Just what the hell is this “Democratic Party” that various people on this blog are threatening to leave?
Look, in the 70’s and early 80’s Democrats were losing elections right and left. The Reaganauts were dismantling everything they could of whatever was left of the New Deal and the Great Society and the War on Poverty and the Civil Rights movement as fast as they could. Most of the Democrats in office and in visible support roles were supine, rolling over. They had no new ideas. They had the enthusiasm and energy of overcooked broccoli. All they cared about was protecting whatever crumbs of their own personal power they could.
So some Democrat governors got together and made an alternative to the entrenched party structure. They called it the DLC. They had some good ideas. They had some bad ideas. But they didn’t like what they saw and got to work making an alternative to it. They won elections.
Now the DLC is the entrenched, moribund wing of the Democratic Party. Fuck `em. Their time is past.
In January, I went to my first DFT meeting. This was a few weeks before Howard Dean was elected to chair the DNC and one of the speakers was a DNC member telling us about the behind the scenes of the race for DNC chair. Explaining what the DNC is and how it works. How he got to be a member of it – it’s an elected position. He ran for it. He campaigned, just like for any other elected position. He won.
Some guy got up and started ranting about how the Democratic Party needs to do this, and the Democratic Party had to stop doing that, or else he was leaving the Party, he wasn’t going to give “them” another goddamned penny until they started . . . whatever. Two hundred people shouted him down. DLC guy explained it to him. YOU are the Democratic Party. You don’t like what “the party” is doing? Fine. Then get to work doing something else. You’re it.
The DNC is not the Democratic Party. The DNC is an organization that raises money for Democratic candidates and distributes that money in the way that they think will be effective. Howard Dean is adding distributing organizing skills and field workers – the 50-state strategy – to that. I like his ideas. I’ve given them some money. You don’t like it – don’t give them money.
Look, folks, the “Democratic Party” is not some group of politicians and consultants presenting a product we can sit back and watch the ads for and decide whether or not to “buy” or not. If it looks that way to you, perhaps it’s because we’ve all been so programmed to be passive consumers that we have a hard time seeing that democracy is not a product.
Democracy is what we do. If we don’t do it, someone else will. Someone else is going to be running our lives. DC consultants. Vichy democrat politicians. The DLC. Even worse – Bu$hCo and the neo-cons.
So if you don’t like what they’re doing, get to work. Do democracy. Yes, you. Run for office. Become a precinct chair. Be a delegate. Work for a candidate whose values you believe in. Join a progressive group. Organize a coup of your local county party if it’s filled with spineless hacks. Donate money if you can afford it. Donate time and energy if you can’t. Can’t get out of the house? Use your computer – the party needs website maintenance, data bases, on-line organizing tools. Inform yourself on local issues. What’s your state lege up to these days? Your city council? Your school board? Write letters to the editor supporting progressives and blasting the right-wing nutcases. Talk to your neighbors, your coworkers. Stand up for liberal progressive values. Say it out loud, “I’m a liberal and I’m proud!”
The presidential election is three years away. Getting ourselves all worked up about, – if Hillary runs I’m outta here – is a waste of energy that could be put to better use at the grassroots. Hillary could be run over by a bus before ’08. In the meantime, grow some progressive grassroots. Give voters in your city, your congressional district someone to vote for who will fight for them.
What BooMan said.
Take our country back. Yes, you.
So you’re a dedicated Green or Libertarian (all welcome here at BooTrib, ya know), you don’t have to be the Democratic party. The rest of us, however . . . .
Janet. You said it better than I did.
The party is what we can make it. That’s what this blogging thing is all about. Fighting back, taking our party back. We have a long way to go, but people need to stop threatening to leave everytime the Senate confirms a criminal, or caves on a bad piece of legislation. We’re trying to change the Democratic Party, too.
You say:
Just what the hell is this “Democratic Party” that various people on this blog are threatening to leave?
Here, let me give you an example of my democratic party. Here’s a little background.
Perry signs parental consent legislation (free registration required)
The topic of this diary isn’t reproductive rights and I do have to go into work soon. Therefore I don’t have time to make the case for why a woman who’s 17 years old shouldn’t have to be legally required to obtain a signature from, lets say, the father who abused her, or the parents who are missing, or from parents who are religious wingnuts that don’t believe in a woman’s reproductive rights. I can get back to it later though, if needs be.
Perry signed the bill in one of those mega-churches up near Dallas. On the Texas Alliance for Life page the headline proclaims VICTORY! but what I really find interesting is going a little deeper into that and following two links in particular on the Texas Alliance for LIfe page.
Final Vote in Senate, 23 Yea, 7 Nay, 1 Absent – (6 democrats out of 12 supporting the republicans.)
