Race to the Top=No Child Left Behind. I will not support democrats who support privatization of our public school system. Give me liberal democrats who will fight for a fully funded public school system, campaign finance reform, and true single payer healthcare then I will vote democrat.

in the general then blame yourself for the subsequent shift to the right; you would be part of the cause.

Invoke your second amendment rights?

Let the Rethugs take over in the hopes that they'll dig their own graves?

short sighted and narrow minded.. totally missing the big picture. Perhaps some day they will wake up.

decided that every 6th grader had to take 6th grade math. My son being autistic and in special education was at a 4th/5th grade math comprehension level at the time, but was forced like all the other students to take 6th grade math. That is when I woke up and quit the democratic party. Do I have solutions? Absolutely. I'm not allowed to say what that solution is on this website. It would get me banned, but I do have solutions.

President Obama and the Democrats are the only things stopping us from being further steamrolled by the Republicans.

The fact that the democrats won't fight for my son's education only leaves me to fight for it. If not me then who? Give me a democratic candadite that will fight for fully funding public education, campaign finance reform, and real single payer healthcare and I will vote democrat. Otherwise you will have to win without me.

win some seats, but I will not support blue dog democrats anymore. Never again.

Last edited Mon Jul 8, 2013, 02:04 PM - Edit history (2)

you would be best served to try and understand where that poster is coming from so that you can change his mind, rather than attempting to verbally beat him into submission.

If we lose focus on who the real enemy is then we will certainly lose the battle.

And cutting off ones nose to spite ones face is a coping method, then that person may be too lost to reason with.

crying, asking to skip school, and thinking he is stupid when in fact it is the people pushing Race to the Top who are stupid, she will do anything for her son.

I can only imagine the pain you feel when he is suffering at the hands of idiots.

I'm curious and hope you won't mind answering.

Since your son has a diagnosis of autism, I'm assuming he's covered by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and has an IEP. I'm also assuming that you tried using the various provisions of the IDEA that are supposed to prevent districts from doing things like this, but were unsuccessful.

How did that happen? Did you try filing a lawsuit under IDEA? Does "race to the top" over-ride all the protections in the IDEA?

Thanks in advance. As a disability rights advocate I'm very sorry--and very worried--to hear about this sort of thing happening.

personal to someone.

Also, how is losing faith in the system "cutting off one's nose?" Abusing the poster does nothing to address his belief that he has no power over the future. You will not gain political support by insulting people any more than you can cure depression by insisting that one should "look on the bright side." If one could address that fundamental feeling of powerlessness that so many of our countrymen feel then Republicans would never be elected to high office again. Why is Mississippi a red state while having so many people of color who are ill-served by racist politicians, do you suppose?

That is not to say that you don't have the right to vent frustration, but we ought not dress it up as anything but that. I am an unenlightened child of an uncivilized age, and am equally guilty of bouts of atavistic spleen-venting, but I cannot claim it that behaviour is ever edifying. One assumes that the reason we all post here is to find others and exchange ideas and possibly move opinions, rather than locating groups of people whom we viscerally dislike so that we can call them motherfuckers.

n/t

No Democratic President could function well with the current Congress. No Democratic President in HISTORY has ever had to deal with almost non-stop filibusters in the Senate. And since the last election Obama has also had to work with a majority of Rethugs in the House.

And yet so many "progressives" would prefer to blame him than understand that he isn't a dictator and he can't do anything progressive without a much more progressive Congress.

n/t

especially the extremes on either end of the spectrum.

The only way to change this is to put into place a more progressive Congress with large enough majorities to push bills and appts. through without ANY Republican help because all they will do anymore is obstruct.

He chose his own cabinet. They were his choice.

No laws are better than damaging right wing laws.

by the Senate? And that the Senate has a minority that has been filibustering all but the most conservative of Obama's appointments?

