It is the very barest of minimums.

If there is a litmus test those are the items that should be on it. I will add:

No lost ground literally on the environment

is We're not as bad as the other party. the slaughter will continue. the problem began with the abandonment of the working class and the poor. Why? cause they don't pay well.

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We have gone from a conception of parties as chosen tools for representation and real positive change to advance our ideals and goals...

to accepting that they are okay if they just don't hurt us...

to accepting that it's okay if they just don't hurt us *as much* as the other guy will.

It's a complete perversion of what democracy is supposed to be, what parties are supposed to be. It is a deliberate, authoritarian rewriting of the messaging. They want us to forget the purpose of political parties in a true democracy...why people form them and choose to be a part of them or not to be a part of them anymore. We are being retrained to see parties as entities apart from ourselves, that we need to appeal to for consideration, and to which we owe loyalty whether they are working on our behalf or not. That's authoritarianism.

Then someone has to make up the difference. A senate race cost $42M. For a national run it would be 50 times this amount, do you think the DNC could raise this amount of money for state and national elections. Don't see that amount being donated.

Out of the question!

Tax cuts for wealthy, perpetual war and austerity! You'll accept it or there will be nothing but Republicans for now and forever.

corporations. it's that simple for me.

with candidates whose promise is to tread water.

Those are five very important measures you identify, but I'd demand progress somewhere in there.

Good god.

How about the disabled?

We need GAINS. We need a candidate serious about demanding GAINS. Our middle class has been virtually obliterated, millions have been driven into poverty, we are in perpetual war, our schools and cities are being looted, our environment is being destroyed, and our nation has been turned into a journalism-intimidating police state where police are killing citizens and we are all spied upon.

We need gains, damn it.

THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.

I wrote this piece below a while back about how the malignant propaganda we marinate in every day changes expectations of the Democratic Party. That first we were taught to be happy with candidates who promised just to help a LITTLE. Then with candidates who simply would not HURT us like the Republicans would. And now to candidates who won't hurt us AS MUCH.

HOLDING THE LINE.

LBJ, for example, started cutting funds himself for the Great Society programs in 1965, before there was ANY political need to.

Carter proposed cuts when there were solid Democratic majorities in both houses.

Clinton did nothing BUT accept cuts(he didn't even fight them when he still had a Dem congress in 1993-94).

To be able to fight for gains, we need to be able to count on at least not losing what we've already got.

And we need to know that the Dem presidents we elect will have our backs on at least saving what currently exists from death by budgetary starvation.

We would still have DOMA, DADT, Bush's tax cuts etc.

as a guide things well usually don't work out that way when the inequality is a bad as it is and nothing is done to fix it with events not turning out good for the elected leaders or the really rich.

It makes a big mess and it is hard on the furniture too!

Plus the out come is also uncertain for the masses it could lead to positive change or negative change, it would depend on who the new leaders are.

People need a REAL reason to get off their ass to go vote not well, just, because, not as bad, etc.......

How about for starters Elect Democrats and we will fight for without compromise:

Universal Health Care
Free College for all
Free Daycare
Mandatory LIVING Wage
Invest in the Commons

We don't ask nicely to be given a bit more salary and the ability to be more comfortable within an authoritarian oligarchy.

We require our representation back, the restoration of our civil liberties and democratic system of government. The oppressive systems....secret government, mass surveillance, suppression of journalism, militarized police....All of that has to go.

This is not just a matter of reversing the impoverishment. We need our democracy back.

the ballot as a initiative in all 50 states it is not going to happen anytime soon.

A tactic in which negativity and false hopelessness are deliberate and malignant Third Way talking points.

Watch for that. It's particularly evident, because it *always* pops up regarding those issues, like money out of politics, that would actually target the problem of oligarchy, rather than pretending by offering band-aids.

If we want a peaceful revolution we will have to fight for it, not bitch about it on the internets.

and a tactic.

Major changes happen when people demand them. The Third Way spends an awful lot of time trying to create the false impression that people in this country aren't fed up with what is being done to them and hungry to reform a corrupt and broken system.

The Third Way spend an awful lot of time trying to spread hopelessness and the impression that getting people behind these things that would actually restore democracy would just be too difficult and we should focus on lesser goals....like asking for a bit more comfort in our oppression.

they, unknowingly, voted for the heat to be turned up on them so to speak.

So sit back and enjoy the show, the GOP is going to inflict the pain and America is either going to take it and in 16 say thank you may I have some more or get really fucking pissed off.

