Ah yes, the fabled liberal netroots. Whatever else “we” are, the most important thing we represent to the Democratic party is a constant source of “free” money in the form of contributions. Contributions to Presidential candidates, to various Senators and Representatives’ Political Action Committees, to the DNC, the DCCC, the DSCC and to individual candidates. I should know. Half my spam these days comes from Democratic politicians requesting my credit card number, or my check, preferably in an amount larger than $100. True, it does get worse during an election year, but since 2008 is the “big one” with the Presidency up for grabs, the calls for cash have started earlier and earlier.
Now, why do I call it “free” money? It certainly isn’t free to you or me. But it is “free” to those who receive our contributions because they come with “no strings attached.” We aren’t corporate lobbyists who can take possession of a Congress person’s ear hole anytime they want. We aren’t “fat cat” donors or Hollywood celebrities like Barbara Streisand, who can call up their favorite Senator (or two, or three) whenever they feel like it and demand that their voice be heard on whatever is their pet issue of the moment.
No, we are the free money people. Our emails receive automated replies, not personal ones. Our phone calls get stuck in easily deleted voice mail caches, or if we’re lucky, half listened to by some young staffer who probably thinks what we have to say is a big fat waste of his or her time. And the reason is because we can’t contribute enough money in our pay to play political system to earn us any real access.
Which is why, despite our millions of votes for Democrats last Fall, our activism on behalf of Democrats, and our millions of dollars of contributions, no one in the Democratic Party bothered to listen to us last week when the Democrats unilaterally surrendered to President Bush on the funding for the war in Iraq.
The single biggest reason Democrats won control of the House and Senate was their pledge to change the direction of the war in Iraq. Well, they didn’t change it, Bush did with his “surge” plan which is now killing more American soldiers each month even as there is no let up (so far as we can tell from censored media reports) in the levels of death and destruction which the Iraqi people are continuing to endure.
The Democrats gleefully took our money. They gladly accepted our volunteer efforts. And they rejoiced in our votes which gave them control of both houses of Congress for the first time in over a decade. Then they slapped us in the face, told us to shut up, and tried to make lemonade out of the bags of stale urine they dumped on our heads after they voted to give Bush every damn thing he wanted without a single relevant concession on his part.
Okay, that’s fine. Nobody said politics wasn’t a dirty game. But no one said we have to keep paying for being mistreated and abused by the party that putatively represents our interests, either. So here’s my recommendation to you:
STOP SENDING DEMS YOUR MONEY!
I mean it. Stop all contributions. And after you do, send them emails or call them on the phone and tell them you will no longer contribute to any Democrat or Democratic organization or political action committee, ad nauseam, until they stop funding the Iraq war. That’s what I am going to do with respect to the Democratic National Committee, the only Democratic organization I contribute to on a regular (i.e., monthly basis). I send them a monthly amount via my credit card every month. But no more.
Look, I understand that Democrats can’t get much of their agenda, if anything, passed so long as George Bush can veto their legislation. They can’t pas universal health care, for example, or a bill to start limiting our use of fossil fuels by putting caps on carbon emissions. They don’t have the votes to override a veto by Bush. So I won’t hold them accountable for not passing much needed progressive legislation.
But funding the Iraq war doesn’t require passing legislation. All it requires is NOT PASSING a BILL to FUND the WAR in IRAQ. Or keep sending the same bill back to Bush which mandates a withdrawal of US troops and make him blink first. But they couldn’t do that, despite the fact that 70% of Americans disapprove of both Bush and his handling of the Iraq War.
So let them drink tea and eat cake without my hard earned dollars paying for their privileges. And without yours, and yours, and yours … etc. Because maybe then they’ll finally take us seriously and pay attention when we tell them to:
SUPPORT THE TROOPS — BRING THEM HOME. NOW!
Period. End of discussion.
Thanks for this, Steven!
The last couple of weeks have been disillusioning and draining energy. They will not listen to our voices, maybe the purse is the only way to get attention.
Unprincipled bastards!
I’m tired of being an enabler.
It is also interesting that the politicians are will to accept our money regardless of where we live, but if we want to express our opinions — sorry — you’re not in my district.
really excellent point. They won’t even take your message unless you give an address.
Makes you wonder what is really more powerful. Well, maybe we don’t need to wonder.
Now also posted at My Left Wing
Time do drop party affiliation and go independent, too. It’s time the 2 party system REALLY gets a shakeup. Perot tried it, even though he was not much of an alternative. The only thing that is going to unplug the system is for the parties to lose their registrants.
You are absolutely right that we have to get the Dems to move on the war and that we need to stop enabling them, but I’m not ready to give them a pass on othe progressive legislation. Propose it. Let the Repubs go on record. Lather, Rinse. Repeat.
Right now we have Dems supporting subsidies for coal mines in energy legislation, guest workers (aka indentured servants)in the immigration bill, and the Bush administration as the enforcer of labor standards in the proposed trade bill.
They are flipping us the big old bird and telling us to shut up and keep sending dough.
I should have been more clear. I’m giving them a pass on getting such legislation turned into law, not on proposing and voting on it.
Thank you Steven.
I am considering changing my voter registration, which I felt valuable to be able to participate in the primaries, to Independent. Maybe then I will get “wooed” by the Dems and they will ask me what I want.
So, do you think a large number of registered Democrats changing their party affiliation might get noticed?
Can I propose a different strategy? Don’t fund the party organizations, and don’t fund folks who showed no courage last week. But what’s the justification for defunding politicians who stood up and tried to do the right thing last week?
