Reform is NOT about getting rid of special interest groups or even having them to suppress their issues for the “greater good” (ie as defined by Al From)…
It is about creating a common value within all of these interest groups. Reform must be about reframing liberal and progressive values and policies into a coherent whole: what affirmative action has to do with progressive taxation, what abortion has to do with affirmative action, what environmentalism has to do with feminism, what labor has to do with education etc.
Democrats must reweave the safety net so that those who walk the straight and narrow path, who defend this country in battle, who work, who pay taxes… will not be left to drown if they slip and fall.
This is reform.
Asking that we put aside our differences to work for a greater good
Is bullshit and is really called “Oppression”.
In fact when you have a STRONG leader this happens naturally. It is only in the case of weak leadership… that restrictions and limitations are imposed. As in the case of CASEY he is weak therefore the leadership calls for weakening of issues and ideologies from the base instead of just finding a more suitable and appropriate candidate.
On the other hand in the case of Dean there was never any mention of suppression and oppression of issues and ideologies. In fact, there was an intrensic sharing and learning from each other since many where newbies.
For instance the labor guys and gals like SEIU opened all of our eyes to the world of labor. I remember one distinct blog entry from a feminist who was driving home and saw a picket line infront of a groecery store and said to herself “Those are my people” and she pulled over and asked how she could be of help. She admitted that before the Dean campaign picket lines and unions where invisible to her… now as an active Democrat they became “My people”.
This is what the faux notion of “Oppression for the Greater Good” ….keeps everyone invisible…
I too learned alot and cheered whenever I saw a picture of a beefy union guy standing next to gays, women, peirced kids and grandmothers at a rally. It was beautiful and Dean did not have to declare that they MUST get along nor did he ever say that in order to win… he would suppress the issues of certain groups…
That is why the DLC folks aimed both barrels at Dean… now they are in the process of taking over the blogosphere and spewing that same “SYFPH” crap…
Just woke up thinking about this fact: that there are few strong leaders.
Kathleen Blanco is going to Monroe to pray with evacuees. Meantime, the national guard is threatening to shut off supplies to New Orleanians.
Vacuous leadership can be deadly, as we have all witnessed from this tragedy.
I’m waiting for several to fill this vacuum, but when?
On the special interests, they formed because no one took up the mantle for them to begin with. It is weak leadership that led to others having to form groups to protect their interests, and I’m not speaking of corporate groups or corporate lobbyists.
Yup…
I truly don’t think that the American people can afford this bullshit anymore from the Republicans or the Democrats.
Call me ideologically pure… heh… so be it…meanwhile the ones that are pointing fingers are steadily protecting their single interest like corporations and war and fundalmentalism… unless they give uo their single issues I am keeping mine.
Thanks for taking the political side of this….I was trying to keep mine at the personal level. But we all know that personal is political.
Like you I will keep fighting for my single interest – human dignity.
Dean stands and points the barrels right back at their hypocrisy. Some creepy things hang out in the dark back rooms and his bright lights scare the bejeesus out of them.
In the different places of the blogosphere we are still refusing to STFU.
Here’s my question to those of you who still see hope for reform (in the way Parker describes it) of the democratic party:
If this was possible, wouldn’t it have already been done? What makes you think it is possible to reform this party apparatus?
I, for one, do not see this as a possibility in the near or the distant future. I am more interested in building something up that is new. Power systems in the two parties we currently “enjoy” are too intrenched — I see this reform movement as an excercise in banging our collective heads against a wall — how about something completely different?
If this was possible, wouldn’t it have already been done?
It is possible and was being accomplished until the DLC (along with the Clintons backroom shanigans) put a hit out on Dean.
The only thing stopping this from being accomplished is the DLC/NDN cronies…
Ok, I’ll take your word on that — so now what?
Hence my abject hatred for the DLC. All pretense should be removed that they are Democrats… they are not. They are embedded Republicans.
How is it that just seven Senators can hijack the entire Democratic congress and enforce THEIR will on the party. Nevermind LIEberman and his DLC refuse to uphold the Democratic paltform… but it is a wee bit hypocritical of charging that the Republicans are “royalists”, when elected Demcratic officials stage a coup d’etat.
