I'm sorry, but you can't take back the Democratic Party. It wasn't given away, it was sold. If you want the Democratic Party back, you'll have to buy it back. And since they're used to getting millions of dollars for a single election, it would take quite a bit to buy back the entire party. You'd have to compete with multinational corporations, defense contractors, unions, PACs, and local Democratic Party machines.
Besides, why would you want it back? What has it done for you lately besides pushing through GATT, voting for NAFTA, forcing poor single mothers off welfare, voting for war, voting for tax cuts for the rich, refusing to back a single-payer health plan, and consistently acting in a collegial and bipartisan manner to let the Republicans walk all over them "for the good of the country?"
Do you want it back because it refused to back the Congressional Black Caucus when it tried to protest the fraudulent Florida electoral votes in 2000? Do you want it back because it refused to ensure that our votes were counted in 2004? Do you want it back because John Conyers and Maxine Waters had the courage to carry our signatures to the White House and stand outside the gates like every other citizen while the White House staff discarded the unwelcome petition before Bush or Cheney could see it and get mad?
I want peace, so I vote for peace. I want to end corporate rule, so I vote to end corporate rule. I want equality, so I vote for equality. I want a healthy environment, so I vote for a healthy environment. I'm a recovering Democrat, and needless to say I am now a happy and active member of the Green Party.
But, but, but, you say, the Greens can't win? Not if you don't vote for us, we can't. When Hugo Chavez ran for President in Venezuela, the mainstream media was against him, and there were two major mainstream parties who had previously won all elections and were very good at stealing votes. Both major parties together only got 5% of the vote in that election, which includes the votes they stole, and Chavez got something like 47% of the votes. Because the people were sick and tired of corruption and business as usual. Are we?
We're not going to take this country back by voting for entrenched, vested interests and the status quo. If you have a conscience, it is high time you stopped voting your party or your wallet and started voting your conscience.
If you don't have a conscience, you've got plenty of company -- the Democratic Party doesn't either.
In case you haven't noticed, there's a revolution going on. If you'd like to take our country back, please join us in the streets. We did it in Venezuela, we did it in Bolivia, we did it in Peru, and we're going to do it in Mexico, and the United States. Nobody is going to do it for us, certainly not the Democratic Party. There is only one power that can take our country back and that is the power of you and me and our neighbors and families and friends. Remember "We the People?" That's us. The Constitution didn’t say, “We the corporations of the United States,” it didn’t say, “We the political parties of the United States,” it didn’t say, “We the elected representatives of the United States.” It said, “We the People of the United States.” It is time we remember who we are and what we’re about.
If we are going to take OUR country back, we have to have the determination. We must be determined to end corporate rule. We must be determined to end the war. We must be determined to fight for equality and justice. And we are. By "we," I am referring to the Green Party. The Democratic Party, whether in its leadership or in its grass roots, has the organization and the money, but it lacks the values, principles, and determination.
The Ten Key Values of the Green Party are Grassroots Democracy, Social Justice, Ecological Wisdom, Non-violence, Decentralization, Community-based Economics, Feminism, Diversity, Responsibility, and Future Focus.. That's what we're all about. There is nothing comparable in the platforms of the Democratic and Republican parties. They don't have the vision and they don't have clear goals.
The job of the Republicans is to toady to the corporations. The job of the Democrats is to contain the left and prevent any real opposition to the Republicans. That's why the Democrats spent millions smearing Ralph Nader (who isn't even a Green -- we endorsed him in 2000, but not in 2004) and filing lawsuits to block Green Party candidates from ballot access.
Read "Indispensable Enemies" by the late Walter Karp, or "Dime's Worth of Difference" by Alexander Cockburn. Hillary Clinton wavering until the last moment, and then finally dashing out to speak to the immigrants' rights march in New York is a great example of, "Which way did they go? I'm their leader!" We Greens don't need to play catch-up, because we're always in the forefront of struggles for justice, human rights, the environment, worker safety, and everything else important to ordinary people. That's who we are, ordinary people, not a wealthy political/corporate elite.
As election reform moves forward, you may see an end to rigged voting machines, and the introduction of publicly-funded elections, instant-runoff voting, proportional representation, and many other reforms essential to a true democracy. We're tired of whoever has the most money buying an election. We're tired of the electoral college and judicial intervention. We want government of the people, by the people, and for the people, and we want every vote to count and be counted accurately. We want a level playing field, because once we have a game that isn't rigged, the Democrats and Republicans won't be able to compete with us. What it boils down to is that we care about people and things that matter, not just about what is politically expedient, and they don't even pretend to.