House Vote, 123 Yea, 16 Nay, 10 Absent, 1 Present, Not Voting, (39 democrats out of 59 supporting the republicans, 6 AWOL)
Some people on this blog seem to have a problem, not with these democrats, but with women concerned with reproductive rights threatening to leave the Democratic party. Perhaps we should “be seen and not heard” is the point. I say there are good reasons for why we are dissatisfied enough to quit, and I’m illustrating one of many. The Texas democrats can’t even muster ONE HALF of their state votes to support a women’s reproductive rights issue. And make no mistake, these spineless democrats won’t stop there, especially with the new democratic suckup “right to life” meme :::cough cough::: to encourage them further.
In closing, I’d like to paraphrase a former Vice-President, and Texan, “Cactus Jack” John Nance Garner.
“The Democratic Party in Texas isn’t worth a bucket of warm spit”.
if thats the future of the democratic party, i want no part of it.
When you say, “Some people on this blog seem to have a problem, not with these democrats, but with women concerned with reproductive rights threatening to leave the Democratic party. Perhaps we should “be seen and not heard” is the point.”
I’m trying to say, hell no! I despise these Democrats who won’t stand up for us – and I know just the ones you mean, because I’m right here in Texas, suffering their spineless bullshit just as much as you are.
But how does “leaving the party” protect my daughter’s rights? I don’t intend to shut up, and I’m certainly not asking anyone to shut up. My goal is “Yell louder!!!!”
My opinion – for what it’s worth – is that our yelling will have more effect if we’re working on the campaigns of Democrats that are NOT the spineless sell-outs you describe. And yes, there are some. Reps like Garnet Coleman. A “nay” on your list above. Another “nay” is Rep. Eddie Rodriguez – fundraiser for him tonight. How is supporting Democrats like these “shutting up”? How does it hurt the spineless sellouts to not support Dems like Coleman and Rodriguez? And others like them who are considering running? If we don’t support the ones with spine, if we just leave, don’t we just get more spineless sell-outs? Or more Republicans?
But if leaving the Democratic party will be more effective at getting the appalling Perristas and their Dem enablers out of power, how exactly does that work?
We’re probably more or less in same place in the way we feel, and what our goals are. Believe me, I’m screaming too. Sad to say both my reps, state house and senate, are democrats who voted in support of Perry’s “bipartisan victory”. Neither one of them ever gets my vote again. As you mention there are a handful of good reps, and I’m especially proud of those six senate holdouts who fought valiantly trying to kill the bill by parlimentary manuever. If I had one of them representing me I’d support him or her, but I don’t.
We’re like two surgeons sitting on a tumor board, you and I, examining the same case. You see the patient’s healthy tissue and hold out hope for recovery, while all I see is the malignacy that’s so far along and seems to be growing by the day.
I’m glad you didn’t mean me.
But I don’t think I’m seeing it as healthy tissue and holding out hope for recovery. I started going to DFT and other progressive political meetings because I was so disgusted with “the Democratic Party” and I was looking for an alternative. I, too, saw the tumor and it scared me to death – tumors can kill you. Well, it seems like it’s the Republicans who are actually trying to kill us (by returning us to the days of criminal back-alley abortions, gutting OSHA, raping our environment, war, etc.), but too often Democrat politicians were either failing to attack with chemo and surgery (cowards) or actually feeding it hormones to make it grow faster (sellouts).
However, the more of these meetings I went to, the more I started to wonder, who is “the Democratic Party”? Is it the politicians? The DNC? The DLC? The DC consultants? Well, yes and no. They call themselves Democrats and they have power. But the foundation of their power is votes. If they can’t get them, they no longer have any power.
It seems like taking away their votes and giving them to elected representatives who will actually stand up for what folks like us believe in, who will fight for us day in and day out even when they are being slimed and attacked is our only hope.
Not easy, as I keep saying. The Republicans and their D fellow travelers have a powerful arsenal against us. Primarily money and good old boy connections. Most of us aren’t wealthy and our “connections” aren’t with the rich and powerful either.
But we can seek out “good guys” either incumbent or thinking about running (“guy” not implying a gender here) and get to work making sure they stay in office or getting them elected.
One of the things I’ve been learning from listening to these good guys (who show up at these meetings) is that sometimes organization and less money than the opposition has can actually win races if they are used cleverly. They’ve been laying out in detail exactly how they did it so that we can use this in other races.
Sen. Eddie Rodriguez (one of the six senate holdouts) is not my state senator – I’m “represented” by a Republican. But I went to Eddie’s fundraiser last night and gave him (a little – $15) money. I want to “cut the tumor out” by showing that it’s people like Eddie that get the money and the volunteers and ultimately, the votes. And spineless hacks don’t.
I never “joined” the Democratic Party, so I don’t know how I could either leave it or stay in it. I’m just an ordinary pissed off human being who is trying to figure out how to stop the theocratic warmonger greedheads currently running my state and my country. But what I was trying to say was, by supporting Eddie and others like him, I’m trying to be the Democratic party.
In my version of “Blade Runner”, not only will men and women be separated by political affiliation, they will no longer have sex with one another.
