who overwhelmingly want you to change the direction in which the country is headed, then quit. Let your state government appoint a replacement for you.

Does that idea sound too extreme? Want a less extreme solution? File articles of impeachment. That will slow down this runaway train. For the love of country, before another soldier dies in Iraq, if you Democrats really want to win in 2008, show the American people that you have the courage to lead.

Pat LaMarche, a former Green candidate for governor and for vice president, can be contacted at PatLaMarche@hotmail.com.