So what good is it getting more so called Democrats elected if they are just going to vote with the Republicans… that to me is insane. We already have proof and yet we won’t do anything.
What can be done… First, expose the DLC and NDN as the Republican corporate toadies they are.
Second … find Real Democrats to run. Groups like DFA are already doing this [BTW… Armando’s crying about Ferrer he did not mention that Democracy for NYC(a DFA group)was not backing Ferrer but another candidate. So, there is no need to back the establishment Dem]. DFA is not the only group there other progressive groups out there who are not buying into the “Oppression for the Greater Good” lie.
But we also must be wary with the 50 States strategy FINALLY being enacted… the DLC and NDN will try and pawn off as many Repubocrats as possible like Massa… The DLC are already lining up their candidates and making sure that they are all stripped of issues and ideologies. (ACTUALLY THIS IS A DEAD GIVEAWAY THAT THEY ARE DLC/NDN)
It is a lie… that we will lose if we run real Democrats… we will lose no more than the dreadful showing of the DLC/NDN candidates… in fact I think a lot of voters are looking for those old values of the Democratic party hence the spectacular rise of Hackett… who is in fact just an ordinary Democrat… which is a rare bird no adays.
Thanks for the rpely Parker — I am always interested in what you have to say, you are much more poitically intelligent than I. I will pose the same question to you as I did to SallyCat:
I am still wondering though, in your opinion, what can the democratic party offer me (and independent and cynical person about politics in general)??
How will I be convinced, persuaded or otherwise fired up by your candidates? What’s different?
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate all of your efforts and good work, but I just wonder how the outreach to people like myself and others farther to the right is going?
I butted in and replied to your other post
Feingold’s Progressive Patriots Fund.
I’m with ya’ on all of this, but sadly I think the “centrists” <cough> are in the strongest position right now, and I think it may be a sad requirement that they be forced to lose a couple of more elections before we can pry their greedy little fingers off the levers of power. When you’re confronted by a DINO like Casey, don’t vote for that particular office.
See, this is what I’m talking about: why should I go vote, when all that will be on the ballot is these kinds of candidates?
I am not voting for the ‘safe’ candidate, I’m not voting for the republican, so what are my options? I really don’t see that I have any for the foreseeable future.
this especially makes sense at the state and local level. Not only does it give you someone to vote for but a left-leaning candidate can force the dems to give that ‘center position’ a decided left tilt.
I think we are going to have to call their bluff…
They intentionally put up these wretched candidates like Gray Davis, Kerry, Casey and if they lose they blame the base no matter.
They are playing chicken… they are waiting to see who is going to blink first… normally the base always blinks because of the noise…remember “the most important election in out lifetime”!11
Frankly, I think we are just going to have show some tough love and JUST SAY NO… standing firm one or two times will tell this leadership that we are serious and if a few candidates lose… we still don’t lose anything… Look at today, Bush is polling the worse ever and the Dems are STILL COMPLICIT in confirming Roberts… so we really have nothing to lose.
a start is to vote for just that one progressive, or two, who’re on your local ballot, leaving the rest blank.
I know, this is kind of empty advice, but it’s all I have. Sallycat is really much better at this than I am.
All of this is easy to say. I’m in Milwaukee: I have lots of progressives to support here. I don’t know what I’d do if I was in TX.
Actually I learned political action from my Mom and she lives in a suburb of Salt Lake City…an area that is as red as they come.
Lesson from Salt Lake Valley…patience and persistence is a virtue and the key to success.
Back in the mid-1970’s the city (in a few back room maneuvers at the planning commission) decided that the neighborhood where my mom lived was part of ‘an urban blight area’. The city was planning on changing an area that is about 1 1/2 miles long and about 4-6 blocks wide into business development. Most of the residents were 50-65 with kids mostly grown and gone. Seniors – easy pickings.
The blight designation would have lowered property values and changed zoning. Well…
A bunch of these folks decided they needed to ask for help…they asked friends, they asked their kids…
1- They challenged the decision at City council meetings
2- Mom and a few others showed up at every meeting with tape recorders in the front row.