Oh wait? Was that the plot of the actual movie?
If you could convince the Republican women (and that shouldnt be too difficult, given that most of them are unhappily married to conniving, whoring businessmen)to join you, it’d be a slam dunk.
Need a consultant on “male, idiotic behavior of, issues?”
so who are these people exactly who are speaking ill of the Dems… did someone post a diary or somethin’?
🙂
Seriously, Janet… if I in anyway indicated I have any indication of leaving the Democratic party I was obviously not snarky enough… my plea was to save the Dem party from itself and I believe I did indicate I had a favorite in the race… 😉
and want some way to make the world a better place. But I simply can’t support any group that threatens my daughter’s future in the way that the pro-life groups are. My soul balks at that and I can’t find my way around that wall.
Give me just one reason to stay here
And I’ll turn right back around…
There needs to be some introspection on the part of the folks in power (at the moment), not just chastizing of those of us who gave our damndest only to be ridiculed and marginalized.
Mentally, I appreciate your arguments. Emotionally, I need more than chastizing cheerleading to bring me out of this funk.
I simply can’t support any group that threatens my daughter’s future in the way that the pro-life groups are. My soul balks at that and I can’t find my way around that wall. Emotionally, I need more than chastizing cheerleading to bring me out of this funk.
Here’s a chisel and a hammer. Now go pick a spot and start removing bricks, one brick at a time.
Why? For what purpose? It would be disasterous for my daughter.
I think we are about to see that Choice is the Democrats “Third Rail”.
I’m just scared to death of where my country is going. I have a daughter too, and her rights are more important to me than my own, and my own are pretty damn important to me.
I just don’t see how demanding introspection of “the people in power” is going to do anything to protect her rights.
Either people who stand up for and fight for women’s rights can be elected in this country or they can’t. I don’t know the answer to that. But I don’t think we can know until we find some candidates who will fight for women and do our best to get them elected.
I am pretty sure that if we do nothing, it will get worse.
I think we both want the same thing- but we may be going after it in different ways.
I simply can’t see how staying will make my concerns heard (they are being dismissed by even “progressive” people on many blogs) and I can’t see how leaving would be an effective choice either. Sure, I could find a community of like values, and be among active participants in Democracy, but what would the outcome be?
Frankly, I’m scared for all women- and daughters. And the omnidecisive Sandlbaster is in one hell of a conundrum.
Your diary is one of the best I’ve read in quite a while. I appreciate your work- even as I’m figuring out my stance.
Love that.
FWIW, when I get crazy depressed scared tinfoil plastered all over my body – a state I spend considerable time in – the only thing that gets me out of that funk is political meetings. Like minded people making a plan and getting to work on it. Plans that make me want to stand up and shout, “Right on! Let’s do it!”
If you can find a community of like values – I don’t know what the outcome will be. There are no guarantees of winning every battle. But for myself, just being in the fight cheers me up. And under the current regime, I need all the cheering up I can get.
And you may find the out in the real world of face-to-face organizing, you’ll meet much more interesting and fun to be around people than the blowhards who clutter up some progressive blogs (and I’m not singling out any progressive blog in particular – I’ve seen this on all of them. Well, except for here, of course ;-). The blowhards aren’t out organizing – that’s part of their blowhardedness.
and it scares me incredibly, that she could be placed into a situation of breeder status or involuntary incubator, due to the policies of the extremists that have taken control of our country.
Fight and keep fighting, tell the DLC, if you won’t hear our ideas, take into consideration our policies and listen to our objections, then grassroots take overs work wonders.
Hell look at the extremists that have taken over the roots of the GOP. Moderates have been brushed aside and those same moderates may well look to progressive dems as a solution to their woes. Particularly since many extremists are beginning to threaten the moderates way of life.
WE are the Democratic Party?
Tell that to the DLC. Sure, they’ll say that when they want contributions, when they want volunteers. But when they want ideas? Feedback? Then they’re all, “Keep it down, willya kids? Daddy and Mommy are in a conference call with our consultants and our corporate donors.”
The DLC has never asked me for anything – money or time or energy. They’re just a group of politicians who make a lot of noise. Infuriating noise to be sure. But they are not the Democratic Party.
My Democratic Party is my precinct, where we are working hard to get rid of the DeLay clone who is (mis)representing us. My Democratic Party is training field workers and reaching out to the Latino and African-American community who have been taken for granted for too long in this town. My Democratic Party is Latinos for Texas who invited me to participate even though I’m as Anglo as you can be, and who enthusiastically listened to my ideas – along with everyone else’s at the meeting, Anglo and Latino.
I can support these people. Screw the DLC. They are not the Party. They just think they are. If we don’t do anything to fight back against them, they’ll be the only ones speaking for “Democrats.” They do not speak for me. I give them nothing, never did.