Just cut straight to the chase and go full GOP. Cuz the idiot Republicans would say mean things and stuff, and we can't have that.

approval is even remotely possible.

directly by various Republicans appointed by Obama. So I have to wonder why if having more progressives in Congress is his need, why does he work against the ones he has in Congress now, elected at great cost by the People? All he does is complain about them, criticize them, mention that his best pal is Tom Coburn, call Grassely and honest broker and have Clapper lie to the Senate some more....
Good stuff. How many progressive Democrats does Obama need to be in Congress before he so much as acknowledges them? So far he 'reaches out' only to Republicans. So what's the metric?
It also gets old hearing lectures like yours while Obama chants about his bipartisan love of the Republicans over and over again. He does not blame Republicans. He tells Democrats 'I' keeping score, brother'. Then he praises Coburn some more...

A majority in the House, and a super-majority in the Senate.

Any less and compromise is the only option.

He can put through his policies by executive order then let the courts decide it. It's what Clinton AND Bush did rather than compromise.

This 'compromise' nonsense gets us a few token scraps and gives Boner 98% of what he wants.

And he's been using them just as other Presidents have.

the Party Leadership back the Third Way 'dem'. Repeating what didn't work the last how many times now, is not going to change anything.

Talk to the Party Leadership and tell THEM to stop backing Corporate sponsored candidates.

This is exactly the same 'advice' we have received for over a decade now. It's time to change what we know is doomed to failure.

Eg, I want to know from now on, who will be in the President's Cabinet. This should be major issue for those of us trying to get rid of Republicans only to find them being restored to powerful positions by the very person we elect to get rid of them.

I hope this is not going to be the Party's position once again, try for the progressive, then after we ensure their failure, vote for our Corporate Candidate because of the 'd' after his/her name. We'll make sure you get to do that, again'. No thank you, no more support for Third Party, Way infiltrators from the Corporate world.

Do you have any other ideas as this has completely failed.

... and agree with it 100%.

But I would suggest you not waste your time trying to spread the message here. No one is listening - because they can't hear you over the din of their own stupidity.

Connect with a GOTV organization in your own community, and direct your time and talents there. The real world is open to what you have to say - while DU, not being affiliated with the real world by any stretch, is not.

You may indeed have a valid point(s) in your argument, however referring to others who post here as stupid, is probably a pretty surefire way of them finding a way to ignore what you are saying.

Very sad.

I then wonder why I hang out with such a group of idjits.

Ya just can't win.

(BTW, I'm one of 10 people here running trying to throw out the Republicans in town offices and not one of the others has heard of DU.)

for this coming elections.

As I've no plans to vote either, having become disillusion with our Dem party too.

about how you're not going to vote, because you want to "send a message" to the Democrats.

I don't know if you're aware of the realities, but when you fail to vote, there is no 'message' delivered to anyone. There isn't a red light that goes off in a Democratic HQ somewhere that flashes OMG! Katashi_itto DID NOT VOTE!

No one will be calling you, emailing you, texting you to ask WHY you didn't vote, and what can be done to make amends for any wrongdoing you've perceived, or to inquire as to what the party can do to garner your vote in future.

Your non-vote will be unnoticed, unremarked upon, and unimportant - and your 'message' will remain unsent.

But please proceed in thinking that if you don't vote - in the next election or ever - will be headline news anywhere but inside your own self-absorbed little head.

Last edited Tue Jul 9, 2013, 07:12 AM - Edit history (2)

Thought you had something viable to say, guess I was wrong.

It's a pity to watch DU turn further and further into a cesspool, where people who disagree with the current administration are subject to RW "politics of elimination".

What I find really important is at graduate school, everyone I know, has also lost interest in voting or campaigning for the Dems or anyone for that matter.

This is a group, myself included, that busted our butts for campaigning for Obama.

The inherent problems with Congress are not Obama's fault, however, his overall economic polices, except for the social issues which are, overall not progressive.

The general view is, do we get death by a thousand paper cuts by the Dems? or get the steamroller by Repukes.

At least with the steamroller effect there is a chance Americans will wake up. Whats happening now is the "frog in a pot" effect, slowly boiling to death, rights dribbling away and just sitting there taking it.

But as for "self-absorbed little head. " couldn't be further from the truth, but obviously you've got an in road on my motivations with that searing intellect of yours.

It's just another excuse to bash Democrats. They are looking for new ones as we speak, since this one is getting old.

so you can feel better?

