Democrats Anonymous--A Recovery Group for the Disillusioned

[Demeter]

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_mark_e___060411_democrats_anonymous.htm


Democrats Anonymous

By Mark E. Smith

I'm sorry, but you can't take back the Democratic Party. It wasn't given away, it was sold. If you want the Democratic Party back, you'll have to buy it back. And since they're used to getting millions of dollars for a single election, it would take quite a bit to buy back the entire party. You'd have to compete with multinational corporations, defense contractors, unions, PACs, and local Democratic Party machines.

Besides, why would you want it back? What has it done for you lately besides pushing through GATT, voting for NAFTA, forcing poor single mothers off welfare, voting for war, voting for tax cuts for the rich, refusing to back a single-payer health plan, and consistently acting in a collegial and bipartisan manner to let the Republicans walk all over them "for the good of the country?"

Do you want it back because it refused to back the Congressional Black Caucus when it tried to protest the fraudulent Florida electoral votes in 2000? Do you want it back because it refused to ensure that our votes were counted in 2004? Do you want it back because John Conyers and Maxine Waters had the courage to carry our signatures to the White House and stand outside the gates like every other citizen while the White House staff discarded the unwelcome petition before Bush or Cheney could see it and get mad?

We're not going to take this country back by voting for entrenched, vested interests and the status quo. If you have a conscience, it is high time you stopped voting your party or your wallet and started voting your conscience.

If you don't have a conscience, you've got plenty of company -- the Democratic Party doesn't either.

http://rossini.funpic.de
Mark is an election reform activist and Green Party member in San Diego

PROVOCATIVE READING--THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME?

[Virginia Dare]

1. kicked...n/t

[Skinner]

2. LOL

"We're not going to take this country back by voting for entrenched, vested interests and the status quo. If you have a conscience, it is high time you stopped voting your party or your wallet and started voting your conscience."

So, join the Green Party! With your combined 0.5% of the vote, you're bound to "take this country back" in no time. :thumbsup:

[WhiteTara]

17. or give it to the repukes

like you did in 2000.
:banghead:

[the other one]

3. Right On...but the folks here won't admit it...they also won't admit

that the democrats are to the left what the republicans are to the right. We at DU say "I told you so" when the fundies wonder why their precious Bush administration doesn't come through, but that is exactly what we have seen from the Dems: they appeal to blacks, to gays, to unions, to a whole host of interests which make up those of us who aren't republican. They use these groups to help them get into office, but once their they become Republican Lite - far more concerned with not offending the right than actually doing something for the left.

This election cycle should give you a perfect picture. Instead of bringing the fight to a wounded and unpopular president the Dems choose to let the Reps. self destruct. The advantage is this: If the Dems win by default they will have no obligation whatsoever to remember anyone who helped them win because they would have won anyway. Cynical? Definitely. But that doesn't make me wrong.

[quiet.american]

4. I will vote Dem in 2006 to give John Conyers, et al. subpoena power

I want to see the day when Bush and Co. will not be able to slink away from testifying under oath.

[Festivito]

5. We need to decide between being ruled by corporations or ourselves.

But, the vote is currently between:
Corporate Corrupt CONs, versus,
Corporate Lite Libs, or,
Corporate Vote Drain Alts (Paid for by CCCs).

I don't want Corporations to rule us and our future generations.
At the moment I have to vote for lighter corporate control and not drain my vote into the CCC.

[lostnfound]

6. Give more attention to the Democratic primaries instead

Put effort into making sure that people like Ciro Rodriguez don't get removed from Congress by the likes of the DINO Henry Cuellar, a former cabinet member of Republican governor Rick Perry.

[loyalsister]

18. Exactly

I sympathize with the frustrations expressed here and in the article, however I also recognize the need to be practicle.

We should get in on the congressional primaries and expecially primaries for candidates running at the state level.
Watch where they get their money, where they have worked in the past, etc. That is where we cut the corporatist careers short.
Dialogue within the party will be much more effective than third party candidacies.

One thing we should remember is that there is considerable variety in our population. I believe that certain regional representation is an American reality that should be respected.