3- Someone said call an attorney. One of the kids of these families new someone who called someone in the “president’s council on aging” at the time.
4- The whole plan got sent back to the planning commission
5- Being blight area all the neighbors got low interest, federally subsidized home improvement loans. ;^D
6- The neighbors formed “the west side action committee” (which still exists!)
7- Over the course of 10 years they unseated all but 1 city council member and ousted 2 different mayors
My mom turns 80 in a couple of months….she has some very not nice things to say about Bushco. She is a registered independent, pro-choice, devout Mormon.
Biggest kick…she still goes to city council meetings with a tape recorder…cane in hand.
IF we do nothing we lose. IF we try it will be hard but we will win.
That’s good advice in general. No matter what situation you’re in, have some kind of recorder – video or audio – on your person and active at all times when engaged in political activism. These days, archiving such recordings – audio especially – with computers is cheap and easy. You can store about 17 hours of recordings in a gigabyte at 128 kbps MP3 encoding. And you can probably double or triple that by using lower bitrates, as you don’t need near-CD-quality audio for voice. That means you can store 68 hours per DVD – probably several months’ worth of recordings.
Just be sure to name them clearly and take notes about the contents. Sifting through 68 hours of recordings to find one snippit to shut down a lawsuit or silence a smear is not fun.
I don’t understand this. Of course there are other candidates than the Republicans and the Democrats. Why must they be the only two parties under consideration?
I’m totally confused about what you’re saying because on the one hand you keep asking why you should vote for the Democrats when you don’t agree with them, but then you say there’s no other option. What is the problem with simply voting for, say, a Green Party candidate? Or a Socialist Workers Party candidate? There were at least a dozen organized parties with candidates in 2004.
Now I suppose in Texas there might be a problem with this because of your ballot access rules. For example, in Texas the rules for getting on the ballot make it harder for independents than for the major parties. And the Texas Democratic party opposed giving Ralph Nader ballot access in 2004, because they were trying to ram Kerry down everybody’s throat. Now whether you like Nader or not, you can’t really complain about there not being a candidate you like on the ballot if you support the party that fights ballot access for independents…
Elected politicans need to be reminded who gets them there….corporate money or 10,000, 100,000 or more small contributors. Corporate money may get them some advertisers but there is a voter attached to every small donation.
Supporting the grass roots reform and mobilization, building our own candidate base, fighting tooth and nail for the big tent to be real….yeah I still have faith in reform.
Ask me again in 2008….if we don’t make progress I may move to the mountains and become an enviromemtal survivalist.
All due respect, but isn’t after they have been elected too late to remind them of who got them there? I am trying my damdest to give a damn about democratic party politics but it is getting harder and harder with eveyr passing minute — I have already bailed on the dem. candidate for gov. (Chirs Bell) — his answers to my questions, complete with multiple references to the “new mainstream” just turned me off.
I am going with Kinky — other than that, I don’t even know how involved I’ll be for 2006 — I want to see some candidates that I can believe in.
I would love nothing better than to get rid of KB Hutchinson next year, but the dem. who is running against her, while seeming like a very sincere person and a nice lady, isn’t someone who I can get behind fully — and I am done voting without feeling that I am going to get at least a modicum of representation. Candidates this time around are really going to have to SHOW me.
I’m currently active trying to get a progressive elected for a state assembly seat.
The ‘preferred’ candidate by a lot of people originally was our Dem Central Committee chair. DINO in caps and bold and owned lock stock and barrel by real estate developers. Well…our local DFA has refused to endorse him. We didn’t even endorse him for a state Dem Comm position. We went out in mass and joined the local Assembly District Dem group…and voted him down for 2 state committee chairs.
We have to kick their asses out of the party at the local level. This guy is still running but is now at 30% in local polls instead of >45%. This is really what the hard work is…taking the party back at the beginning of cronyism. My local district you have to be a dem to get elected…so the rethugs register as democrats just to get noticed.
We are also partnering with our red county neighbors – providing support and manpower to walk their precincts, help their fund raisers. Reaching out to our neighbors in red areas….