Your post is childish. What point have you made on any issue in that post? None.

me any longer. I'm interested in getting out the people who WILL vote in 2014. The ones that won't or who will vote for Republicans are simply not of interest to me.

GOTV 2014 and Beyond!

parties. Hard to say what will happen. I'm gonna work my ass off, as always, to get the job done re: 2014.

there (somebody citing Trotsky on FB today) that economic justice cannot be won without violence and that non-violence is a middle class hobby that enables the prolonged suffering of the poor. It would be consistent with this line of thought that, because violence is inevitable since the wealthy have not historically yielded anything without it, it would be best to take the mask off of unjust conditions. From this perspective, Democratic success in 2014 is part of the problem and Democratic defeat in 2014 is part of the solution, because worsening conditions across the nation will move more folks to "the Left", ready to do whatever is next.

This could be one explanation for why the polemic on this board appears to be completely unconcerned with the possibility that it contributes to defeat on its own issues.

say we can do it again. I do believe that both parties are compromised. Both parties have been bought, and both parties are broken, but I do not in any way advocate violence as the answer.

non-violent movement for social justice than that which Trotsky advocate assumes to be the case for non-violenc, not one that just sits and waits for others to get it right and challenges the whole discourse little more than just saying, in effect, "I told you so."

Though I am non-violent, I am most definitely not non-aggressive. I'm not passive.

would bring us to rock bottom and usher us to a better world. We saw how well that worked out. When I think of how different the world could be if Al Gore had been President for those 8 years instead. . . . Someone in the Gore administration would have listened to Richard Clarke and we might have averted 9/11; there would have been no war in Iraq; someone at the top would have believed in governmental action on climate change . . .

inertia in all systems.

It is my opinion that that is a calculated disregard, not an ignorant one, a calculated disregard that operates on the assumption that people are too stupid to learn in any other way than by punishment, so authentic alternatives are not developed because there is always this plausibly deniable justification for not doing that other stuff, so the in-crowd sticks together and enforces conformity at ALL costs.

If the whole thing utterly crashes and utterly burns, they win anyway and get to say "I told you so" and they will at least have one another and whatever resources they have developed for themselves. It's another branch of the class war manifested amongst the cognoscenti instead of the wealthy, though the wealthy are quite welcome after being thoroughly "Peace-and-Justice"-washed with the politically correct quantity of crocodile tears for folks like those who were killed at the Boston Marathon, or for the elders who are put-down, all according to accepted medical practices, mind you, once they are diagnosed with dementia and the costs of caring for them, along with the rest of the "unworthy", in the warehouses that we refer to as "long-term care" in this country, exceed the cost:benefit ratios defined by the "new" order.

I am all for electing more progressives to Congress but you won't get any help from the President. He's shown repeatedly to be with the DLC/Triangulation crowd.

They are all far more progressive than he, is so please spare me the lectures.

on me and those who live in dark blue states/areas like I do.

and if they can become president, great, but chances are, they will not be.

I actively want a liberal,and fully intend to heap hellfire upon Hillary when she tries to choke the primary process out again in 2016.

But I have no illusions about a GOP president not being the key to letting the GOp get all it wants, how they want it.

the mind continues to boggle.

Democratic majorities in both houses. The goofball tea-baguettes fouled up everything from day one, even with a minority in one house.

That said yes, a Democratic majority in both houses and a Democratic president would be more likely to at least propose something. I think that really depends on who the president is though. And the tea-baguettes will start screaming about national defense as soon anyone even mentions funding for NSA big ear programs.

It looks very much like they're trying to lose.

... as to why the Democrats can't do anything because of the filibuster, which I think he WANTS in place so that he can placate his donors to NOT do anything. That is why he squashed filibuster reform, and is a big example of how the "centrist" (aka corporatist) elements of the Democrats are there to make sure that they don't do anything.

But until we get instant runoff voting, we are stuck with having to make sure that we have good primaries to get the best candidates and not let the corporatists roll in these contests.

