Are we supposed to sit quietly when our leaders disappoint or flat out fail us?

[DainBramaged]

:shrug:

[piratefish08]

1. No. you are supposed to sit quietly and vote without question.

[n2doc]

14. And be enthusiastic! Wave Flags! Get out the vote! Make Calls!

Or else. (you know the drill). And if the Dems fail it is ALL YOUR FAULT!

[DainBramaged]

20. well, I get blamed for many things, failure of the Democratic Party, uh not so much (lately)

[Octafish]

2. Not if you believe in the Constitution.

That's the point of Democracy: Informed voters decide imortant matters, like war and peace, wealth and poverty, through their elected officials. Oh, wait a minute!

[Donnachaidh]

3. +100000

it's ironic how some are advocating the same sort of *stfu and stfd* the other side has utilized for years, isn't it?

[vi5]

4. No, you're not supposed to be quiet when they do it...

Apparently you're supposed to clap loudly and thank them for being slightly better than the pond scum on the other side of the political aisle.

[Donnachaidh]

5. K&R to zero

the unrec squad loves your post, evidently.

[Exultant Democracy]

6. +1

[DainBramaged]

9. We outnumber them.

[MineralMan]

17. If you think rec and unrec on DU has any effect on

what elected officials do, then let me be the first to tell you that's just silly.

DU, itself, has little effect on national politics. It's a great place to discuss our concerns and talk about ways to change things. Beyond that, it has zero impact on anything happening in DC. Zero.

If you want to make a genuine impact, acting politically in your own precinct, district, and regional elections is the way to do it. Posting complaints about people already in office on DU isn't.

It is that simple.

[Lasher]

7. Well at least we can agonize about it here at DU.

I'm glad the admins have allowed us to share our criticisms. These are painful discussions that need to be had.

[MineralMan]

8. Why would you do that?

Try communicating directly with them and working to elect better leaders. Work directly on the campaigns of good candidates in YOUR AREA. When you do that, you'll have their ear if you have something to say. Let people in other states deal with their candidates. Fix your local situation.

Writing complaints on internet forums about how disappointed you are changes nothing at all. It might make you feel better for venting, but it does nothing of any political value.

You can have an impact, through working in your local area to elect the best possible candidates that can be elected where you are. That's the way an individual with no huge public platform can make a difference.

If you're not ignoring me, you will read this. If you are, then other people will.

[davidthegnome]

10. Shhh

What didn't you understand about quietly?

Eh, it's the whole united we stand thing, or something like that. If we don't support the President, we aren't true liberals/patriots/democrats/insert whatever.

K & R

[myrna minx]

11. Apparently so. And we're suppose to wildly thank them for the shit sandwich.

It least it's a sandwich after all. :-(

[KansDem]

12. What bothers me is how we sit quietly while our leaders flat-out lie to us...

They don't even try to hide it anymore.

The Bush wars were based on lies, yet, we continue to pretend there was a reason for our invading the mideast.

[Bandit]

13. If they have a D after their name you must vote for them

Especially if the one with the D is someone like Zell Miller or Ben Nelson or ????? The mighty Palin monster will get you if you do not do so..

[HereSince1628]

15. Hey!! Look over there!! A Chernobyl!!! A Revolution!!!

What the heck is wrong with you?

Can't you follow MSM directions?

Quit asking questions that will destroy the status quo!

[Davis_X_Machina]

16. No -- but most people do...

...because replacing leaders requires becoming a leader, and that's work.

The Democratic town committee in my admittedly small (~8000) town can meet in one booth at our local restaurant. Our seats on the county committee often go unfilled, and you can be a state convention delegate in an off year by simply showing up at the town committee meeting.

Three seats on our school board attracted two candidates last fall. There's a vacancy since January on the village council that the other councilors can't even fill by appointment.

And so on right up the food chain.

[MineralMan]

18. It's not just small towns. In my city of Saint Paul, MN, all you have to

do to become a precinct chair is to be willing to do it. All you have to do to be a delegate to the district conventions is to show up at the caucuses. All you have to do to be a delegate to the state conventions is to open your mouth and be active all year in district activities.

There is a dearth of people actually willing to participate in politics at the local level. Here's the thing: Active participation at even the precinct level helps get good people elected to office. It helps get good people nominated for election. Those who participate make the decisions. Those who do not live with the results.

If you're not already active in local politics, why not? That's where it all begins, and those who participate make the decisions.

It's so freaking simple.

[Davis_X_Machina]

24. Lots of helplessness, learned and otherwise, on the left...

...and it's the result of a lot of its own teaching and history.

Maybe it's a residue from vulgar Marxism, and its belief that since all the levers of power are in the hands of Capital, the workers are powerless to ameliorate their own condition, on the one hand, and on the other hand, that after the coming Crisis, the historically inevitable Revolution happens regardless of what we do.

[MineralMan]

26. Could be. The result is the same. They do nothing to fix the

problem. That's too hard.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

19. No

However, whether they actually are disappointing or flat out failing us is, I guess, the real question. It's obvious that some people feel like President Obama and/or the Democratic Party are disappointing them and/or flat out failing them. That opinion does not appear to be universally shared, particularly outside of DU, but everybody is, of course, entitled to their opinion- and to do something (legally) about it. :shrug:

[HughBeaumont]

21. The place millions of us need to sit quietly in . . .

. . . are America's corporate headquarters and boardrooms.

[Poboy]

23. Yes, lay fucking seige to these motherfuckers!

[blindpig]

22. Yes, you must.

There is only the Democratic and Republican parties, it is natural law, there was nothing before and and can be nothing but that evermore.

Pretty much what the aristocracy saying 250 years ago.

[aSpeckofDust]

25. Pick up that can, Citizen.