Still trying….
From the bottom up — that sounds good to me.
I am still wondering though, in your opinion, what can the democratic party offer me (and independent and cynical person about politics in general)??
How will I be convinced, persuaded or otherwise fired up by your candidates? What’s different?
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate all of your efforts and good work, but I just wonder how the outreach to people like myself and others farther to the right is going?
If you like how the Democrats are voting now … then continue to support them. However, I see the rapid demise of the Democratic party a symptom of Democratic officials unwilling to represent the people who voted for them.
What is the difference… REPRESENTATION
Ok, that’s a bit general — point me to some condidates? I want to see what they are up to, actions, not words — what are they doing that will translate into the representation of ME.
i am being a bit hard-assed about this right now, becuase truely, if ya’ll can’t convince me, you don’t have a hope in hell of convincing many other independents…
Follow the links I have already posted in previous comments.
All thought REPRESENTATION is general it is the crux behid the issue-lee, ideology-less rhetoric… which is bascially saying work, pay for us to be elected but don-t expect represention… which is what we have now NO Representation in Washington DC
I live in Marin County CA – we vote >65% dem and had an >80% turn out of registered democrats in 2004.
Who are we and how did we do it?
Who are we? I’m probably very much like most of my neighbors. So – I’ve always been more independent than democrat. I preferred John Anderson in 1980 to the Dems – and voted accordingly. I’m fiscally conservative, libertarian in my beliefs about some government stuff – like corporate subsidies and tax reform, and very progressive when it comes to social programs. And as I’ll detail below – red meat eating, gun toting, and liberal. And yeah – sometimes I’m really conflicted and cynical.
How did we do it? *
-First we got pissed.
-Then we looked for an outlet…it started with the Dem Central Committee. We started ‘infiltrating’ after 2000. There are still a few from the dino crowd in the committee but now most people know there must be representation of all views when endorsements are made.
-Then we got Howard Dean. ;^)
Howard stood up and said we can have progressive values that mean that people are cared for and business doesn’t have to own politicians. A local DFA group was formed…and worked massively across the country in 2004.
-We lost 2004 nationally – then we got even more motivated. Instead of crawling into a cave and licking our wounds in December 2004 – we had 150 people showup for our meeting! We still average 50-60 people at every meeting.
-We took an initiative to change our own state first. While California votes blue because of the metro areas…geographically 75% or more of the counties are red. Rural counties.
-We formed a group that is now working with people that have the same values as we do…and believe in things that are generally deemed republican. Christian, meat eating, gun owning, liberals. Family values…and true christian values of caring for our neighbors.
*Will we win every election….probably not. *
*Will we shake up the status quo if we sit back and STFU…absolutely not.
Part of the whole premise here is do we speak up about our values or do we let someone else decide? We have chosen to stand up and be very loud and vocal about who we are and what we believe. We are fighting inside the system and on the streets. We write more letters than ever. We are finding and training our own candidates. It will be a tough few years yet…but we all believe in “we the people”.
Sorry about the wordy response, I get carried away sometimes….
when I remember to use it….
:^(
sounds like you’ve got a good thing going on there — so what are some examples of the candidates you are supporting? Do they have websites where I can go look at them?
Is DFA democracy for America? How are the moderate/centrist people once they are placed in office? I don’t think that they would really work for my interests….but I’d like to be proven wrong.
If I recall you are in Austin….check out the info at DFA in your area…I just googled DFA, Austin
It works for just about anywhere…it may take you to the original meetup.com sites – but links have been placed for most direct organizations now.
http://www.democracyfortexas.org/signup
We have one candidate that we are supporting and working for in a neighboring county. A novice that made a great showing as a write-in against an old money, longtime repub. http://www.jerrymcnerney.org/
A huge amount of our focus is defeating the special election propositions Schwarzenegger has on the November ballot.
Also checkout what we’ve been up to if you would like…
http://www.dfamarin.org/
Thanks, SC, I’ll go check these links out — and I actually have been invited to a few of these, encouraged by our own Janet Strange in fact, I just don’t know if I am ready to make a committment …maybe I am just more disillsioned with the whole system than I thought (and I thought that I was pretty disillusioned to begin with).
