Many liberal pundits and thinkers are out there, many based on the internet, with solid ideas and suggestions for how the Dems might position themselves for victory in November and in 2008; for just one, see the important new book "Crashing the Gate: Netroots, Grassroots, and the Rise of People-Powered Politics," by Markos Moulitsas Zuniga ("Kos") and Jerome Armstrong. But it's not clear if the party establishment is open to what its base is telling them on the Iraq War, on corrupted elections, on domestic spying and so on. If such Dem leadership blindness and deafness continues, this ignorance and timidity will guarantee a continuing series of losses at the polls, despite recent public-opinion surveys indicating how poorly the Republicans are viewed in the country, including, most importantly, by those calling themselves conservatives.
Perhaps the worst crime of the Democrats these days is their failure to recognize that ordinary citizens, including many of those moderate Republicans and independents, are way ahead of them in wanting a quick exit from Iraq and in approving impeachment hearings. That Dem timidity does not give evidence of a robust opposition party, willing to fight for what is best for the country; many moderate Republicans and independents may choose to vote for the devil they know than one about which they're uncertain and apprehensive.
So what can you and I do to alter this picture of Democratic lassitude and possible defeat in November?
As with BuzzFlash.com's handy list, "What You Can Do," ( www.buzzflash.com/perspectives/whatyoucando.html ) the first and most important task is for all of us to educate ourselves on what's going on, and then spread the word, light fires of activism in our friends and neighbors, organize ourselves politically (whether running ourselves or becoming active in the campaigns of Dem or third-party candidates), relentlessly demand that our elected representatives stand up for the Constitution and not roll over when the Administration continues its illegal rampaging at home and abroad, constantly call the mass media on their biases and deficiences and lack of investigatory coverage of the Bush Administration, and support the nation's largest and most effective alternative press: the progressive websites and bloggers on the internet.
GOP IS COLLAPSING FROM WITHIN
Finally, liberals should truly comprehend the import of a good share of the conservative Republican movement abandoning the extremism of the Bush Administration. All those conservative generals and Bill Buckley are just the tips of the iceberg of resentment and appalled anger at what Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rove are doing to the once-respected Republican Party and to this country in terms of our stalled economy, the humongous deficits being racked up, the unending wars of choice our young troops are dying in (with Iran fast approaching as the next reckless-insanity theater of war), the ever-expanding levels of corruption in the Republican Party, the outsourcing and privatization of so much of traditional, established government functions -- outsourcing even to potential enemies abroad!
These moderate and conservative Republicans are ripe for making alliances with progressives, populists and libertarians in opposing the dangerous, reckless policies of the Bush Administration. If the Democrats are smart, they would devise ways to lure those folks into the impeachment camp. Aye, there's the rub.
If the kinds of changes discussed above are not made, and the Dems lose both houses of Congress in November and still no radical changes are made in how to approach the 2008 presidential election, it may well be time for serious consideration of a third-party alliance. In short, 2006 may be the Dems' last reasonable shot and they'd better not blow it. Let's put our activism into hyperdrive in the next six months and make sure they don't.#
First published by The Crisis Papers and Democratic Underground 5/9/06.
Bernard Weiner, Ph.D. in government & international relations, has taught at universities in California and Washington, worked for two decades as a writer-editor at the San Francisco Chronicle, and currently serves as co-editor of The Crisis Papers (www.crisispapers.org).
Excellent piece. Particularly the part about demanding leadership from the Dems as opposed to offering blind alliance.
We don't know yet if the Dems are up to it, but this fall should represent the Grand Test, determining whether they're worthy of progressive support. If not, a true opposition party emerges.
by
Jim Prues (15 articles, 33 quicklinks, 10 diaries, 77 comments)
on Tuesday, May 9, 2006 at 7:27:07 PM
The Democrats have failed every test for a decade or more. Clinton, that sacred cow for loyal democrats everywhere, threw thousands off welfare without job training or placement assistance, or even child care credits. He brought us NAFTA, CAFTA and GATT, making him just another republican.
