Why doesn't the Democratic Party have a platform anymore?

[Cleita]

There used to be things that were sacrosanct within the party, most notably workers' rights and the right to work, a bullet proof Social security and Medicare programs that Democrats were dedicated to keeping intact. A real commitment to public schools and education. A determination to keeping our infrastructure safe and repaired. No matter which end of the Party your politics fell on from socialist to business friendly, middle of the road, our policy was dedicated to maintaining the above pillars of our society intact and functioning. They were supposed to be untouchable.

WHAT HAPPENED! AND WHY ARE WE ALLOWING DEMOCRATS IN NAME ONLY TO DESTROY THE FOUNDATIONS OF OUR REPUBLIC AND OUR DEMOCRACY? We true American Democrats have to take our Party back to its core principles and policy and kick those other guys back to where they can't hurt the majority of Americans anymore.

Who goes to the local meetings of the Democrats? I used to go and stopped going when I got fed up with the DLCers creeping in and taking over. I was wrong. I'm going back and I'm going to try to take our party back from those DINOs. Whose with me? We have to do it one precinct and one Congressional District at a time and don't forget your state and local offices as well. We have to start fronting candidates for those smaller offices because numbers count.

[sabrina 1]

1. I think you answered the question in your last paragraph. The DLC/Third Way have taken over the

Party. They are Corporatists, Privatizers, Profit Driven for the private sector, war mongers, they call themselves 'pragmatists', but in reality they are Right Wingers who support or are not particularly interested one way or the other, in a few Social issues, such as abortion eg. That fools democrats, and is intended to, into thinking they actually are democrats.

All one has to do is read the history of the Third Way, how it came to infiltrate the Dem Party and what their goals to answer your question. They despise Social Security and all other successful programs of the New Deal. They are 'd' in name only.

Now that we finally figured it out, it is really up to us to oust them from our party and send them back to where they would be far more comfortable. They HAVE a party, our tent was not meant to include those who have a tent of their own.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

32. couldn't agree more...Clinton

American jobs and well regulated financial markets and institutions went out of vogue with Clinton and Dems. Dems don't have to stand for any of these things anymore so long as they're pro-choice and gay rights. We've gotten as intellectually lazy and dishonest as Rs.

[JimDandy]

39. Yes, and Republicans publicly signing on

to social issues that are usually identified with Democrats (gays, fair immigration policies), might actually help to remove the cover from these 3rd Way and DLC "dems" and expose them for what they are: anti-American jobs, anti-economic fairness; anti-regulationists, anti-labor, anti-unions, anti-poor--in short anti-Democrat.

Time to take the Dem party back!

[RedCappedBandit]

59. well said

[SwampG8r]

2. well

its easier to let the gop dictate the terms
thats the best eleventyseven dimension chessmove evah!

[Arctic Dave]

3. The Democratic Party has become a failed institute.

It has rotted from the head down.

[Progressive dog]

4. There is a platform, they run on it.

Governing on it is optional.
I don't attend most local Democratic meetings either. I really don't know if it's worthwhile, it's mostly about local politics and offices.

[LuvNewcastle]

6. "Governing on it is optional." How very true.

[fredamae]

22. Local Politics is

how the TP took over the GOP...Started small and worked their way up the ladder...
To understand "they" have infiltrated every level of govt--look at the fully "red" states and what they've done to their own people....
Local politics is perhaps the Most important place to get involved--it's where the "little people" can regain a stronghold in the party, imo. Especially if you run for office with-in and local city/country/state governments as well.

[JimDandy]

41. Start attending and then run for Committeewoman/Committeeman

of your local Dem party. That's where you start to get real input into Dem politics not just at the state level but at the national level.

[HiPointDem]

48. Local politics are important. Local politics are how the far right took over the GOP.

[Occulus]

71. But... we don't have the three decades it took them to get to where they are now.

At best we have two full election cycles before it is too late.

We need a workable solution that will reverse the situation in a great deal less time than three decades.

I have no idea what that solution might be.

[n2doc]

5. $$$

We (and I mean democrats, on average) have been voting for the person who runs the most ads. And GOTV efforts are hugely expensive. When one has to raise $500 million to be considered 'viable', there are very few sources other than the 1%ers. The casual voter, who makes up a large percent of the vote, only pays attention for a short while during primary season and near elections. Thats when you get the saturation bombing of the airwaves and internet.