Trying to figure out where best to spend ones energies can be a real bitch!
😉
I gotta check out DFA Silicon Valley; noticed your guy was down here in August. Maybe that’s where I need to be to break myself out of this blue funk…and I’m sure my brother would appreciate it since he’s laid up on the sidelines till further notice…
In an age where money buys power, and everything is up for sale, including the electoral process itself, as well as the internal cabals within both parties, are we ever going to get a real “leader” elected even if we DID have one? (See Dean’s story. Big money insiders got rid of him pretty handily, didn’t they?)
Hells bells, even this Jesus fella himself would never make it past a primary in this fucked up system. No way. Not RICH enough, and I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t sell out his soul OR his followers, to win, either.
Face it. This system of government has become a mockery of a democracy. It’s a NeoTheoCorpocracy, and damned if I can see how we can ever reverse this in via traditional political strategies. I honestly think it will have to crash and burn under the weighted consequences of its own greed and unprincipled, even evil actions, and I think that is in process of happening as we speak.
I think things are going to get a whole LOT worse before they stand a flying chance of every being made better. I woke up with that (unwanted) conviction the morning after the last Presidential election and it’s only been reinforced every since.
No structure this top heavy, built solely on the shifting foundations of greed and abuse of power, cannot stand long before toppling over. I say let it. Each of us do what we proactively can to take care of our own and our neighbors, give up our dependencies on it, get to higher ground, and watch it go the hell down.
THEN is when it will be our time to step forward with the principled leaders we have so many of among us, that have been closed out of this sicko toxic system.
Meanwhile, it behooves each of us to so what AA calls a “searching and fearless moral inventory”..of what our real values are, and let go of false ones that have been crammed down our throats as “evidence of sucess”…that leave us scared shitless to leave jobs that are draining the life out of us and our family relationships. Time to take a good hard LOOK at how much material “stuff” we really need to feel good about who we are, and to have fulfilling relationships with those we love..etc.
Time to look at how fear driven we may really be, and how much of that fear is instilled by market forces and politicians who profit greatly FROM that fear?
Whew..this got away from me.
it has been proven to me many a time that your nom de blog is dead on accurate, and this post just adds to the evidience.
Thank goodness there is always someone around to say what I need to say!!
😉
Lots of us were pissed on November 3rd.
Lots of us decided to do something…fight fire with fire…come see what we did and are doing….
http://www.buyblue.org/about
The history link tells you about the beginnings and links you to the November 3rd DailyKos diary…that proved what the blogosphere could do. If you want to know who is doing this check out Board of Directors link…including me…
We hit the money guys in the pocket
We get our own candidates
We push back on the SYFPH attitudes…
Yes I believe we need to take down the disaster we have…but we need something to put in it’s place…
Okay…I’m really supposed to be doing work at the office today…back later…
SallyCat
Treasurer/Board Member
Buyblue.org
New site looks GREAT, Sally. I’ve been checking in with Buy Blue for along time..and have send the link to many. I can’t do much damage on my income, but I sure can influence many that can, and am doing it every change I get! Great work Sally..
My other person contribution to hurrying along the republican demise is in grabbing every chance I get to inform the still-sleepy voters within my grasp and environment, as to what they are NOT seeing on Fox news..:) Since I am now living in a “Senior Apartment” complex, I am not likely to run out of victims..oops..”subjects” very soon! (LOTs of very prim ‘n proper conservative ladies and some gents here, who clearly are NOT used to talking politics, but I’m working on that. (Luckily, I can still move faster than most of them, and have not suistained any bodily injuries ..yet.)
Hells bells, even this Jesus fella himself would never make it past a primary in this fucked up system. No way. Not RICH enough, and I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t sell out his soul OR his followers, to win, either.
Not only the money thing but all that long-haired peace love & happiness hippie stuff, and the guy was always hanging out with lepers and hookers. Can you even imagine what the GOP would do to poor Jesus if he ran today? They wouldn’t even let the man sit on the local school board.
