If Democrats sweep Congress this year, it will be the first time in history that Democrats will have a congressional majority without also having a majority of congressional seats in the south. In the post-election aftermath, we will also have an opportunity to shift the center of political discussion in this country significantly to the left. If the coming Democratic landslide is accurately recognized as largely originating from the netroots and the progressive movement, Republicans of all stripes will, at least briefly, try to team up with LieberDems. If Joe Lieberman thus becomes to icon of the American right-wing, the center of political discourse in this country will have dramatically shifted in just six years. From 1990-2000, people like Joe Lieberman were supposed to be the savior of the American left, or so we were told.
Perhaps because it is happening so quickly, I am not sure if people realize how much a post- New Deal, post-Dixiecrat, and post-DLC Democratic majority would represent a significant shift in power in this country. I am not sure if I grasp it yet either, but I think it would represent the first real break with conservatism this country has seen since the days of FDR. No matter how much further the progressive movement would still need to travel, a Democratic victory on November 7th would be no small event in the history of our movement or the history of our country.
Discuss.
whose main purpose in life seems to be making sure dems are slightly to the right. DLC for instance, spends a huge amount of time trying to convince dems to run on repub issues and ignore what have been strong winning issues for dems. And guess what, we lost using that theory and using spin meisters who opted for that route. Lost and lost big. And our country lost and lost big. Let us face it, as repub stand ins we were viewed, and rightly so, like margarine.
Now Jane Doe is po’d at Hastert cause she doesn’t think that the old man gets how very like the ding dong priest in the parish Foley was. But is she likely to like progressive values? But did she like war either? Did she like having torture be part of the US’s tool kit for dealing with other folks? Her husband probably did like it, but I bet she was always a little queasy about the topic.
If Pelosi would expand her 100 hour thing to include some kind of protection from sexual predator, I bet Jane Doe would love it. Maybe some kind of tracking device or some kind of tougher law since the internet is cross borders and could be viewed as Federal territory.
Now Jane Doe is po’d at Hastert cause she doesn’t think that the old man gets how very like the ding dong priest in the parish Foley was. But is she likely to like progressive values
What Jane Does really will become politically really is a if not the critical issue for the future. Do conservative women actually like being second class citizens and having their bodily functions being controlled by white, hypocritical protestant/catholic men, or is it just something they were born into and have not thought a lot about??
When the Dems sweep this women’s reproductive freedom issue under the rug to become repub-like, they do not work to teach all women, even these previous conservative women, about what is really going on and happening to their rights. This is why Dems are where they are now without a clear overwhelming majority of women supporting them. It should and could be different, however. With a strong campaign and otherwise education effort about the issue of women’s freedom to control their own bodies and destinies and just what pro-choice really means, I believe a huge majority of women voters, including these Jane Doe ? conservatives, could become democrats on this one issue alone and end this seemingly endless fight over whether to go backwards or forward on women’s freedom issues.
as part of the dem ideal is like throwing out civil rights. And they have done both to some extent. The whole attack on affirmative action by the right was all about racism. The whole attack on women’s productive rights is all about sexism. The most vocal opponents of reproductive rights are probably the biggest consumers of viagra!
Is the DLC trying to “margerinize” us?
IF we sweep BOTH the House and Senate, conservatives will still control…
-White House
-Supreme Court
-just less than 50% of seats in Congress
-90%+ of broadcast and print media in the US
-90%+ of the wealth/capital in the US.
That doesn’t look like any type of real break in conservatism to me.
If the Dems take Congress, don’t count on the White House staying Republican until January 2009.
If we get the White House and Congress the Conservatives still have…
-Supreme Court
-just less than 50% of seats in Congress
-90%+ of broadcast and print media in the US
-90%+ of the wealth/capital in the US.
This is primarily a comment directed at those who are proclaiming the death of neo-conservativism and writing premature obituaries for neo-conservatives. It’s a ridiculous assertion.
In actuality, IF the Democratic Party reclaims control of both houses of Congress, then moderates and progressives will have gotten a small foothold in the US Government power stucture. Nothing more.
Well, that would beat a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, as my Midwestern relatives are wont to say…
90%+ of broadcast and print media in the US
That should be an important issue when and if we retake power in Washington. Things really started going downhill after the Fairness Doctrine went away, and the concentration of ownership of the media into fewer and fewer hands has been a disaster for our democracy.
Make sure we have good people at all levels of government so we don’t end up with a calcified unresponsive majority in 10 or 12 or 20 years or whatever.
Remember, we have the power! It’s ours to give, ours to share.