Not directly, no. They’ve used the structure of the Democratic Party to do it, pushing their agenda (or lack of one) to the fore as “reasonable” and their candidates as “electable”, using the resources provided by people whose hopes and beliefs they ignore or ridicule.
Then change the “structure of the Democratic Party.”
If the DLC is using their connections and corporate money and media access to pretend to speak for us (as they, as you say, ignore our hopes and beliefs) I think the only answer is to figure out a way to get around them. Get our own candidates. Find a way to support our candidates financially without being corporate whores. Learn how to use the media. Hell, fight to have a free media.
NOT easy by any stretch. Winning not guaranteed. But I’m not yet convinced that we’re not smart enough and committed enough to do it.
Like Janet says, their time came and went…..they have outlived their purpose. Purposes still exist so let’s all put our time and money into that Democratic infrastructure. Unidentified Iraqis aren’t the only ones who can steal the words off of Republican Talking Points Memos! Innnnfffffraaaaastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure…….the Democratic Infrastructure created by and supported by Democrats. Word Up Karl!
Well, we could if they didn’t interfere behind the scenes in choosing who gets to run and who gets blackballed.
I always hated a thing that my dad said to me growing up. He used to say to me that he never wanted to ever hear me say that I couldn’t do something because I was a girl. He told me that men may be physically stronger but if I use my head I’ll figure that out too. I have since discovered how levers and pulleys work. I even used those funky plastic disc things advertised on T.V. to put under our entertainment center that weighs a total ton so that I could move it when cleaning because my husband was in Iraq or Korea and of no use to me then concerning such things. I’m not sure how best to approach this particular problem but I know that if we ponder it for awhile and toss around some ideas we can work on finding solutions to problems like the one you have brought up. I know that it ticks people off too and when it does people need to be ticked until they aren’t ticked and then they can move onto the solution portion of things. The DLC never meant a whole lot to me. I have always understood being a Democrat from the dirt up, my grandmother had a call list on election days and she called every registered Democrat on her list and if they were having a hard time getting to the polls she would figure it out. I have always thought of the party in those terms so I don’t grieve the DLC as much as others who have a focus on the upper infrastructure of the party (which is also a necessary viewpoint to have people in the party focused on too).
Maybe my rant just posted to another diary really belonged over here?
I’ve been getting fruborrated about all the debates re party – GOP, this brand of Dem, that brand of Dem. The word fruborrated is a combination of frustrated/bored/irritated. All the buzz with politcal junkies on all the sides has to do with the “game” strategies. It’s like evaluating draft picks and QB assignments for your favorite team. Well, your favorite team goes out to play and you cheer for them, praise them when they win, etc. However, while it seems politics will always involve game playing the outcomes are a bit more serious.
Did any party in any era step up and run on a platform that would make a huge difference for people? Labor laws, civil rights, women’s and reproductive rights, the end of the Vietnam war – all of those came about because of indiviudal people. Many, many people. From writing letters to taking to the streets – many people yelling long and loud about an injustice or a wrong until at least one of the parties decided to respond and take on the cause as their own as well.
“Never doubt that a small, group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead.
There’s a reason why this quote gets cited so often, even if we’re sick of hearing it – it’s because it’s true. It never ceases to amaze me how few people it takes to make a difference. Most people simply don’t show up.
Which is not to say making a difference is easy, or that it will happen as fast as we want it to. It’s almost guaranteed that it won’t. “Labor laws, civil rights, women’s and reproductive rights . . . “ We have those because a (relatively) few people were willing to work for those for years. For decades.
I’m 57 years old. I remember pre-Roe. Do I want to fight this battle all over again? Hell, no! Am I sick-to-death tired of fighting for what should be my (and now my daughter’s) unquestioned rights as a free human being? Hell, yes! But what is the alternative?
The quote you cite is ample proof of the fallacy that our systems will change the world. Indeed, systems are the very things that never have. That small group of thoughtful, and committed citizens show up because they realize that the system doesn’t, that politics is the slowest agent of change on the face of the planet.
What’s the alternative. First, recognizing not only that we have alternatives but that alternatives are the only thing we actually do have. Another quote we’re sick to death of but equally true – the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. As history so richly demonstrates, things will NOT be different when “we” win elections, or when “we” regain the majority”. That’s the royal “we”, not the democratic “we”.
One alternative is to reach outside our two-party political system to find that thoughtful group of committed citizens wherever they may be. This requires looking beyond rhetoric and and party lines. To see the whole, and reject the false boundaries built on blind loyalty. This requires individual commitment to serving one another, not service to nation or smaller yet, to political party.
I for one will not support those working against the interests of the many for the benefit of the few, and I certainly won’t support those working against the interests of the many because they have an arbitrary D behind their name.
I will not opt out, I will not give up, but I’ll be damned if I’ll give one ounce or one inch to support a system that is anything but democratic and hellbent on preventing that small group of thoughtful citizens from changing the world.
recognizing not only that we have alternatives but that alternatives are the only thing we actually do have.