The litany of failures by Democrats to oppose Bush for almost six years now should be very clear to everyone by now yet you demand another litmus test, what is it going to take, a house falling on you?
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2377 comments)
on Wednesday, May 10, 2006 at 7:22:02 AM
There is a portion of the female anatomy between the anus and the vulva that old Yankees used to call the TAINT. “It taint one and it taint the other”. In politics this position has been staked out by the Democratic Leadership Council. They advise Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the cowardly Democrats who did not stand up with Russ Feingold in his demand for an investigation of the administration lies. . . lies that allowed Bush to attack Iraq. They also opposed Russ’s desire for an outside investigator to oversee the ethics committees in both the House and Senate. They stand in opposition to the sixty four percent of Americans who want us to get out of Iraq immediately. When Nancy debated a republican who asked her if she wanted us to “cut and run”. She replied that she certainly did not and that she simply asked the Bush administration for an exit plan. The reason for the equivocation of these so-called Democrats is that the DLC is a gatekeeper for the corporation money that has been allocated for the “friendly opposition”.
There is nothing progressive about the Progressive Policy Institute. It is part and parcel of the Democratic Leadership Council. On just about every issue that has the American voter up in arms; they have a fall back position. They are funded by AT&T, Eastman Kodak, Prudential, Georgia Pacific, Chevron, Amoco, General Mills, Bradly, Gilman, Amertech, General Mills, Bank One, Citicorp, Dow, Dupont, GE, Health Insurance Foundation, Merril Lynch, Microsoft, Morgan Stanly, Occidental Petroleum, and Raytheon.
Democratic Leadership Council president Will Marshall in his “serving the Democratic Party” memo of January 1985 advocated the formation a “governing council” that would draft a “blueprint” for reforming the party. The new leadership should aim to create a distance from “the new bosses”--organized labor, feminists, and other progressive constituency groups. He has urged Democratic stalwarts to back away from a political agenda that addressed poverty, discrimination, and crime and join the traditional conservatives in opposing affirmative action and safety net programs, and job creation initiatives, stiffer sentences, an end to affirmative action as well as welfare benefits.
The leaders proposing to help the American people jump out of the frying pan into the fire are Hilary Clinton, Joe Lieberman, Nancy Pelosi, and all of the Democrats who want to keep us in Iraq and maintain our position as the only country out of three hundred and forty seven that does not have single payer health care.
The Republicans are going to be slaughtered in the coming election and I think that true progressives should turn their invective against the Democratic traitors who seek to benefit from this and let them know that we are sick of the phoney wrestling match that American politics has become. It is time that Americans join their Latino brothers and sisters to take to the streets.
John H. St.John st.johnj@cox.net
by
gramps (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 107 comments)
on Wednesday, May 10, 2006 at 11:02:43 AM
Remember, this is a two party country.
Is it in the constitution? No.
Is it in law? In many respects, yes.
Is it in the basic folkish understanding of the people as to how politics works? Unquestionably.
The GOP won the 2004 election.
Kerry may have lost some precincts in Ohio, that would have given him an electoral vote victory, but thankfully, that didn't happen either.
Note, I did not write that Bush won the 2004 election.
Statewide winning GOP candidates pretty much all ran better than Bush.
The GOP tide pulled Bush into the White House.
They remain strong enough to retain their control of the Congress in 06.
With or without Diebold.
The Democrats are losing because we are not organized and we are not coalescing around our key issues or key constituents: the cities, the near older suburbs and urban issues.
We are the majority, but we are not able to mobilize our vote.
It is time to stop obsessing about Diebold and past elections and to organize and win governorships and state legislative seats to build for 08, 10, 12 and beyond.
Robert Chapman
Lansing, New York
by
Robert Chapman (28 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 556 comments)
on Friday, May 12, 2006 at 8:12:56 PM
4 comments
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