Blue vs. Blue

OK, I've been digesting the huge stinking lump of filth that was served up Tuesday night and the results are dribbling out little by little. Here's the newest piece of the analysis:

We must acknowledge and act in accordance with the vast divide that currently exists between the Democratic party establishment and its rank and file supporters. There are huge differences between the party leadership and the party base not just in terms of ideology or strategy but in terms of understanding just how fucking bad this situation is.

Case in point, the Kerry concession. I supported this guy partly out of my belief that if the election was stolen again we wouldn't have any of this "graciously bowing out for the good of the country" bullshit again. So, before even all the provisional ballots are counted in ohio, what does Kerry do? Graciously bow out for the good of the country and promise to heal the wounds, etc. etc. etc. And now Bush has responded as we might have expected by promising to reach out to Democratic voters & politicians, etc.etc.etc.

Come on, people. We lived through the last 4 years. We know Bush is going to 'reach out' to Democrats like a shark reaches out to mackerel.

Kerry apparently doesn't know this, or he's willing to pretend he doesn't. Why? Because he still has a career in the Senate to take care of and he still thinks he can work with these people. Similarly, Pelosi is now extending an olive branch. Why? Because she is evidently laboring under the same delusion. You would think they would get it by now that they are in the middle of a war against an adversary who has already proven that no mercy will ever be shown to a conquered enemy. Why are they falling for this "bipartisan" bullshit again?

Well, one possibility is that they have been held hostage for so long out there in D. C. that they have come down with a collective case of Stockholm Syndrome.

The other is that because they have careers to worry about, they are too busy focusing on the next campaign cycle to think about the fact that there are some potentially long-term effects to this particular loss. Such as, for instance, the disappearance of reliable voting from the American political scene. They're going to be about what's in it for them, and the most important question for them will always be, "Am I going to have a job two years/four years/six years from now?"

Because they're under so much time pressure they will always be ready to take the easy road--which is always going to be to give up the long-term fight for the short-term one.

Well, you know what, I'm 35 years old and I intend to spend the rest of my life living in this country. I cannot afford to take the short-term view. Things cannot go on getting worse at this clip and they will unless foundational, structural changes are made. These are the things we have to do:

1) Reverse the trend of media conglomeration that makes it so easy to manipulate public perception

2) Reform the voting process (absolutely boot out Diebold, but that is not enough)

3) Return to the values we started with: economic and social justice, peace, equality, tolerance, civil rights, human rights, freedom of speech, thought, & religion.

And when I say 'we' I do not mean the politicians, I mean us. Because I'll tell you what: doing these three things may well mean that we are going to be the minority party for a while.

And that is why the leadership will never take them on--because they don't want to be the minority party. Well, people, if 51% of the folks in this country really want George Bush back, then common sense, honesty, compassion, and tolerance are just going to have to be minority values until we can build a country where that's not true any more. So instead of selling the party base out in order to court that section of the country that grooves on the idea of being part of a brutal theocratic empire, how about we rebuild a party that will really defend the interests of all the people who are going to be put up against the wall now that the revolution has come?

The DLC and DNC will never do this because they have too much to lose. Well, we have nothing left to lose. We staked everything on being able to win by playing it their way and we lost. OK. That plan sucked. Time for a new plan.

My plan is this. We assume that with things as they are, we will lose the 2008 presidential election. So we focus on making the gains we can make. We push voting reform--by ourselves, because the people at the top won't, because they're afraid of making themselves the 'fringe.' We push media reform--by ourselves, because the people at the top won't, because they need the media on their side (and they still think they can get it on their side, poor deluded bastards). We identify and contribute to new Congressional candidates who will push for these things. And we start taking over the party at the local level.

It will take us a long time to rebuild democracy from the ground up. But that's what we have to do. It will take more than four years. It will require us to accept the possibility that we will be a minority party for a while. We can accept that--indeed we have to accept that--because we are fighting for our lives, not just our jobs.

We get the party back first. Then, when we've made something of it, we can go get the country back.

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

And they're learning to accept it

Is that it will hurt us in the one place we're actually doing well - the Northeast.

The Northeast benefits most from free trade. If we start pushing economic populism our blue states will become less blue with no guarantee the red states will become less red.

I have no idea what the total solution is, but I'd be cautious about hanging our hat on the mantle of economic populism.

I could not agree more with holding to our true values which are now "minority" values. The reds have held on to theirs for years when then were the minority and look where it got them.

I also believe things have to be a lot worse for the average citizen before they will get off their fat conservative asses and actually do something for someone other than themselves.

All that being said, I do not see ANY leadership at the national level today that will prove the "quick fix" so many are hoping for. I think we need to be quite, work in our communities, and wait for said leader to emerge.

As I stated in a previous post... you can't "DRAFT" a leader, they have to rise based on their deeds, not our wishes.

just my 2cents,

MZr7

have an enormous group of citizens who want to take America back. I do not think for one moment that Kerry or Gore lost. We are in the majority. However, we have let these right wing barf bags steal two plus elections. We even know how. Our first priority must be to raise such a hew and cry that only paper trail BBVs are used. Why would anyone who is not trying to cheat object to a paper trail? That has to be our first focus. We must talk to everyone about it. Even the Evangelicals should see the reason in that. Next we continue grass roots recruiting starting in a week or two. (We need a respite first, but not too long of one.) Then we need to start on the corporations (who are hurting in overseas already.) Boycott the products of all corps who send jobs overseas or who maintain tax free off-shore headquarters. Let's make them poison. GE is a good place to start....also insurance cos., oil cos. and pill pushing cos. Finally we go after the media. We start our own stations (as in Air America) and we let the advertisers know that we are boycotting their products if they advertise on Fox, then NBC, then ABC/Disney, then CNN, then whatever is left. We 50% of America; we have the internet; we can do it. We need some big names like Howard Dean with us. Sierra Club, Emily's List, etc. will all help if asked I firmly believe.