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I originally wrote the post below…now slightly edited…in response to a series of kneejerk downratings and hostile posts (To the point of zeroing out some comments) by the cadre of neocentrist posters here who equate opposition to their rightward drift with something like treason. Go here to see it in context if you so desire.
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Several quite legitimate posters here…and myself as well…have been repeatedly accused by neo-centrist DemocRat types on this site of being…oh, I don’t know….try:
Putin Puppets
Pro-Trump agitators
Totally insane and/or on some kinds of drugs
Etc., etc., etc., ad hominem, ad libitum and ad nauseum.
They kneejerk downrate…to the point of zeroing out if possible…perfectly serious arguments that we have made against the state of the Democratic Party and against their own tactics, which mimic those of the DNC used against Bernie Sanders only on a much smaller scale.
Because a number of us do not agree with their version of the world, we simply must be pro-Putin, pro-Trump apologists, insane or under the influence of drugs…two-diminsional thought at its stick figure worst.
Get real.
A good measure of how far right the Democratic Party has drifted is that many of its howling so-called centrist adherents use arguments that…with a slight change of names…could very easily be attributed to Joe McCarthy.
Nice.
This is how the Party ends.
Not with a bang but a whimper.
Y’all have convinced me.
I am out of NYC at the moment, but as soon as I get back I am going to find a way to work for Bernie Sanders. You people are beyond belief.
Read what Bernie has to say:
Read this and weep, if you still remember how to cry.
Bernie Sanders: To reform the party, Democrats must split from corporate America
—snip—
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has a clear message and strategy to help mend the wounds that have left the Democratic Party divided. After months of polling as the nation’s most popular politician, he should be taken more seriously — even as an outsider.
Sanders began with a strong rebuke of President Donald Trump and everything that Trump’s policies and rhetoric stand for. But that’s a given to a party at a crossroads, facing the question of what’s next.
So far, Sanders – who is technically an independent — and the Democrats have been on the same page with this message. But the two factions diverge when Sanders talks about reform from within the party. Scan “Resistance” on Twitter, and you’re apt to find thousands of accounts who believe that Sanders hurt Clinton’s chances for victory.
—snip—
Sanders praised the Democratic victories across the United States on Tuesday and said it was “an important first step in pushing back against Trump’s radical agenda.”
“But this will not happen without an effective opposition party,” Sanders continued. He went on to argue that, despite the victories, “the longer-term trend for the Democratic Party is worrisome.”
There’s plenty of merit to that claim, even if many don’t want to believe it to be true. Only 37 percent of Americans hold a favorable view of the Democratic Party, a new CNN poll revealed. It’s the lowest mark for the party in more than 25 years of polling. A majority, 54 percent, said they had an unfavorable view of the party. Note that Sen. Sanders is far more popular than the Democratic Party at large: in an October Harvard-Harris poll, 53 percent of those polled had a favorable opinion of Sanders. That sounds low, but he was still the most well-liked politician by far: Mike Pence had 45 percent favorability, Trump polled at 41 percent and Hillary Clinton 39.
Sanders pointed out how the party’s power and influence across the country has vastly diminished since 2009, including the loss of “more than 1,000 seats in state legislatures across the country.”
Citing tax reform and repeated health care failures, Sanders wrote that what’s most “absurd about this situation is that the American people strongly oppose almost all elements of the Trump-Republican agenda.”
Sanders argued that “the [Democratic] party cannot remain an institution largely dominated by the wealthy and inside-the-Beltway consultants.”
He added, “It must open its doors and welcome into its ranks millions of working people and young people who desperately want to be involved in determining the future of our nation.”To reform the party, Sanders said, “First, it is absurd that the Democratic Party now gives over 700 superdelegates–almost one-third the number a presidential candidate needs to win the nomination–the power to control the nominating process and ignore the will of voters.”
Second, he argued that the Democrats stand for “making voting easier, not harder,” and that it “must apply to our primaries.”
“Our job must be to reach out to independents and to young people and bring them into the Democratic Party process. Independent voters are critical to general election victories. Locking them out of primaries is a pathway to failure,” Sanders wrote.
But perhaps his final point is the toughest for many to finally come to terms with.
“If we are to succeed,” Sanders wrote, “we must fully appreciate [Donna] Brazile’s revelations and understand the need for far more transparency in the financial and policy workings of the Democratic Party.” He added, “Hundreds of millions of dollars flow in and out of the Democratic National Committee with little to no accountability. That simply is not acceptable.”
The “revelations” in question referred to former interim Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairwoman Donna Brazile, wrote last week that the DNC had an “unethical” agreement in place that put the Clinton campaign in charge of directing the party’s funds, staffing and overall strategy long before she had won the primary.—snip—
There it is.
Deal with it….and not by throwing ridiculous aspersions of pro-Putin, pro-Trump sentiments around.
As I said, I am going to work for Sanders, even if it means that he will eventually be forced to split from the party and start a new one…an action that would most likely doom the Democratic Party to total defeat. If that happens, so be it. I am through dealing with yellow dogs. (Google “yellow dog democrat definition” for the link to the definition below).) I do not want that to happen, but if it is the only way to tear the blinders from the eyes of so many well-meaning Democrats and other U.S. citizens, so be it. We need some sort of revolution here, not another bout of weak-kneed moderates getting their asses kicked by the vicious corporate interests that are now in total control of both parties..
yel·low dog
noun NORTH AMERICAN informal
adjective: yellow dog Democrat
1.
a contemptible or cowardly person or thing.
2.
a person who is inclined to support any candidate affiliated with the Democratic party, regardless of the candidate’s personal qualities or political qualifications.
Look in the mirror, centrists. Look in the mirror and then wake the fuck up before your beloved party is so far ’round the coporate bend that it is totally unsalvageable.
If of course that hasn’t happened already.
How will we know if it’s already too late?
We’ll know by the treatment that Bernie Sanders and his supporters get over the next year or so.
So far? After the recent DNC centrist putsch?
Things aren’t looking very good.
Are they.
AG