We should encourage all third party candidates to become single issue candidates for instant runoff voting, even if they campaign on many other issues not being discussed, etc., so that if they can threaten the races they are in, they can use IRV being passed as a recipe for them pulling out of the race, so that in the future, there's more of a shot at them winning. They need to make sure and focus on the system that works against them now and use their threat of messing up the race to force the system to be changed.

president. He can't be trusted. Not after signing the NDAA,which included the provisions about indefinite detention, and fighting to keep indefinite detention after it was struck down by the appeals judge last year.
Unless you don't think the US needs Habeas corpus protections.

This, from the head of the Democratic Party, would go a long way toward earning back voters trust.

Absolutely correct!

It is a myth that the main supporters of President Obama have waivered whatsoever.

And again, another weekend at the beach, and no one on any day was talking about the NSA.

A lot of people yesterday late afternoon were talking about the 97degree weather and the miracle of the SF plane crash with only two people dying.

Same at the health club, where politics is talked about, not one person has mentioned it.

just an FYI.

Besides, it is the HOUSE that finances things. And the house is republican.
The real person to question would be Republican Peter King of Long Island, the major voice for all things war.

So you won't.

I know some don't like it, but 95% of the democratic party will.

As David Essex and Michael Damian sang "Rock on".

nt

Don't see a true blue liberal on the horizon for 2016 either.

One can be liberal/progressive without being a strong Democratic partisan and one can be a strong Democratic partisan without being a liberal/progressive.

The people who make me the most discouraged are those who are Democrats who fight a liberal/progressive agenda much of the time, I already have to battle all the Republicans all of the time to move to the left, also having to fight people supposedly on my side who seem to have been marinaded in Republican/conservative talking points so long they have seeped into their very essence is remarkably discouraging.

To have been shown correct on major issue after major issue and still the wallflower in American politics is discouraging, every time you bash liberal ideas as a Democrat you sow discouragement among less partisan liberals that they can change things.

I'm close to giving up myself, my interest in politics has done nothing positive for my life and ended up costing me much that I really regret.

Back during Bush I hadn't realized we were unified only accidentally.

.1. Those of us who detested Bush's policies.
.2. Those of us who detested Republicans.

And we seem to find out that group 2 liked many of the policies just not the team colors.

Now I have had policy disagreements before but most of them boiled down to tactics. And hyperbole exists online so it never bugged me when inevitably one of the same 10 or 20 posters inevitably branded me a traitor or troll or hater or whatever.

But this NSA thing is so fundamental to my value system....to my core belief that my thoughts are my own and that nobody has a right to divine them through a wholesale data collection. After a month of passionately trying to explore and warn only to find out that many yet again hurl the same terms to marginalize yet again...but this time in the service of the simply indefensible....well I do wonder if I am in the right place too.

So it's not as if Congress is preventing him from making major changes.

entire Congress were Dem.

Run progressive candidates I WANT to vote for. That's the Democratic Party's end of the deal. I will never hold my nose to vote for a "less shitty candidate" again. EVER.

Go ahead with the browbeating, I am immune to it's effect.

Are you suggesting we elect a congress who will fight the president on this?

Enough of the NSA whining, Democrats should not be whining like GOP's, we are much better than the whining scene. I am hearing threats from some post about losing the Senate in 2014, energies should be placed on getting more registered to vote and GOTV at election time. I get the feeling here some are threatening to vote for Republicans, it would nor be our finest day to vote for a platform which goes against our Democrat values. We see the crap repubs are most happy to do, we need Congress to turn blue, Democrats provided sanity for fourth years and now we have a crazy Ted Cruz who can't be crazy enough. Be a Democrat, stand for Democrat values, GOTV and work for Democrat candidates.

Obama has already tightened the noose on the surveillance and security state, FFS. And he didn't need super majorities to do it. So what evidence is there that he would do anything differently if he had greater control? My expectation is exactly as you said-- "more of the same."

And Obama dropped another Bush program in 2011. But don't let facts get in the way of your argument.

Who would have thought that rewriting history might actually become a real occupation? Well, George Orwell, I suppose.

Like maybe they need every vote they can get.

Color me disillusioned. And Obama and the Dems did it to me. I don't even care any more. We're all screwn.

Bake

in these districts and demand they be so, even if it means primarying the older ones that had to "attract conservative votes".

