On a related note: Is it time to give up on the Democratic Party? Apparently a lot of progressives seem to think so, judging from what I have recently heard and read. Many of these have said that they will either sit out this election or vote for a third party candidate.
I share this exasperation. The Congressional Democrats have, for the most part, been very wimpy, and there is little reason to expect a forceful opposition if, by some miracle, the Dems take either house of Congress. Even so, it's nose-clip time. The only available way for a disapproving public to halt this headlong rush into Fascism is to vote for the Democrats. A massive turnout and protest vote against Bushism can make this next stolen election very costly to the GOP. And who knows, it is just possible that a flood of protest votes might overwhelm the fraud.
But win or lose, the progressive majority must take a lesson from their opponents: they must take over a major party. For decades, the regressives thrashed about uselessly, complaining about the moderate GOP and voting for various minority parties. Then they got smart and took aim at the Republican party.
Similarly, it would be much easier to overthrow the DLC "republicrats"within the Democratic party than to build a viable national party from the ground up. And if successful, the insurgent progressives would inherit an established and well-funded party organization. In the meantime, we should target the Quislings in the primaries; namely, the Democrats who have supported the Iraq war, and those who voted for the Patriot Act and, last month, the "enabling" Military Commissions Act.
Yes, the established Democratic Party stinks. But let's not abandon the Party. Instead, let's fumigate it and then reconstruct it.
Copyright 2006 by Ernest Partridge
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