But where’s the action? What are the alternatives?
reach outside our two-party political system to find that thoughtful group of committed citizens wherever they may be.
Hmm… and how is this “reaching outside” done? Granted, I’m new at this but the only way I know to reach anyone, about politics, is… well, going to grassroot meetings in my community, inside the only viable, to me, framework I can find – the Democratic Party. The Democrats here in Austin are a diverse lot and they may not all be a perfect fit with my views but they are smart, energetic, they are opposed to “the interests of the few at the expense of the many” and they beat the hell out of the alternative. I use my photography skills and my willingness to do something, to reach out inside the framework, volunteering to help organize and get the message, a msg I can live with although it might not be exactly what I’d like to see, a msg that helps register voters, educate voters, and get them to vote, vote for a msg that is a whole lot better (although maybe not perfect) than you hear from the loyal opposition/status quo. Are you going to start your own blog, your own third party organization, and hope that they will come?
How does your small group of thoughtful citizens change the world? Seriously, if you’ve got a real alternative, here, I’m more than willing to listen.
Lots of action and lots of alternatives. The Civil Rights movement is one of the best examples of what thoughtful, committed citizens can do outside the political realm. Dr. King did get the Civil Rights Act enacted by staffing a re-election campaign. His message was BIGGER than political affiliation. Thank God Dr. King knew that to change the world, he’d have to change hearts and minds. He did not limit those hearts and minds by race, religion or political affiliation.
Another shining examples of what thoughtful, committed citizens can do are Amnesty International, Habitat For Humanity, Sierra Club, the ACLU. My small, thoughtful group of citizens works on a moratorium on the death penalty and providing indigent defense in capital cases. These are all “real” ways to help change the world.
Should read Dr. King did not get the Civil Rights Act enacted by staffing a re-election campaign.
“You don’t know what you got til it’s gone”
I just got a good look at the Democratic Party and it has a bad dye job from using the wrong developer and needs to lose 10 lbs. Things just ain’t what I thought they were these days!
We need you Tracy! Bad dye job and all. I know it’s hard for you to be as “out there” raising hell as some of us can do between your husband’s service and your family responsibilities. You do a lot just keeping folks like me focused on how Bu$hCo is screwing the military. And that is part of “being the Democratic Party,” imo. You are absolutely part of my Democratic Party.
Let’s kick some ass! I still vote in Colorado but I really want to get to know these Alabama Democrats much better. I had bought two bottles of champagne on Nov 2 because of the exit polls. I was going to take them down the street on November 3 and introduce myself to the owners of two houses down there plastered over with Kerry. It didn’t happen and I didn’t go meet them. I was so depressed the only thing that I could think to say was, “Hi, I’m Tracy, let’s go drink this and throw ourselves off a bridge.” When the heat dies down I will make my way in that direction and meet these hardassed made out of concrete and rebar Southern Dems. I live in an affluent neighborhood here too (doesn’t take much to be affluent where I am right now) and if you want to talk about hilarious, picture nice homes with manicured lawns on 1 to 2 acres a piece edging a bass lake with all of these small stylish Bush/Cheney yard signs one per yard put up next to the road. Drive a block down and see the same except for these two obnoxious rebel children of SATAN, and one small stylish yard sign is not nearly enough color! Hell No, we need BIG COLOR and big signs……we need a whole yard theme! One family had a BBQ every night and they have their own little pond next to their house full of ducks and their kids and grandkids would eat and feed the ducks in the middle of the yard theme and to hell with BUSH. It’s time to meet these people in person I suppose.
great diary Janet and recommended. It IS up to us. I live in Duke real estate deal scammer Cunningham’s disrict and now that he has been caught with his fingers in the cookie jar he has announced that he will not seek reelection. One down how many to go? It will be interesting to see who the repubs throw up for his seat. I plan to work hard for our candidate no matter what. We have to start getting these seats back or the only thing that can happen is the country will go completely down the toilet. Let’s Roll people. I fully agree with Janet. If you don’t like what you see then do something about it. We CAN do this together folks. As Chimpy says, “It’s Hard Work”!!!!!!
Do we do it by bellowing, “Democrats, right or wrong!” as many high-profile internet personalities have done?
Or do we do it by saying, “You want my vote? Then address my concerns!”
It’s not my Democratic Party. I’ve been registered independent for years now because it’s pretty clear they don’t give a crap about me. The DLC’s agenda has been all about power. And they still seem to dominate the attention of the elected Democrats in national office.
It’s up to them to change. It’s up to me to continue speaking out.
–And yet speaking out against the current Dem trends has been attacked. And speaking out against other views on what should be Democratic priorities are very often roundly and savagely attacked.
No, everybody wants us to STFU and get in line.
I say fuck that.
I’m not sanguine about the chances of a new party. But I’m not sanguine about the chances of the Democratic party. As they drift further and further away from values, chasing after what they perceive as Republican popularity, they are not representing me.