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Recognize the corporate propaganda machine and the lesser-of-evils rhetoric being used to convince you to tolerate the dismantling of your democracy.

People are upset and demoralized. Note the pathetic turnout. They didn't *choose* Republican policy. They either stopped voting, or voted in protest for the party out of power, because they perceive that the policies don't change anymore no matter which party is elected. And they are right, as research and reality show. We don't have a functioning democracy. A monied elite is driving our policy at this point, and the people have no impact on its direction.

The best way to mobilize support to create real change is to show people that you're serious about real change. Not just another corrupt politician giving lip service and dithering around the edges. That you recognize the REAL problem and are serious about addressing it. The real problem is corporate money corrupting our political system and making us an oligarchy rather than a democracy.

in addition to environmental challenges. To say 'we will hold this ground' is surrender. That's not how we got rid of DADT and killed off DOMA. That's not how any progress is made and progress is needed.

you excoriate others about LGBT civil rights saying they don't place enough importance on them but you never show any concern about those suffering economically.

They are in fact the top two on the OP's list. I made several posts about homelessness just yesterday. You are mistaken in your thinking that economic issues are separate from human rights.
It's amazing how you go on and on about what I don't 'seem' to give a damn about when I say the opposite of what you claim. I said we have to make progress for workers, not just hold ground. I said we have to make progress on poverty, not just hold ground. Yet you claim I said just exactly the opposite of that, 'seems' you say.
Seems to me I can speak for myself and don't need anyone to attack me for what they imagine I have said.
Got a complaint, quote me. Don't characterize me with what you feel 'seems' to be the case. Particularly when it is the exact opposite of what I have said.

I came back to add two articles from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
Article 22.
Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.
Article 23.
(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
(4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

legacy.

always been a good goal in that circumstance. Hold the line if you cannot make gains. The issues change but the ones you list are very basic to what we need.

We have united oligarchy.

That's what the Princeton study revealed. We have corporate money flooding both sides of the aisle in Washington and corrupting the direction of both major parties, to the point that citizens have no impact on policy anymore.

the Eisenhower Administration. As to the Oligarchy it does seem like we have one now based solely on the Rs. However the goals of the Democratic Party should still remain the same and that is the question: What should our candidate stand for?

Money out of politics.

No, not based "solely" on the R's. The real enemy is corporatism subverting democracy within BOTH parties. We have united oligarchy, not democracy. "Republicans" are a sham enemy. Neither party is running traditional Republicans or Democrats anymore. They are corporatists on both sides.

That's what the Princeton study showed. That's what oligarchy means. Our form of government in this country has changed.

same. Sorry.

I would think at bare minimum, we should agree on that list. It is not that much to ask for really.

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We need to demand, and expect from any politician who claims to want to be a Democrat in a democratic system, much, much more than that.

Last edited Sat Nov 15, 2014, 01:01 PM - Edit history (1)

Those should be GIVENS, not the big sell.

"Don't hurt us more" is what we have been trained to accept as good enough from our candidates. That's malignant messaging from oligarchs.

We need a strong movement to demand *restoration* of our democracy and *reversal* of the looting that has taken place, not just promises to curb new assaults. Fundamental movement to restore a government of, by, and for people rather than corporations.

I'm with you on everything you've posted.

I want advances and won't be sold the bill of goods that it's "impossible" for them to happen. If "stop shit from getting worse" is our default setting we'll just continue the monumental screwing we've been getting for the last three to four decades.

Not. Good. Enough.

I expect 2 more things on my list of bare minimums:

1. No more war.
2. No more neo-liberal education/privatization "reforms."

I'm a little hesitant with the "no lost ground," as I am pretty fierce about wanting to regain already lost ground, but as a bare minimum, that's a start.

That our own party won't agree to do what's right for the nation.

The corporations have been trying to do this for a long time.

They bought the Republican Party first, and for a long time the Democratic Party was the only thing standing between Americans and total corruption and oligarchy.

Then Democrats sold out, too....and now our democracy is essentially gone, replaced by this sham democracy propaganda state.

I agree with the priorities but disagree with only wanting to not lose ground. We need to gain ground.

This is about setting a MINIMUM standard...obviously we would push for much more.

You mean....like the Third Way?



Hands down, that's the funniest post I've read all day. Granted, it's morning. But that will be a tough one to beat. Thanks.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5824859