This is where I differ from the absolutist views that some take from the farthest points on the left.

However, I do believe that some consensus should exist in terms of principles as they compete for the votes of DEMOCRATIC voters that have elected or donated- rather than chase the votes of people who haven't, and probably won't ever vote for them.

Loyalty cuts both ways. We deserve loyal representation for votes + donations.
When we allow that loyalty to be traded to the corporations and lobbyists for future big money support, we are negligent.

It is our responsibility to hold them accountable as early in their careers as possible.

[Notoverit]

7. A Green complaining about the 2000 election? "Flip a coin" Nader

Other than that...

[dpbrown]

8. How nice for comfortable cynics to condemn real people to pain

...just so they can bash Democrats. Dennis Kucinich is a Democrat. John Conyers is a Democrat. Russ Feingold is a Democrat. Paul Wellstone was a Democrat before he assassinatedkilled in a plane crash.

A political party that can't win an election can't change people's lives for the better.

Democrats make peoples' lives better every day. And they will do more when more are elected.

[blindpig]

9. You mention three who are fighting the good fight,

where the hell are the rest of them? Without the support of their colleagues they might as well be window dressing(not dissing them but the party).

[dpbrown]

10. Three elected Democrats do more good than all unelected ones

There are thousands more like them at every level of government. In Minnesota, Keith Ellison is running for Martin Sabo's House seat. Becky Lourey is running for Governor.

It is the height of schadenfreude to berate a party for some of its members while clinging to the precepts of a party that at best deprives people of the good that elected Democrats could do by playing spoiler.

[blindpig]

11. Some of its members?

How about most of its Congresspersons, Senators and leadership?

Doesn't look like the party of the New Deal to me.

[dpbrown]

12. Cynics don't help people. Democrats do.

Gripe, gripe, gripe but don't campaign for and elect good Democrats, or work to create a constituency that supports progressive Democratic candidates, and you're part of the problem, and not part of the solution.

Trying to chip more Democrats off to support the fledgling efforts of the Green Party just works to continue to split the Democrats and give the DLC types more control over the party - the opposite result to what the Green Party supposedly says it stands for.

Keep telling Democrats the Democratic Party sucks and watch the Republicans and the DLC turn the nation even further to the fringe as some Democrats quit voting and some go "Green" (but not enough to actually elect someone).

[blindpig]

13. Really? Show me.

If that were the case they'd be balls to the wall pushing UHC. It is absolutely necessary and would be a guaranteed vote getter. Yet they dither, so as to not piss off the corporate masters.

Who said I was a Green?

[dpbrown]

14. Life doesn't happen according to your specifications

If you can't see the good that good politicians are doing, then your moniker is appropriate.

[geniph]

15. Oh for crying out loud

Gee, just what we need - more "there's no difference between the two parties" rhetoric. Didn't we learn the folly of this particular argument in 2000? Can anyone really look at what Bill Clinton - a centrist DLC Democrat - and the Shrub have done in their respective terms of office and tell me with a straight face that THEY ARE NO DIFFERENT?

Yes, I'd like to push the party to a more progressive stance on a lot of issues. I happen to believe the way to do that is campaign finance reform, not tilting at the windmill of Green candidates out of spite.

When the Greens can consistently win election to school boards, city councils, county councils, state legislatures, then I'll think about voting for them for national offices. When I see that they have grassroots legislative district organizations that get boots on the ground to doorbell and hand out literature, I'll take them seriously. When I see them nominate candidates who've spent their time in the local electoral trenches and who have some idea of how to actually run a campaign, then I'll consider changing my party affiliation. Until those things happen, all the Greens have is a nice party platform.

Goddammit, I consider myself a Green at heart. But I will do NOTHING that keeps Republicans in power, and voting against Democrats in quixotic attempts to "send a message" does just exactly that. Build a local organization first! Get your candidates in local offices first! YOU DON'T START AT THE TOP.

[Post]

16. How about a laugh, This organization booked the WRONG Jon Stewart

Pretty funny: http://postanapology.blogspot.com/2006/04/sorry-for-booking-wrong-jon-stewart.html#links