The media plays a huge role now, and they are, at the top, all 1%ers. Remember the "Dean Scream"? All the media have to do is take a meme and run with it to destroy a candidacy. They did it to Gore and Kerry too, enough to let W steal both elections (with some SC help). I am firmly convinced that should anyone who has not agreed to be a lacky of the 1% run, they will be marginalized (can't win!) or something bogus will be made up to get rid of them (Yeagh!)

[Mister Ed]

7. Ding ding ding! We have a winner! n/t

[AlbertCat]

8. WHAT HAPPENED!

Reagan and the "greed is good" meme.

[former9thward]

9. The platform is now sanitized.

When was the last time there was a platform fight at a convention? Platform fights used to be common and they were healthy. Now convention managers won't allow it. They don't think it will look good on TV. So conventions are boring affairs and no one cares what is or is not in the so-called 'platform'. Contrary to what a poster up thread said, candidates do not run on any platform. I can't remember the last candidate that referred to the platform in a piece of advertising.

[dawg]

17. Had one in 2012 over putting "God" back in the platform after conservatives called us out.

Passed it over a voice vote, despite the fact that any objective listener would tell you there was no clear consensus.

[former9thward]

19. Yes, but that was quickly ended.

The video showed one of the platform managers telling the person counting the vote "You have to rule and let them do what they do." So it was ordered passed. No real fight was allowed there.

[LuvNewcastle]

20. Candidates don't refer specifically to the platform

while they're running, but they do discuss a lot of issues that are written about in the platform. The nominee's opinions on issues mostly agree with those stated in the platform. Nobody really expects the nominee to adhere to the platform 100%, but he/she should be in basic agreement with the most important issues. For instance, if the platform says that the party is in favor of ending a war, the nominee shouldn't tell people while he's campaigning that he wants that war to continue.

[former9thward]

23. If you read the platform it is very generic.

Nothing to offend anyone. If someone does run against platform elements there is no way to sanction them.

[LuvNewcastle]

26. There's no way to sanction him legally, but he would lose

a lot of support from members of his own party, and he would probably lose the election if a lot of people in the party wouldn't back him. If a Democratic nominee said in his campaign that he was anti-choice, for example, he would probably lose at least half of the party's support. If a candidate can't agree on a major issue like that, party members will rightly say that they've nominated the wrong person.

[AgingAmerican]

10. The Third Way

Democratic platforms are for liberal emo progs.

[MineralMan]

11. It does have a platform. See it at this link:

http://www.democrats.org/democratic-national-platform

What gave you the idea that there was no Democratic Party platform?

As to who goes to local Democratic Party meetings? People like me go to those meetings. That's where we plan strategies for the next election on the local level, usually at the federal congressional district level or the state legislative district level. Right now, the discussion is about candidates for office in the 2014 election. We're starting to hear from people who are considering declaring their candidacy.

I'm a precinct chair. We don't have meetings at that level. We do have meetings at the next level, though, which is the state Senate district level. If you're not going to those meetings, you're not participating in important choices that are being made now for the 2014 election. I encourage you to go back to those meetings. If you don't, your voice won't be heard. If you do, your voice, and the voices of all Democrats who participate will be heard. You may not agree with every voice.

GOTV 2014!

[cantbeserious]

12. You Have To Ask - The DLC Will Not Be Held Accountable

eom

[Apophis]

13. But, but, but...DINOs are electable!11111111

The answer is in your last paragraph. It's all about the DLC and the 1% now. I don't see Democrats acting like Democrats anymore, at least on a national scale.

[brooklynite]

21. ...and in SOME cases Progressives are not.

I suspect that Elizabeth Colbert Busch isn't your cup of tea either, but she's better than the alternative.

[Bluenorthwest]

74. Is that supposed to impress becaue her brother is on TV? If Blue Dogs were so electable

we'd have a majority in the House right now. But they lost 2010 in droves, failed to attract voters to the polls, we are STILL hearing about how 'no one voted in 2010' when Oregon had record setting turnout as did many States, it was the Soggy Doggy candidates that failed to get any support.
I am always amused by the 'moderate centrist' patter than only their candidates can win considering the fact that their candidates so often lose.
The sister of some hyper religious TV personality might make a good candidate in the deep South, where she's running. We'll know if she wins. If she loses, she's no great guns no matter how azure a canine she might be.

[brooklynite]

75. I think the fact that her brother is on TV is completely irrelevant...

...except for his ability to raise money.

