I'm sick of More Dems. I want Better Dems. [View All]

From Daily Kos:

by ultrageek:

This is a rant. It is unequivocally a rant. I don't usually rant. But here it is.

After Carter, the media said the Democratic party was dead, and the Democrats believed the media, because the media was liberal, and if the liberals say the Democrats are dead, well, they just must be.

And the media said that only way the Democrats could live was by stealing planks from the Republican party. So we got tough on crime. Crazily tough on crime. So that we now have more people in prison per capita than South Africa under Apartheid or the Soviet Union with their archipelagos stretching across Siberia.

Then we threw away the jobs. We threw Unions under the bus. We opened up Free Trade with any nation whose name we could spell. The last act Clinton did with a Democratic House and Senate was not to raise the minimum wage; it was to get NAFTA through.

Then we triangulated and watered down everything we believed in. We capitulated on everything that made us Democrats.

And look what we have.

We have a President who could have been the next FDR fritter every program he has away in pursuit of Bipartisanship. We have a weak stimulus package. We will have a weak health care package. Then a weak climate package. Then what? A weak jobs package? A weak Social Security package? A weak education package? A weak civil rights package? A weak stance against torture? A weak stance in favor of the government's rights to tap your phone, read your email, digitize your image, put cameras up everywhere? Or against it? At what point is it so weak that it doesn't matter what side of the argument you're on? Is a win in name only really worth the fight?

No. Screw it. I'm throwing down the gauntlet. If you want to be a Democrat, you have to...

1-Stand up for the America by standing up for the Constition, the Rule of Law, Habeas Corpus

2-Stand up for those who have problems standing on their own: the children, the elderly, the infirmed, the women, the gays, the polar bears

3-When you stand up for America and you stand with those who have problems standing on their own, you STAND FOR THE AMERICAN WORKER, you stand for logical immigration, you stand for HEALTH CARE with a robust PUBLIC OPTION, you stand against the DONUT and Medicare Part D.

For Heaven's Sake, if you can't stand up for these simple basic things, don't call yourself a Dem. Call yourself an I-CT or something, but, not a Dem. And don't be surprised if real Dems run against you.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/14/793315/-Im-sick-of-More-Dems.I-want-Better-Dems.

I think those 3 criteria are understandable and simple enough.