I want another Democrat party-the Populist Democrats

[liveoaktx]

This country used to be a multi-party system, and I think it should be again.
I could never vote Republican, but I also won't vote, in the next election, for president if the "Dem" candidate is DLC.

I want to see a party rise up to clearly identify itself as Democrats that aren't corporatists but populists and that's the party I would vote for, every time, hands down, providing their actions match their rhetoric.

It's not as if the DLC hasn't attempted to hijack the Democratic party and pretend it stands for all Democrats. It doesn't, not as long as they promote the same war-mongering agenda as the Republicans and vote the same way as greedy, amoral Republicans.

[wli]

1. I want proportional representation instead of winner-takes-all

[liveoaktx]

19. Link to that premise

http://www.fairvote.org/reports/1993/amy.html

Interesting article. I had been thinking more along the lines of run-off elections

http://www.fairvote.org/spoiler/

[wli]

26. not a fan of IRV, CSSD and RP are better

IRV still has a number of technical flaws, among them the irrelevance of independent alternatives fails, so the spoiler effect is still there, thoujgh not in full force as it would be if cloning still worked against it. Similarly, it's inconsistent (consistency being a technical criterion) so it's also vulnerable to gerrymandering.

[Horse with no Name]

2. Exactly

Actually just call us liberals.
The DINO's have no use for that label anyway.

[ladjf]

3. I agree with you.

[SaveElmer]

4. Populists don't ever win consistently...

Have to be too confrontational

[ironman202]

6. Wm. Jennings Bryant was a "populist". are you getting into his boat?

[SaveElmer]

8. Dude...he was demolished twice!!!

Populism almost requires confrontation...us vs them...can work locally, sometimes statewide...but not national.

[ironman202]

14. not to mention he was a religious wingnut

[SaveElmer]

18. Yeah he was...but

I found him to be an admirable person, because he had the courage of his convictions...and he was right alot of the time too!!!

[JHBowden]

17. Three times, actually

in 1896, 1900, and 1908. But Bryan did manage to move the party to the left so that the time Wilson was elected, many what used to be extreme populist positions, such as a ban on child labor, the eight hour workday, et cetera, were mainstream.

[SaveElmer]

20. Whjat party platform did he run under in '08?

eom

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. Here's what I want

http://timeforachange.bluelemur.com/electionreform.htm

[Skidmore]

7. I would like the DFL party of Minnesota to disassociate itself

from the Democratic Party and set itself up nationally for membership. They'd have my undying loyalty.

[MadHound]

9. The party that you're looking for is the Greens

A liberal/populist take on the issues, and they never, ever take corporate cash.

[DaveinMD]

11. and they will never win

a national election.

[MadHound]

21. Oh, I don't know,

If the Dems keep putting up more of the same ol' same ol' corporate candidates, the Greens offer up a real liberal alternative. Piss off enough people like the Dems are doing, and they will go the way of the Whigs, leaving the field clear for the Greens.

[DaveinMD]

29. Al Gore

ran a campaign of the people, not the powerful. Hardly a corporate message. Kerry was a liberal Senator, but a terrible campaigner. The Greens are spoilers that only serve to help the far right.

[liveoaktx]

23. That's because the US is a two-party system now and third parties

are spoiler votes. I think we have to get rid of spoiler votes. If the candidate you voted for doesn't win, either have a place where you can vote for your second choice or have a second run-off election. Nobody ought to vote for someone and have the vote thrown out.

http://www.fairvote.org/?page=752

[DaveinMD]

27. agreed

but we don't live in such a system and I work in politics in the real world. Let's elect the most progressive candidates who can win.

[Skidmore]

13. The Greens shot themselves in the foot

when they backed Nader, the reprobate.

[MadHound]

22. Hardly friend, the Greens will recover from Nader,

Much like the Dems recovered from some of their more odious candidates. Time heals all wounds, and with the Dems going ever rightward, it wouldn't suprise me if the Greens didn't rise up and suprise some people.

[DaveinMD]

10. great

you want to elect another Republican. Good for you.

[liveoaktx]

12. Voting for a DLC member is like voting for Repub-lite

[hfojvt]

25. okay, you have three choices

progressive, rep-lite, and FPA (Fascist Party of America (formerly Republican)) We both would like to elect the progressive, and we both, I am assuming would very much like to defeat the FPA. However, if the progressive cannot win the Democratic primary, how is he/she ever going to win the general election? So then, how is voting progressive and allowing/helping the FPA to win anything more than sour grapes because you lost a primary and now you want to cut off your nose to spite your face.

The progressive song is simply not well known enough to be heard over the FPA noise machine. Every elected official is part of the noise machine. They get media access and publicity for their ideas and lies. Gore was DLC and I guess to the right of even the odious non-progressive Bill Clinton, but he would have been approximately 5 trillion dollars and 200,000 lives better than JR Bush, and that is just on the budget deficit and the war, but that is not a dime's worth of difference, is it Ralph?

[DaveinMD]

28. untrue

Voting for Bill Clinton was much different than George Bush and Bob Dole. The perfect isn't the enemy of the good.

[Skidmore]

15. That's what we've been doing now for the last two

election cycles when DLC candidates have been the face of the party.

[gulfcoastliberal]

16. 100% public financing of all campaigns would do a lot, also maybe

something along the lines of ancient Greek democracy - each year a certain number of citizens are selected to serve in government. Of course there should be qualifications like a certain educational level, etc. But public financing of campaigns would really shift priorities in the right direction.

[liveoaktx]

24. Yes, and free broadcast time for all candidates

No more corporate PACS.
Stricter controls over negative ads, such as they have in the UK.