Republicans have packed many districts with larger progressive majorities to take them away from neighboring districts. We should make sure that those reps that are in these districts are true progressives. It is an opportunity to get better politicians in (even if we still have a minority in congress), so that we have a more solid and ethically sound minority.

If these congress people can be very vocal and win strongly in these district on progressive populist messages that aren't only on social issues, but anti-corporatist issues that might cross party lines, who knows, it might even help the independents, etc. in the neighboring districts vote out Republicans there as well.

In short, don't accept the corporatist line of we need "moderates" in this part of the country, when in many areas, that simply might not be true any more.

I'm going to continue voting Dem because then there is no excuse when they don't do anything unrepublican. That, and I can argue from a solid point that I did my part, so you can't ignore me.

But you and the others who are enabling the worst behavior imaginable from a President that takes our support for granted is almost a good enough reason not to bother. If the number of actual voters reaches teen percentages, we'll be officially known as a puppet gov't nation...and we're already over 50% non-voters.

So pour yourself a drink- you're inspiring people not to vote.

This is just an echo from the people running the (D) party- we need your votes until we're not running and then we'll pretend you don't exist. Rahm even said, "We have no base" before he called us "Fucking retards"

By saying we need to vote harder so the President can do things he clearly isn't interested in doing...

for more whining and griping and complaining and bashing. Must be miserable to have totally lost faith in everything.

personal life, completely pessimistic when it came to the world and our species. Many of us have that view. I am very happy in my own life. I have a loving husband of 19 years, two beautiful children. I have interests that make me happy such as science and buddhism. As far as my view on our country and the world I am very pessimistic. The rich own absolutely everything. They are driving down wages for average workers while earning disgusting amounts of money themselves and buying our politicians so they can continue to drive down wages and privatize our public institutions. Neither party is doing anything to stop it. So, no we are not miserable. We are happy and strong people who refuse to give in to the rich, who refuse to stop fighting.

I think we probably have just a few good decades left on this planet. I could list off about a dozen plausible scenarios of global catastrophe but I prefer to be more optimistic and believe we can work this mess out eventually. The thing that gives me hope is someone like President Obama who is smart enough to understand these issues and the complexities involved and is patient enough to try to work through them one at a time. If the Republicans take control.. game over.

he's pretty much set for life so I don't think money is his biggest concern at the moment.

privatizing our public institutions like education, and we would be prosecuting bankers. Money is most definitely a concern.

please reread previous post... I think you misunderstood.

up for re-election so why would he base his policy decisions on how much money he could get? I can't answer why but he has allowed corporations to help write his policies, so it is pretty obvious he is bought by the lobbyists and the corporations ie bank regulations, lack of bank prosecutions, healthcare reform, education funding.

I believe he believes he is doing the right thing and what's best for the country... given the circumstances.

Even if he did think he was doing the right thing, I can no longer vote for people who think the right thing is to let corporations help write policy and to give them amnesty when they steal money from the American people.

Not smart.

You can vote for whomever you want. I have enough respect for each individual's right to vote that I would never tell you who to vote for. Too bad many on here can't return that courtesy. I've heard over and over and over again it is the liberals fault when the republicans win. Sorry but that argument just doesn't work with me. I put the responsibility at the politicians' feet and my only repsonsibility is to vote my conscience.

You certainly have every right to vote against your best interests.. there are millions in this country that do every election.

You bet I complain when the President I helped elect does things that hurt people, and are contrary to what he promised.

You bet I complain when people say that I and others need to lockstep and vote when they've hurt our families, friends and even our world.

You bet I bash when they make it clear that they have no respect for us and what we've done to help them get elected, just to give everything to Wall St. and the MIC.

If I had faith in nothing, my world would be a serene place where I could simply laugh at what was going on. Because I care, I'm outraged that people who obviously don't want us in the party want our votes.

Guess what? Either our party needs to start doing their jobs, or they need to start asking republicans for their votes. Good luck with that.

You surely wont get it by bashing those who are between us and the Republican monster.

They are like spoiled children losing at checkers so they just throw the board on the floor.

by supporting this spying BS.

If we want to pick up seats in 2014 they should consider resigning.

How do we go about that?

not much happened

in case you didnt notice, this is Obama doing this to us.