Richmond.com has a positive article on Mike Signer, entitled "I'm a Jim Webb Democrat." But what is a "Jim Webb Democrat" exactly? According to Signer, it's someone who believes in "the principles of social justice and economic fairness," as Jim Webb talked about extensively in his 2006 campaign for U.S. Senate. I definitely agree with that; if you aren't willing to fight for social justice and economic fairness, you simply are not a "Jim Webb Democrat." Period.Being a "Jim Webb Democrat" also means being both pro-worker and pro-union. As the Virginia AFL-CIO website noted in October 2008, Jim Webb is "the first statewide official in Virginia to have a union card, two purple hearts and three tattoos." He was also "the first statewide official in VA to walk a picket line while running for office." For his part, Signer strongly supports organized labor, noting that his parents and grandparents were in unions, and that "unions helped build the middle class in this country; I don’t think there’s any question about that." Sounds like a "Jim Webb Democrat to me!" :)
Besides being pro-worker and pro-union, being a "Jim Webb Democrat" of course means being pro-veteran, and the Richmond.com article notes that "[v]eterans issues are of particular interest to Signer."
Another sign that you're a "Jim Webb Democrat" is that you're not afraid to take on tough, politically difficult fights. For instance, reforming our criminal "justice" (using the term loosely) system, including "reintegrating ex-offenders" as Webb argues. For his part, Mike Signer has been forcefully "championing the cause to restore the voting rights of convicted felons, upon their release."
There's also the social libertarian aspect to being a "Jim Webb Democrat." For Webb, the philosophy is expressed as "the government shouldn't come in our front door unless there's an overriding reason to do so," and means being pro-Second Amendment as well as against "government-in-the-bedroom" stuff like Marshall-Newman. I spoke with Signer, and although he wouldn't call himself a "libertarian" (as a theoretician, Signer doesn't subscribe to "libertarianism" per se) or express his philosophy exactly as Webb does, he certainly believes that government shouldn't discriminate against anyone and that people have the right to bear arms (although he's supportive of closing the "gun show loophole").
Finally, both Mike Signer and Jim Webb are writer-intellectuals as well as politicians. In this day and age, that makes them unusual, although of course there's a certain guy in the White House who's written a couple of books... :) Seriously, though, Mike Signer and Jim Webb are different people, but I think it's totally reasonable for Signer to assert, "I am a Jim Webb Democrat." Go Mike!