Astute post, btw.
I’m almost reluctant to say this, but I believe that it’s probably in the best interests of the country that the Repubs retain control of congress and take the White house again in ’08.
The reasons I feel this way are pretty simple. Even if our current prominent Dems were to win the wingnut propaganda mill would blame them for everything, especially for those problems caused by the Bush regime. And because our current crop of Dem leaders are political cowards willing to sell out any principle in order to advance their own ambition, they would, (in response to this hammering from the right), capitulate to the Repub agenda, just like they’ve already been doing for the last 4 years.
The other thing I think is relevant is that, IMHO, not enough members of the public yet understand the magnitude of the destruction wrought upon the nation and the world by the Bush regime. If the nation as a whole is to begin to change direction in a meaningful way, more people have to understand that the Repubs own the disaster they’ve created, lock ,stock and barrel; That cowardly Dems were complicit in advancing this destruction, but that the Repubs have the sole claim on it’s architecture and planning.
As for the DLC and their various incarnations, we should start a movement to make them give up the word Democratic in their name and force them to form their own party outside the Democratic party structure. They need another series of crushing defeats in the next election cycles too in order that enough real Democrats will finally realize that they are just as much of an opponent to Democratic party strengths and principles as the Repubs are.
I agree vote for real Democratic progressives… and leave the other ballots blank.
all this talk of choosing between a dlc dino and leaving the ballot blank isn’t something i like to think about, and i’ll deal with it when the time comes. in the meantime, it’s important to get good candidates to run good campaigns so they can beat the bad candidates in the primaries. but you’re right, the corporate dems are a serious problem, and it is why the primaries are just as important as the general election–we want a real choice, not republican vs. republican vs. throwaway vote.
Dead-on. First priority should be primaries – get good Democratic candidates onto ballots everywhere for everything. Work locally, recruit others in your area, etc. Only if the local party leadership forces a DLC candidate onto the ballot (or, by some miracle, one actually wins an open, honest primary) should you not vote. This ensures that the message you send is “This candidate is unacceptable”.
Encourage others to do the same thing. Work with in the system, don’t try to game it with bullshit self-destructive strategies.
I agree with both you Egarwaen and Snappy above. My basic point above is that we’re better served by voting for those who do represent our ideals and principles even if they lose than we are voting for the sellouts just because of the “D” next to their name.
Voting against our principles by supporting DLC types will only help the Repubs because it will allow them to keep moving the so-called “center” even further to the right.
Obviously I’d prefer the good candidates to win. But even if they lose, I’d rather see the Repubs beating them than turncoat Dems who’s “go along to get along” complicity with the Repub agenda would almost certainly set the Democratic Party back even further than it already is.
broke the 1 diary limit rule just to attack booman. He broke the spirit of this rule yesterday, by wasting diary space on a personal gruge. This cop has not been banned. One reason I believe they are dlc is because of their reeking elitism.
It’s pretty obvious that they are at this point. Let’s review the evidence, shall we? Supported Kerry. Supported Gephardt. Supports Rosenburg. Against reproductive rights. Against gay marriage. Against anti-war activism. Against blacks (refusal to acknowledge vote fraud investigation in primarily black districts, if nothing else).
Walks like a duck, quacks like a duck…
refusal to acknowledge vote fraud investigation in primarily black districts
Ding, ding, ding, ding…
I am stupid I hadn’t made that connection… I just thought they were trying to cover up the Diebold… so that ht DLC can use it later.
But now that you say this it is even more sinister than I realize.
Voting Fraud + Disenfranchisment of African American Voters = Renewal of Voting Rights Act in 2007
By investigating and proving voting fraud in 2004 would be the silver bullet in killing any attempts to NOT renew the voting Rights Act.
Which I see these Dems capitulating on… just as they are capitulating on SCOTUS.
It’s important that ‘they’ attack those single issue people… [snark
I guess congratulations are in order for Booman! You’ve made it to the single issue category. Booman Tribune has a single issue from my perspective – give people a voice…and that’s why we are!
This is why you should never apologize to a Jackel.