I question the value of pretending there is no rift, as some have advocated. To me it seems that the more obvious the splits are, the more likely they will notice.
But as long as that equation is out there — Any Democrat is better than any Republican — nothing is going to change.
the “any Democrat is better than any Republican” line either. Here’s a high-profile internet personality who had just given a talk at DemFest along those lines, and here’s me explaining to him that I thought that a) if that gets me Leiberman, Casey, et al I don’t see what that’s gained us and b) it’s a losing strategy, politically.
I’m pretty sure he doesn’t agree with me and I don’t agree with him. So what? I haven’t seen him around here since DemFest. Meanwhile, I have a fundraiser for State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez to go to tonight, and then I’m going to a Keep Austin Blue meeting. I haven’t been to a Keep Austin Blue meeting yet, but they look interesting.
I’ve never voted for a Democrat just because they were a Democrat. I’ve never voted for a Republican because I never saw a Republican politician I agreed with about anything important. I mourned the demise of the La Raza Unida party here in Texas because they always gave me someone to vote for when the D’s were too feckless to run a candidate or when the D was just as bad as the R.
But what I want is Democratic candidates I can support. I don’t know any way to get that to happen other than to get out there and learn about who’s running and what they stand for – and then to support them if I believe in them. So far, John Courage (running against my DeLay clone Rep.) and Barbara Radnovsky (running against Miss Bubble Head Frist puppet Kay Bailey Hutchinson) are looking good.
Are standing at the edge of the abyss, doing what so many are trying to get us to do, Fall Apart
When you jump into that dark bottomless pit, do you go alone, or do you grab onto the one beside you and pull them down too, just so you won’t be alone?
We have entered into the age of Greed, like none ever seen before in the history of man, and the Dark Ages will not compare to how this will go down, if we ever get far enough for history to be written, unless we make a stand.
A stand for decency, morals, ethics, and understanding. If we split, will it make a change, or will it give them the last edge they need to flank our troops, divide and conquer.
I am going to give all 4’s for all comments because of the passion each person has contributed, not that I beleive one over the the other.
I have always been Independent, and always will, I will look at the situation, and make my choices from there.
My first choice is and always will be, the best interest of the people, and the betterment of life for all conceerned.
We know what the NeoCons want, and are proving it daily. We also know that quite a few of the moderate Republicans are questioning their own, just as we are.
I beleive that it is too treachorous of a time to split at present time. It needs to be cohered from internally, and proceed from there.
If these people seeking total power are given one smidgeon of a chance, they will devour all that stands in their way, without the slightest thought of remourse.
Tread lightly my friends, tis treachorous waters we tread. DON’T MAKE WAVES for we are up to our nose in it.
Always remember the value of patience, persistance, and perserverance.
Thank you for your passion, but use it wisely, and most of all, productively.
extra cash leasing you out as a stand in father who gives flawless advice during moments of tension and crisis?
LMAO…don’t have one… I think I’m too straight forward for them to bear.. ; )
ROTFLMAO…thank you
as my imaginary 3rd husband (behind Keith Olbermann)…
Is it true that gator tastes like chicken??? 😉
(reaches in his pocket and pulls out a sock 1/3 full of marbles, knocks Olbermann in the head, and takes one step up) ; )
mmmmm, nope, gator tastes like gator..but you can’t imagine it, unless you try it. When my son had his first taste of it, I had to take the platter away from him, so I could get some…LOL..
well, that may be true, but it’s hard to tell by the number of “our” representatives that vote for things like the Bankruptcy Bill.
We change them by working against the ones who screw us. If they cook the primaries so that a favored son gets an uncontested primary, we vote independent. There is the “Democratic Party” the idea, and the Democratic Party, the Machine, and the machine is wholy owned by the corporations and driven by their overpaid servants. No money for the DNC, DSCC or DCCC, nor any support, as long as they continue to promote hacks like Casey.
Women’s health is the last straw. I work locally now. I am lucky to have a truly progressive Senator, Sen. Feingold, to represent me in DC, but not another penny or LTE or anything else for a hack candidate like Kerry. No more support for the national party until it stops telling me and others to STFU and not until it starts fighting for our base voters.
We are the Democratic party in the same way that the UAW is General Motors. Taking over the party is a monumental tasks when the levers of power are not distributed fairly – i.e. money talks a lot louder than DeminKnoxville’s blogging. Does this mean it’s impossible to move this leviathan? No, and I’m willing to try. But I’m realistic that it may not happen. And then we’re left with the question that Sandblaster raised: “If this was a marriage would I leave?” And if not now, when? It’s a fair question to ask.
The party exists as a tool to generate progressive change; progressives do not exist as a tool for the party to win elections and for officials to gain power. If that key point is forgotten, the party has lost its soul, the “marriage” is a joke, and it’s time to move on. Are we there? I don’t know. But I do know I’m looking at the matter more clearly than a few days ago.