Most goodhearted people say that they agree with the Ten Key Values of the Green Party, or that they‘re Greens at heart. The feeling is that we're trapped in a two-party system so we have to vote the lesser evil for fear the greater evil will otherwise win. Well, there are two very large flaws in that reasoning:.
I've been thinking about this for a long time and you have convinced me to make a decision. After this next election (because I have already voted by absentee ballot) I will never again vote for or provide financial and volunteer support for anyone that does not represent my core values. All the democrats here voted for a war based on known lies - killing hundreds of thousands of beautiful human beings. To vote for them, I had to hold my nose so tight that it hurt me to my "core". I will never do that again. Sadly though, this leaves me with no one to vote for in my area. I did try working with the local greens but that was a bad experience. IMO and speaking from experience in dealing with them, the local progressive leader in my area are mostly in it for personal power and they are manipulative and dishonest. So...what's left for me to do????
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RCG (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 352 comments)
on Monday, October 30, 2006 at 1:25:20 PM
So what I do is work as hard as I can for all kinds of election reform. I choose candidates to vote for by whichever one is closest to my values, and I won't vote for any candidate who opposes my values.
But I'm working for publicly-financed elections. Where that has been enacted, it lets decent people who don't have a whole lot of money run for office and win. People who have established themselves in their community as being honorable, hard-working, and compassionate can get elected, which our current system makes almost impossible without a lot of money. And once elected they're not beholden to anyone except the people who voted for them.
I can't vote party line and I don't think anyone else should either. Anyone can join a political party and run as a member of that party, even without the party's endorsement and support. So a Party label tells us nothing at all in many cases. It takes effort to investigate individual candidates, but since they're going to represent us, it is the least we can do for ourselves. How can we vote for people if we don't know who they are? We can't trust their ads or what they say, so we have to research their background. If somebody has been CEO of a big corporate polluter and runs as an environmentalist, only research will tell us the truth -- their campaign ads sure won't.
Government by the people requires that We the People actually do some of the work. We can delegate it to representatives, but if we don't check them out first, they may not represent us. If we care enough about ourselves and our country, we'll do what we have to do. We might gripe about it, but I'm sure we'll do it anyway.
This has been a painful lesson. It is the kind of lesson people get the first time they trust their car to an incompetent mechanic. Next time they're not apt to make the same mistake.
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Mark E. Smith (20 articles, 28 quicklinks, 68 diaries, 817 comments)
on Monday, October 30, 2006 at 2:28:30 PM
I totally disagree, with the campaign of the Green Party trying to lure Democrats into their party. All you are doing is creating a Green Party based on Democrat Party people. No matter how you package it, it is still the Democrat Party now called the Green Party.
The problem is that you Greens have abandoned the fight to get rid of the Democrat traitors who caved into republican rhetoric. You can not expect to win, by quitting and start another party. You end up with the same problem.
Face it Green Party, if Ralph Nadar had the guts he would be running for the Democratic Party, and when he won if he wanted he could change the name to the Green Party.
Instead the Green Party looks like a bunch of losers trying to suck in Democrats to become losers again. As the big money Democrats scratch the backs of Republicans while Republicans pad those traitors wallets with green.
No the Green Party better face the fact that Hugo Chavez is in a different undeveloped country, without the real mechanism of winning. If he was so spectacular he would be a citizen of the USA running for President. But he's not.
And who says that winning is going to bring resolve to the crimes committed by the Dem's and Repubs in power now? Nothing will happen! Just like Reagan and his Contra Arms deals, and Bush pardoning all the crooks.
Is this the type of Democracy we want? You expect usa to become Green, when you can't stop the real problem?
You need to face the reality on this...and Ralph Nader is not going to bring that to us. Unless he becomes what he is a Democrat kicking the butts of the traitors and the Republicans. Bringing them to justice for war crimes, and the gammet of other issues, such as eliminating nuclear weapons in the USA.
It is a long big fight............and thinking you are going to do it by being Green......you might as well get back on your fantasy flying saucer back to Mars.
I hear tell now......Mars doesn't even want green martians anymore!
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Dom Jermano (20 articles, 0 quicklinks, 40 diaries, 934 comments)
on Wednesday, April 12, 2006 at 6:44:35 PM
First of all, there is no campaign that I know of to lure Democrats into the Green Party.
What I am suggesting is that people who already believe in the Ten Key Values of the Green Party, stop voting for a party that does not have the same values they do, and start voting their values. Unlike the Democrats, we do not want people who do not share our values to join our party. If a Joe Lieberman, with money, political power, name recognition, and everything else it takes to get elected in our rigged system, tried to run as a Green, we would not endorse him because he does not share our values. But the Democrats will.