Also, btw, never email a member of Congress; those get deleted. Always call on the phone, and wait until you find a live person. That does get attention.
How do you know they get deleted?
I was under the impression that postal letters are delayed because they’re just too scary and need to go through security, but emails are delivered. Probably not read, but certainly counted. I heard one Congressperson say that she received 1500 emails opposing the immigration bill last week.
You’re right – talking to a live human is far superior, but that will only lead to a check mark under a Y or N as well.
What I mean is “when they come in batches, they can get deleted without really being read.”
Phone calls get counted, and they take up time to respond to.
Excellent post, and too true.
“Loyal” party members are party members who can be safely ignored. If you forget that the party is a means to an end, then you become a means to the party’s ends yourself.
I think what we need are some PACs of our own. It may be that there are some existing PACs we can work with — MoveOn, perhaps — but if not, we should form one. It’s sad that things have gotten to the point that our votes count for less than our dollars, but if that’s the reality, then the only way we are going to get tit-for-tat like the big boys is to start acting like the big boys.
And by God, make party primaries your first priority. We can’t bitch about the lackluster choices we’re presented in the general election if we don’t participate in the process that creates those choices.
Yep, I believe that we all feel this way, Steven. I send mine directly to candidates that I support. I haven’t given to the DNC in a while now.
If we want our pocketbooks to speak, let’s organize those pennies into an in-your-face statement.
How about a netroots day or week where the community as a whole, (ok herding cats here) opts out for funding Dems BUT with an accompanying statement to DNC stating why. With the huge amount of organizational work this blog and others in the top tier have done and the following you have – hey, let’s work together for the common good.
I wish the top tier blogs would organize such a movement, but I think its unlikely that Kos, Atrios, Aravois etc. are going to back an initiative that reduces their access to the Dem party regulars. Quite the contrary.
My personal following is limited. However, I will post this at My Left Wing as well. Every little bit helps. If I still posted at Kos, this diary would probably get me banned, lol.
Well wadya know? Yes Virginia!!!!!!! About time. The dems have earned only one thing — our disgust!!!!!
Unless and until they decide to get the message– NOT A DIME!
Apparantly that is the only language they know. What a bloody tragedy. Sure, the goopers will have a ball but screw them. They serve not a single one of us. It is our responsibility to take back the party or as I have been screaming- form a new party!
Perhaps a reminder to Kos, wasn’t he the one who pointed out to Dem leadership just how much $ the netroots had contributed and declared ‘we own you’?
The point would be to be proactive, not approaching them to bully them (thought I’d like to). We reward strength; we are asking on behalf of a common good – it would not surprise me if this was well coordinated that the idea of withholding funds would spread outside of the blogs – people are so frustrated and voiceless that if given this option it could create a groundswell. That would be why it would be important to put this in context of a specific time frame.
There’s alot of battles yet to come, and so far each battle netroots have participated in, we’ve become better and stronger. While it’s engaging to think of doing this we have to be power smart not power stupid.
It might help with we emailed the link for this diary to the committees:
info@dscc.org
info@dccc.org
info@dnc.com
it would let them know we are really unhappy.
at the risk of getting flamed, I think it is a pity we could no pull off the don’t buy gas day. I really do think it would have had an impact.
or maybe targeting one of the companies for a sustained boycott, Exxon perhaps.
the thing is there is nothing between now and Nov 2008 where we can have a say, except for direct action protests.
the Free South Africa movement had a lot of success with this sort of thing.
We couldn’t pull it off because it was ridiculous. Buying your gas a day earlier or a day later hurts no one’s bottom line.
calvin feels as if he is constantly being hounded by phone calls from various entities connected to Dems and being asked to contribute. Yes, it is “free” money because we don’t have enough to give to even get a nibble around the table. And, then you have the DSCC and DCCC who support candidates based on “inside-the-beltway” mentality rather than local district sensibilities. But, remember that Main Street GOPers are in the same position. It’s a game for the rich who want more. Perhaps, in reality, there is only one party. A party we would like to be a member of, but probably never will be. That would be: The Money Party.
BTW, as far as a gas boycott goes, the only thing that would work, IMO, is if ALL of America got on board an stopped buying from certain vendors. i.e. ExxonMobil. Eventually, they would have to drop their price.
The only thing politicians like better than campaign donations are tax dollars. Threaten campaign cash, they’ll just sell out to other donors. Threaten tax income, they’ll do what the people want.
stop paying taxes and they will throw you in jail.
And to quote Thoreau to Emerson upon his enprisonment for tax evasion in protest of an unjust War, you could say to the rest of the whining Dems, ‘Waldo, What are you doing out there?‘
Or just blog into the abyss.
I guess there is a reason the President never asked us to sacrifice.
I will continue to contribute to supporting the 50-state strategy, but will give nothing to the DCCC and DSCC.
The 50-state strategy has the promise of loosening the Republican grip on a number of states, which will give some of the more cowardly Democrats (Bob Etheridge and Mike McIntyre, for example) greater confidence.
Unless you are going to go full bore creating a third-party infrastructure from scratch, completely defunding Democrats is shooting yourself in the foot.
Rahm Emanuel, Charles Schumer, Harry Reid, Steny Hoyer, and Nancy Pelosi must get the message. Howard Dean continues to need our support.
and the anti-Illuminati crowd are endorsing Ron Paul.
I knew this would happen from Pelosi’s “thank you letter” three days after the election as she outlined the new Democratic agenda. I still love it when I’m right.
The other really karmically fitting thing we should all note here is the other diary next to this one is about Cindy Sheehan giving up. Coming to the realization that politics is just another business and nothing more.