And to those who say “If you take your marbles and leave your issues will go unaddressed,” I’d answer with brokenkeyboard’s reply in sandblaster’s diary: “You’d get custody of the kids” (the issues). The issues will not stay unaddressed forever; people will find – or form – a mechanism to bring those voices to the table.
Ideally, it would be the Democrats (It’s a lot less work than creating a new party). But the workers at General Motors have limited options. Is management willing to give the workers more say in the running of the business or are we going to have to call a strike vote?
Don’t come to me with roses in September and forget me by November 10, and call it a marriage. Are we partners or what? Am I sayin’ I’m leavin’ today? No, but you better have a damned good explanation for that lipstick on your collar.
What DinK said. I was just thinking how the employees of Enron probably thought they were the company. . .
At the risk of getting too philosophical here when what Janet has done is offer a good practical viewpoint, the metaphor of marriage makes me ponder something else. You know how in the best of marriages, or friendships, or companies, or any relationship, two people come together and a third “thing” arises? That third thing is bigger than either of them individually and it takes both of them to create it. It has to do with love, I think, and a mutual desire to support one another, and other stuff.
Well, I don’t see that “third thing” in the Dem Party these days, does anybody else? I see individual people and factions, but not much love or support, except what goes out from down here to up there in the form of money, time, effort.
Maybe that’s what so many people, including me, have been hankering for and why it’s so damned hard to feel loyalty to this party these days. . .it is not, at least not at this time, bigger than we are, not in that meaningful way that can work miracles in the world.
I think listening is how we start to create the “third thing.” Unfortunately, as someone commented upthread, the feeling many have is that they’ve been told to “STFU and get in line.” We have to get beyond that point if we’re going to work this problem out. People that love Dean seem to say they do because they sense that he listens. And people that gripe about Joementum, or Biden – or Hillary – do so because they think they’re not listening to the grassroots.
If I were running for office and I wanted the support of this big, fractious family we call the Democrats, I’d start by doing a major series of town hall meetings where I did very little but listen.
Not that I don’t have my views about what I’d like to do in office. But it’s not about me.
there ya go: ask, don’t tell.
Democracy starts in the home. It’s how you live – how you carry yourself.
This year due to the outrageous BS in the Administration we are taking a hard stand and have made some choices as a family.
Even the grocery/shopping lists… hard living blue in a red world. But it’s important to us as a family.
My rights as a woman, my daughter’s future lack of rights… pisses me off to no end. So we will work harder.
We try to fight, challenge, protest as well as support.
This year I was so proud to have been able to make contributions to certain organizations… I sign their action alerts, I call them, spread the word to others.
We are trying to raise progressive, compassionate children in an apathetic society. It’s hard work but that is MY JOB as an American Citizen.
Conyers gets locked out of the WhiteHouse!!! That just drives me harder – it should make our Democratic leaders, too – but I don’t see much from them – so that means… I have to work harder. The media is a complete waste… I call and let them know they are yellow and that I’ve switched to Democracy Now & Mother Jones.
I’m not giving up but I’m not going to let anyone – them or us – walk on me or mine.
I don’t have lots of money… but throwing money at a politician doesn’t seem to work anyways. Throwing support as well as throwin them out might.
But… democracy… for this family starts in our home. Activism starts from your heart and soul…. it doesn’t come from Washington, DC.
If need be, I will fight in the streets to make sure this country itsn’t totally swallowed up by these assholes. That my rights are deleted by someone’s bible.
My family of young kids and former military man… are striving to make choices and changes. We support and inform each other.
Sierra Club magazine came out with a list of products… I was happy to see our family had bought them this year.
We’re making a difference… in ourselves… which will help us make a difference with this government, the planet and our future.
It’s not just who we vote for. It’s how we live our lives. We need to lead our leaders.
Excellent diary, Janet — thank you.
I blog, I read, I write LTEs and talk to friends, family and neighbors. I fall short when it comes to getting out of the house and showing my tail at events that are important to me. I will work on it.
With a full-time job, and helping my wife with her work she does out of the home, and now a son that has returned home to live with us as he gets his life together, I know I am not alone in being overwhelmed with day-to-day activities. But it is precisely BECAUSE I do all of this out of love that I have to find the energy to do even more, to keep the society from slipping further away from all of the ideals I hold dear. I volunteer for my church and help with the homeless. That is a mostly non-political, but does allow me to give back. I have heard the suggestion of participating in non-political blogs and working in progressive ideas into hobby or personal blogs as well.
When reading this diary I thought of Randi Rhodes who reminds us that every House Representative has to run for re-election every 2 years, including 2006.