There is, however, a well-funded Democratic Party campaign to lure Green Party voters into the Democratic Party. This campaign is based entirely on negativity, smears, lies, and talking points like only the Democratic Party can win, so grow up and join the team -- forget your childish values, just hold your nose and vote Democrat because if you don't the Republicans will win again. This campaign was successful in 2000 and again in 2004. In both elections the Democrats got the majority of the popular vote. But they didn't win because they didn't want to win, they wanted to cave to the Republicans because they felt it was for the good of the country. Do you think that caving to the Republicans did our country any good? Are you going to fall for that same negative campaign a third time?
Try thinking in a positive way for a change, Ikster. You, presumably, are a U.S. citizen with the right to vote. You can vote for what you believe in, or you can vote for people who don't represent what you believe in because you think that they're slightly less evil than the Republicans, and that they're the only ones who can win. You can vote against your own best interests, as most Democrats and Republicans do, or you can vote what you believe the way I and my fellow Greens do. You are not trapped. You do have a choice. If you cannot vote for your own best interests, nobody else will do it for you. Do you want peace, justice, and a healthy environment, or do you prefer pork barrel politics as usual?
Many people say they want peace, justice, and a healthy environment, but they vote for pork barrel politicians. That's cutting your own throat. You're selling yourself and your country short. You have the potential to be a better person and a better citizen than that. If you choose not to realize that potential, that's your choice and nobody else's.
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Mark E. Smith (20 articles, 28 quicklinks, 68 diaries, 817 comments)
on Wednesday, April 12, 2006 at 11:31:30 PM
I think Mark's article is beautiful. However, I am not ready to pack in the Democratic Party.
Our party used to believe in the values that Mark cherishes. It did until the Republicans turned our election process into what is now old hat: the infamous reliance on money and virulence.
We weren't armed. Was Nixon the first in his campaign against Helen Gahagan Douglas? It was shocking how well it worked and the Democrats had no answer. There may be no answer. This kind of politics will always win under our present election system. Sadly, it is evident that money buys votes and the Republicans will always have more of it.
I think we must skirt around the problem - we can't join in the money fray, as we have shamefully tried to do. It won't work for us. I do believe there is a solution and it's so easy. No one can disagree with it as not being fair.
I think that through Instant Reunoff Voting we will get our party back, and to that end I am spending my energy.
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Joylew (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments)
on Thursday, April 13, 2006 at 10:46:22 AM
I am also pushing for some form of ranked voting, for several very good reasons. One reason is that is saves taxpayers the cost of expensive run-off elections. Another reason is that the Republicans have a time-proven tactic of running as many candidates as they can to let Diebold have an excuse for holding the Democratic candidate in any race to just under the percentage of votes needed to avoid a run-off election, and then putting all their money and campaign tricksters behind the Republican candidate in the run-off so that Diebold has an excuse to hand them the election no matter what the exit polls may say.
But none of this will have any effect whatsoever on the Democratic Leadership Council, or on the type of candidate who chooses to run under the banner of a party that no longer represents their beliefs, in the hopes that by doing so they will be able to win the election. Sometimes it works, but by then the candidate is beholden to the party and its leaders for their campaign support and can no longer be effective in seeking to change the party from within, even if that was their original hope.
It is very difficult for a person to admit that they are addicted to alcohol, a drug, or to a political party that is hurting them and those close to them. Many years ago I had a friend who was in denial about a drug problem and kept saying that he was going to quit on Wednesday. Wednesdays came and Wednesdays went, but he never quit.
If you are proud of what the Democratic Party has done for you in the last 6 years, you don't have a problem. If you aren't, and you are still voting for them, it might be time that you take a good hard look at what you are doing to yourself and your country by continuing to enable them. The longer you continue to enable the Democrats, the longer they will continue to enable the Republicans, and the longer we will all continue to suffer.
Help is available. Read the Ten Key Values of the Green Party and see if you agree with them. If you do, the next step is to find out when your local Greens are meeting, and to attend that meeting. You might not enjoy it. You might find it uncomfortable to be around people who do not consider issues like the Iraq war, treason, or environmental pollution to be negotiable. If you don't think it is really a problem if Bush contines in power, the Iraq war continues for a few more years, and radioactivity continues to poison our troops and our environment for a few more years, then you belong with the Democratic Party, as they are more open to appeasing the Republicans on these and many other issues.
On the other hand, if you think that enough is enough, and that we've really already had more than enough, you've already take the first step towards recovery, by admitting that the problem exists. It isn't a small step and it isn't an easy step, but without taking that all-important first step, it really is impossible to get anywhere at all.
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Mark E. Smith (20 articles, 28 quicklinks, 68 diaries, 817 comments)
on Thursday, April 13, 2006 at 6:55:58 PM
