Can we at least keep the "reaching across the aisle" thing out of the Inaugural concert lineups?

[Ken Burch]

We damn well deserve to at least have progressive things happen there.

Middle of the road or apolitical acts couldn't be worth having.

And we damn well don't want anybody who played at the Reagan or either Bush inaugurals.

[Sebastian Doyle]

1. Awww... no Toby Keith/Ted Nugent/Sammy Hagar jam session?

[Ken Burch]

5. No Kid Rock/Hank Williams Jr. duets either.

Especially since their bar tabs would triple the national debt.

[KoKo]

2. I don't think "Progressive Lefties" are important to Dem Inauguration...

because they are not important to the future of the Democratic Party in the view of Dem Party "Insiders."

It's pretty evident that over the past 15 or so years that the "Left of Dem Party" is not to be catered to...but to be promoted to GROW. Somewhere down the LINE they are going to need US...but not yet.

:rofl:

[stillcool]

3. I think it's that whole...

President of the "United States" thing..or at least an attempt to try it. You know, in my little world..we have oodles of Dems, and we live in a state that has gay marriage, but somehow I don't think anyone I know is fit to wear the 'progressive' label.

[Ken Burch]

4. We're supposed to represent the people the other side left out in the cold

not KEEP them out in the cold.

[stillcool]

11. You represent whoever you want...

I only have one voice and it represents me. There is no us and them. We human beings are all the same. Short-circuiting the brain happens all the time, and people have the capacity to see the world in a completely different way.

[Ken Burch]

6. The problem is, you still think progressives are in a hopeless minority

Your mindset, if your posts here are an accurate reflection, appears to be "we have to shut up, we have to know our place, we have no right to expect anything, we don't matter". We can't afford to let ourselves psych ourselves out like that.

It's just as American to be a progressive or a leftist as it is to be anything else.

Face it, the people DON'T have us anymore. The "mainstream" is no longer 10 degrees right of center. If it ever actually was.

[stillcool]

7. You have no idea what I think...

so let me tell you. I don't subscribe to any label. When I am angered, or take issue with someone, or something my government/the media/a friend/a family member has done, I call, I email, and I write letters. Not good enough to be a "Progressive", but it's what I do to attempt to kick the can down the street. I speak "my" mind, not anyone elses. I changed my registration to "unaffiliated" after the Alito vote.. however when I volunteered to work at the Democratic Headquarters I was more than welcome. Imagine that? I am not "Main Stream" and never have been. By accident of birth, I was a motherless and fatherless child. I have never belonged to a tribe, of any kind..other than the human race. My passion is to attempt in anyway I can to leave this world just a little bit better than the one I know. I could give a shit about "Main Stream".

[Ken Burch]

9. I respect your experiences, now that I know of them

(btw, I did say "if your posts were an accurate reflection of your mindset", and its your posts, which are often hostile to "progressives" even though none of us, from what I know, ever did anything that harmed you, that I was responding to).

And I would NEVER say that what you do "isn't good enough" to be a Progressive. You can call me a lot of things, but you can't call me the kind of arrogant fool that would say things like that.

[democrattotheend]

8. Inauguration is the perfect time for reaching across the aisle, IMO

Inauguration is not an event for progressives. It's an event for the whole country. The Democratic Convention is for the party faithful. Inauguration is the swearing in of the president of all 50 states, not just the 29.2 states that voted for him. Obama can use his inauguration to set a tone, and make it clear that he intends to make good on his promise to the 45% of Americans who didn't vote for him that he will be their president too.

[Ken Burch]

10. Republican inaugurals never ever reached across the aisle.

And so far, that "tone"(as set by Obama partisans more than Obama himself) has been about "Democrats and progressives have to shut up and wait".

Besides, the sort of people that listen to Hank Jr. or Ted Nugent or Guy and Ralna aren't ever going to find common ground with us.
They live to hate us.

[democrattotheend]

12. Yeah, and look what happened to Republicans in November

Not to mention, look what happened to this country after 8 years of virtually unchecked Republican rule.

[Ken Burch]

14. I hope that doesn't mean you think WE need to be "checked"?

"unchecked" Republican rule meant the Iraq War, Gitmo, Katrina, massive cuts in the tiny remnants of our social service system, environmental deregulation and continued unionbusting.

"unchecked" Democratic rule would mean universal healthcare, a less-militarized foreign policy, labor law reform(starting with passage of the Employee Free Choice Act)and the end of discrimination against LGBT people. For a start.

I hope you aren't arguing the second list is just as bad as the first.

Or that anything to the right of the second list would be worth doing.

Finally, are their ANY Republican entertainers that aren't hopelessly lame?

[democrattotheend]

15. I believe in checks and balances, and I believe the other 46% of the country deserves a voice

As much as I would like to see a sweeping progressive agenda, I recognize that that's not what everyone wants and they have a right to have their opinions heard and their concerns taken into account. I support cuts in the defense budget but I believe people who would lose their jobs as a result of base closings or cancelled factory orders as a result deserve to have their voices heard. I support making the minimum wage a living wage but also support the right of small business owners to have their concerns about the impact heard.

I did not like feeling shut out and feeling like I had no voice during the Bush years and I don't think it's right to shut out the 45% of people who did not vote for Obama either. I guess I'm a believer in the old-fashioned golden rule. I also believe that if we ram everything through and shut the Republicans out we will be out of power again much sooner. Remember that just 4 years ago pundits were asking if the Democrats had a future...the tide can turn quickly, and the more Obama makes good on his promise to be a president for all Americans the better for our party and our country.

I oppose the death penalty in part because I believe that an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. By the same logic, I don't believe that Republicans shutting us out for 8 years and giving us no voice in decisions that affect our lives means we should do the same thing now that we have control. And I am glad we have a president who shares that belief.

[Ken Burch]

17. Part of the answer on base closings and defence plant closings is economic conversion.

Check out a guy named Seymour Melman. He wrote a detailed explanation as to how we could get greater economic value(and more jobs)using those defense facilities for civilian productive purposes. Not all of them, but a lot of them. Had Bill Clinton had the foresight to propose this in '93 during the base closing debate he started then(rather than just saying to those people, in effect, "we're taking your jobs-Tough titty")that whole situation could've been a political plus rather than a minue, and might have made it possible to realign the Deep South and put it in our column.

Y'know, it's all good and well to talk about including the "other side", but, as the Nineties showed, with THIS other side, including them always ends up meaning surrendering to them. The next eight years will be a dead loss if we put ourselves under those limits again.

The RIGHT doesn't want to negotiate with us. They want to destroy us. The only way to stop them is to assert, clearly and unapologetically, that we DID, in fact win and that we have the right to be in power and work for our agenda.

[SoxFan]

13. What, no Skrewdriver/Prussian Blue double bill at 930?

[Ken Burch]

16. I'm going to need several stiff drinks to get THAT image out of my mind.

n/t.