I was saddened that Rep. Robert Matsui’s passing led immediately to his widow being annointed with his seat. There was a progressive candidate that I liked better (Julie Padilla), but I did not help her campaign (I’m not in her district.) This was a landslide from the day Ms. Matsui announced she was running, for all the reasons that incumbents are re-elected with such a high percentage. Ms. Matsui wasn’t even going to participate in the debates scheduled for the special election! We need more representative primaries, and throw our support behind those who listen, those that do not depend on corporations and do things like vote for bankruptcy bills and other anti-middle class (and lower) legislation — all the things the Democratic Party SHOULD be. I also subscribe to the belief that it starts at the school board and works up from there.
We will always be at a disadvantage to the Hillary media lovefest — but how much can we gain by motivating the 50% of people WHO DON’T BOTHER TO VOTE! Of course it will never be 100% participation, but for one example there is a great misconception about felony voting rights. Each state has different regulations about this, but in California when a convicted felon is no longer on parole, they have their full voting rights returned! There is a deliberate campaign to keep citizens who have had their voting rights restored from actually voting — we remember Florida purging their voting rolls, right? In California, the inmates themselves have been TOLD that their voting rights are lost for life since they had been convicted of a felony. I only learned of this since my mother’s work with the League of Women’s Voters and their campaign to educate the L.A. County Sheriff, judges and prisoners of the right to vote.
Online, I find local nuggets at the Swing State Project. For non-partisan election information in California, it doesn’t get much better than SmartVoter — a project of the League of Women’s Voters of California. It is correct that the DNC is not the Democratic Party, but their new website is a big improvement, and has regional and state areas, as well as issues-based sections.
Thank you.
Here is my email to Hillary on her website, and I promote daily.kos as a focal point for liberal activism despite my bad experiences there, you will understand since I am posting this on Booman!
________
Dear Ms. Clinton,
I was always a big fan until you became a Senator and started taking a CYA pass on all the big issues while giving the lunatics who are occupying the White House a free ride.
I hope the recent flack on your attempt to unify the Democratic Party will give you a heads up on what the base of this party really wants and needs.
We are not looking for politically correct centrism to attract the heartland. We are looking for someone to STAND UP FOR US the same way we have to STAND UP FOR OURSELVES in our daily lives with all the risks that entails. We do not see you standing up for us or for YOURSELF in the Senate.
So my unasked for and probably unwanted advice is for you to become a subscriber to daily.kos, though I am not by any means recommending that website or endorsing its administors. The fact is daily.kos is a hotbed for Democratic activism, and if you can’t encounter that and deal with it one-on-one you will never be a viable presidential candidate for the Democratic Party, if that is your amition.
Show us your courage by going to the liberal blogs and directly speaking to intelligent, caring, and involved Democrats. There are quite a few honorables who subscribe and regularly submit to that website.
Talk to the people who can support you effectively. Don’t shy away from it.
Sincerely,
Thanks for a great diary, Janet.
I’ve written this before, and I know y’all are probably sick of hearing about it, but I’d like to repeat what Howard Dean said when asked about the DLC: “Ignore them. They don’t actually control any votes.”
The DLC gets a lot of press. It’s too bad Hillary, et. al. felt that they had to go pander to them. But they don’t really control anything and they are NOT the Democratic Party.
I used to spend time sending angry emails to Terry McAuliffe and ranting at the TV. Then, because Michael Moore said to in a Democracy Now interview, I signed up as a precinct captain. Only 2-1/2 years later, I got myself elected to the DNC. I need some help here, folks, and the only way you can get on the DNC is to work your way up through the party apparatus. It’s often frustrating and sometimes boring (meetings, way too many meetings), but it wasn’t all that hard. Please, come join me!
It’s OUR party. It’s time for progressives to take it over. I’ve seen that happen in my county party and it’s happened to some extent at our state level as well. As more and more people get involved, the caliber of leadership is going up, and we’re more effective. Like Janet says, just get out there and do it! (See myDD, where Chris Bowers is running a campaign for precinct captain.)
One problem I see is that our elected representatives often pay no attention to the party platform. I understand that to some extent–some have tough districts that they can’t win in unless they vote the “wrong” way sometimes. We have to acknowledge that. Politics is the art of compromise. (I admit, I have my no-compromise positions too–choice is one of them.)
For example, I was appalled to find two of the representatives from my state voting for the bankruptcy bill. What were they thinking? (A call to their office clarified their reasons, even if I didn’t agree.) However, these folks have been there on choice, on the environment, on health care and a number of other issues that I feel passionately about. So, I’m still going to support them.
Remember that the state and local parties have been allowed to atrophy for 20-some years. They’re often pitiful and need new blood to be vital, effective organizations. The national party was focused entirely on running a presidential campaign in just a few states–now it’s working on a 50-state strategy and committed to supporting down-ticket candidates as well.
It’s a revolution in the making, folks. Dean’s working the top; we need you to work the bottom. When the party becomes effective, we’ll be able to put forth better candidates and get them elected. But it’s not going to happen if you take your marbles and go home.
IT MUST BE FOUND ELSEWHERE…