Rocky Anderson has drawn a line in the sand. The line represents his moral breaking point; the point at which he will no longer tolerate the lack of leadership by the Democratic party. Many elected Democrats are not standing up for their moral and patriotic values, and it clearly angers Salt Lake City’s mayor to no end.

There were some notable Utah Democrats in the audience when Rocky spoke to Salt Lake City’s chapter of Drinking Liberally on a snowy Friday night, and even though his barbs were aimed mostly at national-level Democrats, his comments served as a good reminder to all Democrats just what it means to be a Democrat.

In typical Rocky fashion, his speech was incisive and searing. First he laid out the distinction between Democrats and Republicans: where Republicans see taxes as a burden, Democrats see them as an investment in our future. Democrats abhor kidnapping and human rights violations, while the Bush administration has approved of these things, ignoring fundamental religious values like peace and compassion.

The next part of Rocky’s speech outlined the instances where elected Democrats have appeased the right; things like authorizing the President to go to war with Iraq despite intelligence reports contrary to Bush’s justification for war, and dropping the ball on healthcare reform. Rocky minces no words when he talks about Utah’s only Democratic congressman, Jim Matheson. There were even boo’s and hisses from the crowd when Rocky mentioned Matheson’s support for the Federal Marriage Amendment.

Rocky goes on listing instances where Democrats have shown a real lack of leadership, where they’ve capitulated for political expediency, showing a disregard for the people who elected them. Citing quotes from Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama regarding the desire to table the issue of impeaching the Bush administration, Rocky asks “If impeachment is not appropriate now, then when in the world would it ever be appropriate?”

As an unaffiliated liberal, Rocky’s speech serves as a reminder to me of why I haven’t joined the Democratic party. I have nothing against the Democratic party per se, but since I started paying attention to politics there hasn’t been a whole lot of leadership on a national level. Despite his speech to Drinking Liberally and some of his prior speeches, Rocky still has faith in the Democratic party, and that’s encouraging to me. When Rocky asks later in his speech if anyone can point to any public figure that has consistently stood in opposition to the insanity that is our federal public policy (prompting many in the crowd to point to the mayor), I could think of few examples. And though Rocky may not be mayor for much longer, we can be sure that he will continue to be a leader for the morals, ideals, and ethics that liberals, damn liberals, and progressives embody.

Cheers to Rocky, and cheers to his future endeavors.