I think the fact that she IS a Blue Dog, and not in the Dennis Kucinich/Alan Grayson camp is what's making her viable in South Carolina.

[quinnox]

14. Look to the top, the president

A lot of this crap is his fault. Obama has been one disappointment after another.

[MineralMan]

15. In addition to the national Democratic Party Platform,

state party organizations also create their own platforms. In Minnesota, every plank on that platform must receive 60% of the vote at the party's state convention. In the conventions where delegates to the state convention are selected, proposals for additions to the party platform and action statement are created and passed by a 60% vote of the delegates to that convention. Delegates to the State Senate district conventions are selected at precinct caucuses.

Everything comes from the local level. At the state convention, delegates to the national convention are selected. Anyone can participate at the precinct level, and by putting his or her name forward, can become a delegate to conventions at the next level. It is politics in action. Those who participate decide on these things. Those who do not can only complain about them if they don't approve.

Participate!

Here is the Minnesota DFL Party Platform:

http://www.1888932-2946.ws/ComTool6.0/ckfinder/userfiles/files/Ongoing%20Platform%20(amended%20in%202012).pdf

Note: You will have to copy and paste that URL. DU does not convert it correctly.

GOTV 2012!

[Demo_Chris]

16. Thanks to Obama and his pals I find it increasingly difficult to care

I certainly will no longer contribute my time, and I have never had extra money.

[dawg]

18. Support for the Democratic Platform is an act of disloyalty to the Democratic Party.

Watch what you say! Watch what you do!

[RufusTFirefly]

24. Here's an excerpt from the 1934 Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party platform

(The antecedent of the DFL, the state's unique form of the Democratic Party)

It called for "immediate steps … to abolish capitalism in a peaceful and lawful manner" and for the "complete re-organization of the present social structure into a co-operative commonwealth" in which "all the natural resources, machinery of production, transportation and communication shall be owned by the government" and operated according to democratic principles.

At the time, both the state's Governor, Floyd Olson, and its senior Senator, Henrik Shipstead, were members of this party.

[libdude]

63. Hope and Change I can believe in

Always thought I was born in the wrong time. When the Democratic party and its related sub-entities occupy positions which are intended to just be a mirror opposite of the Republican party, what is the point? When a Democratic President in 2012 describes himself as a 1980s type of Republican, I have to question what does the Democratic party actually stand for? Where are the radical, socially oriented Demicratic politicians, rabidly avocating for the peoples' interests.
Where are the Eugene Debs type of politician? Marginalized out of the party. Seeing how the extreme right wing has steered the Republican party to the far right, it seems the Demicratic party has moved right to fill the centrist Republican vacuum.

[Zorra]

25. Great post, Cleita, thank you.

IMO, we need to take on the corporatists on every front, a massive battering ram of progressive solidarity to break open the gates of the ivory towers where the 1% holds our democracy prisoner.

Surround them, and then subjugate them so that they can never cause significant harm ever again.

[Granny M]

27. Makes it easier to shift with the winds.

When things are written down, it's less convenient to morph into republican lite. Some liberal always bitching about broken promises and no integrity.... who needs the headache of principles?

[on point]

28. They do. They just keep it secret from the rank & file because it is to support corporations first

[Pinup]

29. Honesty....

I think if we were honest about exactly what we wanted and ran on, we would probably lose. Most Americans are in the middle, leaning right on fiscal issues and leaning left on social issues. Think about it...if dems ran on a "repeal the 2nd amendment" platform, who would win that argument ?

[Hell Hath No Fury]

33. "Honesty"?

Really. Since when has the Democratic Party wanted to repeal the 2nd Amendment? That's horseshit you are peddling there noob, and you know it. The Gungeon is that-a-way.

[Pinup]

34. There are some...

politicians who do want a repeal of the 2nd amendment and some who allude to it...so why aren't they just honest about it ?

To the dungeon for me ? That's ok too.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

40. Links please?

Show me statements of Democratic politicians who want to repeal the 2nd. Otherwise you are talking out of your ass.

And the answer "Because Rush/Beck/the NRA told me so" is not valid.

[jeff47]

45. Sure, as long as you don't pay any attention to actual polling.

Polling on issue after issue shows that the traditional "Democratic" position is actually the most popular. From minimum wage to gun control.

Throw the "Democratic" label on that, and the tribalism of modern Republicans enters the fray.

