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“The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic State itself. That, in its essence, is Fascism – ownership of the government by an individual, by a group or by any controlling private power.” – President Franklin Roosevelt
“The man who wrongly holds that every human right is secondary to his profit must now give way to the advocate of human welfare, who rightly maintains that every man holds his property subject to the general right of the community to regulate its use to whatever degree the public welfare may require it.” – President Theodore Roosevelt
"I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country." – President Thomas Jefferson
"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavour to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed." -- President Abraham Lincoln
"Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear — kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervor — with the cry of grave national emergency. Always there has been some terrible evil at home or some monstrous foreign power that was going to gobble us up if we did not blindly rally behind it...." -- General Douglas MacArthur
The fundamental problem with the Democratic party, as I see it, is that the party focuses on individual issues. It does not stand up for broader ideologies. When you see Republicans, they speak to ideologies... the preach to their masses, not necessarily about who did what... but they speak to ideologies. The Democratic Party is failing because it does not speak to the masses in such a fashion. The Democrats have simply been attacking Bush, which is fine, but they haven't offered alternatives of their own.
Part of this problem is the media, which cuts and pastes short sound bytes of angry candidates attacking. But when I see the candidates in debate, they don't stand up for any principles. They attack the president, as they should, but instead, they should speak to the people in a way to inspire action, rather than anger.
Sure, every candidate has policy ideas. But people don't want to hear an essay when they listen to a politician. They want to be inspired. They want to be lead. Some of the most successful political masterminds in history have understood this and exploited it to gain power. Hitler... Karl Rove...
Have you guys ever wondered how a bumbling boob like Dubya has become so successful? Yeah, he stole an election. But despite what happened in Florida, this dope has become our president. Karl Rove is a genius. He's an evil piece of crap who will burn in hell, but he still is a political genius. He has masterminded Bush's rise to power. He got a drunken frat boy who was AWOL from the national guard, who isn't intelligent, who has corrupt corporate ties, who has close relationships with terrorists, who presided over one of the worst governorships in recent history... elected president!
And even now... Rove has kept Bush relatively popular and beloved despite the fact he presided over the worst terrorist attack in history, the worst job loss since Hoover, the worst corporate abuses in history, and started an offensive military campaign built on lies and misinformation.
The Democratic Party needs an orator who can stand up and deliver speeches like the above quotes. It needs a leader who will stand for these principles and deliver the message charismatically and positively. It needs a candidate that will tap into the anger on the left and the patriotic furvor of middle America. The only two who I see who can do this are Dean and Clark.
If only Dean and Clark had a baby... it would be a good president. ;) I'm keeping my fingers crossed for one of these two guys... or both, but it's unlikely they'd run together.
If the Dem's fail in 2004. We should regroup and build a strategy for 2008. Ever since 2000, the Democratic Party has been going downhill. I'm not about to blame Terry McAuliffe(sp?) for this... but the party needs strong leadership. We need accountability. If we fail in 2004, the party needs to change the way it approaches the political process, or else, we may not get a chance to lead this nation out of the clutches of tyranny and fascism.
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