The ideas are very popular with the electorate. They are not popular with the moneyed and those who exist entirely within the beltway.

[Skittles]

50. RIGHT ON FISCAL ISSUES?

you do realize conservative ASSHOLES crashed our economy, don't you???

[tblue]

30. Excellent suggestion!

I went to one once, and it was really long, drawn out, and boring, BUT if I can make a difference, I really should go again. A couple years ago I told our local Chair I was leaving the party because I had had all I could take of those awful grand bargains, and it just seemed unforgivable. If I show up at another meeting, he'll be shocked.

[99Forever]

31. Since bribery has basically been legalized...

... actually behaving in an ethical way once in office, is little more than a antiquated notion from the past, that almost everyone in politics ignores.

[msongs]

35. because its leadership has moved so far to the right they are really closet republicans? nt

[truedelphi]

69. Nicely, concisely stated. n/t

[Rosa Luxemburg]

36. It's as though "if we do this what will the Republicans say?"

It should be "we are doing this, this is our manifest"

[L0oniX]

37. Sold its soul to the corporations and turned its back on FDR ideals.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

44. Clinton felt the goal was to give Republicans a run for their money,...using the same money.

[truedelphi]

70. And every Dem politican who does this does it because they

Realize: the people will only give them some votes, for the years they run for office, while the corporations will give them lifetime income.

Anyone who helped Monsanto get its approval for Aspartame in the Nineteen Eighties is still getting something from Monsanto, even if it is just high level employment for one of their grown children.

[elehhhhna]

38. It's all one party now, in many ways. Bad cop/worse cop.

and they play us over and over and over again.

[nadinbrzezinski]

42. Parties change...and coalitions change.

That is what happened. We have a radical right party and a center right party.

We need to take to the streets n massive numbers and stay there. We need national strikes as well.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

43. This sums it up nicely...

[jeff47]

46. Because of your last paragraph.

I used to go and stopped going when I got fed up with the DLCers creeping in and taking over.

That happened over and over again, leading us to our current state of affairs.

The good news is your next two sentences are also happening over and over again.

[YoungDemCA]

47. Because affluent yuppies have taken over the Party...

..as the working-class has gotten hollowed out and then withdrew from political participation.

Keep in mind that Wall Street donates much more money now than labor unions (or at least, what's left of the labor unions). Those donations come with strings attached. It's not that they like the Democratic Party platform. Rather, it's because those corporate donors want something.

[Doctor_J]

49. Mostly they pander to Hate Radio -

It's completely futile, but they do it anyway.

[kentuck]

51. Because a lot of people think we cannot lose our Party...

or our country.


The truth is that we can lose both. We cannot depend on the present Democrats in Washington to protect our interests or the Party's interest. I have little faith in them.

[pa28]

52. We've got one but our leadership could really care less.

From the platform:

We reject approaches that insist that cutting benefits (for Social Security) is the only answer.

The platform committee was nice enough to provide a nice weaselly sentence that would allow for raising the cap combined with cutting benefits and even that idea was thrown out the window in favor of cuts only.

[hay rick]

53. I go to the meetings and volunteer at the office.

Thursday I spent a couple hours helping someone with the paper work to run for office (Florida House of Representatives) in 2014. The DLC types are useless and I aim to replace them locally...

[tabbycat31]

54. What are you doing at the local level?

Not only do they have national conventions, but they have state and county level ones too (my county's was in February). They even have them for some congressional districts. If you want to change politics, show up at the local meetings, get involved on the local committee, run for local office, etc.

I said this in a previous thread (and I'm an advocate of Blue Dogs in rural areas) but if you're a progressive running for higher office, it's a lot easier to run as "Mayor Progressive of XYZ town" or "Councilman/Councilwoman Progressive" than just Progressive.

[truedelphi]

67. Some ability to run as a democrat is possible - but very limited

But you really have your work cut out for you if you are in California. Unless you are an advocate of things as they are: That is, Pro-Obama or Hillary Clinton, you are not going to get any encouragement. Even people like Steve Westly, who had quite a bit of money, couldn't get a spot on the Dem Ticket against Schwatzennegger, as Di Fi had already agreed to some Higher Power that she would deliver the state to the Republicans.

[tabbycat31]

68. I know every state is different

But in my own state, there are many offices that don't even have candidates running for. And you mentioned statewide offices in a large state. I'm not talking about the higher offices, I'm talking about the farm system--- mayor, council, school board, etc. Even in the reddest of the red states, the state party should be able to find someone to run for governor or senate. To use a baseball analogy, the local offices are the minor leagues for the state and county level offices (assembly, state senate, etc), which are a farm system for federal office.

Last fall I voted in a (non partisan) race for mayor of my town. There were four candidates running and not a single one of them was a Democrat (they actually tried to draft me for the seat, but I declined as I'm gone 6 months of the year and would be unable to govern). And not a single Democrat ran for council in my town either. So now my town is 100% GOP controlled (our elections are nonpartisan meaning they can't run on the official party line but it's easy to tell based on the ballot-- ie 'bringing conservative values').

One of the frontrunners to run against my idiot GOP congressman in 2014 is a mayor who built up quite a name for himself by his handling of the Sandy recovery.

[PD Turk]

55. because they sold it

To the highest bidder

[markiv]

56. 20 years of free trade kool aid nt

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

57. It's buried under DLC/3rd Way "not as bad" bullshit.

[cui bono]

58. Another thing is too many people have bought into the team sport politics.

So they think we're supposed to cheer every Dem no matter what, even if they keep taking the party farther and farther right and abandoning Dem Party principles. They think we are not allowed to criticize at all if it is a Dem. Well if you don't keep letting them know what's what they will then go where the money is, and that's not with the people.

[truedelphi]

60. That's very true. And

The lamest Democratic candidate in the world will result in most "liberal" media not to focus on how that candidate could be better and stronger, but how they are better than Palin, Bachman etc.

[cui bono]

64. Yes! I'm so tired of the "well would you rather have Romney (or whoever)" response.

It means nothing and only stifles discussion, or at least attempts to stifle unwanted discussion anyway.

[Occulus]

72. My answer to that is always "If we had Romney, the Devil we deal with would at least be

the Devil we know."

Shuts them up.

[eridani]

61. Check out Progressive Democrats of America and Democracy for America

They will have local progressive Democratic contacts. WA State Progressive Caucus has 57 paid members statewide, and a larger number of more loosely attached people.

[Recursion]

62. The other party imploded and we're picking up the pieces

See the Democratic Party after the Whigs flaked out.

[NCTraveler]

65. They do...

and it will be made publicly available once the orange man signs off on it.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

66. It began with Clinton. The anti-government propaganda worked. What it did was essentially

get Democrats to buy into the notion that the only way we can win elections is to pursue some center-right philosophy. There is a reason why you'll hear many pundits declare Clinton as the "greatest Republican president". He and now Obama have co-opted GOP ideals. Yes, they still talk about the middle class, but speaking on poverty, the poor, is politically futile. I love Clinton and Obama, but the move by the Democratic Party to the right has given the Republicans the ammunition they need to fulfill their decades-old objective: destroy government from within, then point to it and say, "see, it doesn't work!".

The DLC has done great damage to the party brand. These days, Democrats act more like Republicans and Republicans? They get to run up deficits, start wars, and squander budget surpluses and they know that Americans will expect Democrats to clean it up.

[Savannahmann]

73. We began to put party over principal.

We decided that electing Democrats was more important than what those Democrats stood for. We decided that gaining power, was the ends, not the means. We get the power, and then we do nothing with it except mimic the Rethug actions.

How often have you heard that if we had Nancy Pelosi as speaker again, we could get this legislation through, or that bill acted upon. Yet, when we had Nancy as speaker, we got nothing done, we had one minor victory, the Insurance Protection act, we called the ACA, and the Rethugs called Obamacare. We took no actions on Guns, none on Immigration, zero done on Gay Marriage. We didn't even come out against Don't Ask Don't Tell until Vice President Biden came out in one of his famous off the cuff blurted statements. Then two weeks later, after watching the rest of us shout and scream, the President decided he had evolved on the issue.

I have no idea what took so long, I guess they were checking statements and possible lines he could deliver with the polls and the focus groups.

We work to get those people elected who promise to fight for us, and once elected, they don't do squat. When we object, we get told that if we don't work just as hard to get them re-elected, then the Rethugs will win. OK, what's the difference if it's a Rethug administration or a Democratic Administration is illegally wiretapping everyone? We're still wiretapped illegally.

[truedelphi]

76. You can easily realize how come the Democratic Faithful no longer has

A party when David Stockman criticizes Obama for being too much of a Republican in giving the Upper One Percent their tax cut.

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/311856-1

He starts talking about that after the 36 minute mark.