Step #1 to recover our weakening Party, from a late bloomer?

We must first recognize the essence of our problem and identify it... I am a late bloomer to come to this thought process, I am sure, but isn't this what it is all about?

Republicans are winning because they back small businesses and corporations and corporations are running this country.

Democrats represent the common folk – supposedly each and every individual and their rights. That also includes unions that used to hold much power. We all know that the unions are losing their power and that the individual is not an “organized group:”

So, until something changes Democrats will continue to lose.

The Republicans have been laying the groundwork for years, they have continuously been buying up corporate interests, which in turn bought up the media along with most everything else.

Organization is the root of the problem. The Republicans pretty much act with one voice. It is easier not to have to think and have your own opinion but to share an opinion with a large POWERFUL group. You don’t have to agree with everything that has been represented by the group, you have just chosen to have “that group” represent your best interests and you have faith in their decisions. Whereas, the Democrats are constantly involved in each and every individual right, which causes dissention and eventually splits in the strength of the party. The Democrats, while trying to represent every individual right and while trying to keep every individual in it’s group is weakening because it basically comes down to pandering to the whim of each and every member rather then the members trying to proceed for the good of all. John F Kennedy said it best: “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”. Substitute: “Ask not what the Democrats can do for you, but what you can do for the Democrats”.

Simplistic… Yes, but I believe that this is the essence of our weakness, we are in the forest and we are blinded by all of the trees, we are in the herd of sheep trying to grab onto each and every individual sheep, we are failing from the inside, reaching and grabbing rather than holding onto and growing as a Shepard who “effectively” keeps the sheep together and therefore enables their longterm survival.

While “individual’s rights” are everything that we are fighting for and trying to preserve, the individuals must concede some things for the good of all, for the good of the group. We are losing our individual rights because there are too many individuals fighting for their own rights becoming little more than self serving.

We are doomed if we don’t come together as a group to preserve our groups rights and immediately stop fighting for our own individual rights. If that is at all possible – what do you think? Our group will only strengthen when we learn how to come together for the common good of all rather than “lobbying” for our own personal agendas.

Can we actually do something like this? I mean really? There is much ground to make up and there is Goliath in front of us. As basic as all of this is, it is what is the essence of what is wrong with our part(s)y.

We must all be willing to give up some things in order to be able to act as a group. How many of us are willing to do this, for the long haul? and with total dedication? How do we start? Can we rewrite the way in which we behave as Democrats?

"We must all be willing to give up some things in order to be able to act as a group."

Indeed. How about tired, old strategies and DLC bullshit.

Somehow the Dems did just fine representing all those disparate groups for an awful lot of years.

This is one of the DLC's main arguments -- that we have to throw over and basically sell out all the "identity politics" groups (viz., feminists, minorities, labor, etc.) and become more like Republicans to win.

Ain't gonna work, ain't gonna happen, and the grassroots rank and file and small time state level activists spoke loud and clear in electing Howard Dean who is the very antithesis of this kind of failed and failure-prone DLC thinking.

Please, to the original poster and anyone who agrees with him: please just go join the republican party and stop mucking up ours. Or the Libertarians if you prefer. If you have no place for me and mine in YOUR version of this party and where it ought to go, I have no place for you in my life, value system, or party. And I think I and mine outnumber you.

Smarten up or scram!

We don't need to give up our individual thoughts, rights or values. That isn't the point. The point is that we need to speak more clearly with one voice. The right wing has taken over the corporations therefore the media, while we have had many splintered groups speaking out there for us with many different messages all lobbying for their own personal gains. We haven't come together with a cohesive message. We are too busy protecting our own asses to realize that our asses are getting kicked because we have isolated ourselves into our own little worlds too effectively.

I do believe we need to come back to our base, but we also need to recognize that our world isn't the world of the 70's and prior - it has changed, the Republican Party has changed and the way that we hear the message has changed and the way that the world learns about current events has changed. Conveying the message and working together as a cohesive group is what WE need to do and we need to do it NOW. Somehow we got stuck in a time warp.

Go ahead and uninvite as many people as you wish, you will continue losing with that attitude.

Organize! That's what we have to do.

It starts with your local party.

I have no answers--I am probably more of a late bloomer than you.

There is something that bothers me though. I honestly don't think it is our fault. I think we as individuals are dedicated and were dedicated during the last election. It is not our fault that Kerry lost or that we lost seats in the congress. We don't need to beat ourselves up and rend our garments while watching Democrat after Democrat sell us downstream time after time and then proceed to take the blame upon ourself. I have the feeling that there are factors beyond our control operating somewhere off our radar screen to which we, being late bloomers, are not privvy but perhaps some here who are better connected are and if so, I would ask them to post.

While I generally do not like to endow anyone with sainthood, my last ray of hope lies in Dean--that he will be a force that will get the party back on the progressive track.

I don't mean to blame "us" soley and directly, we did come together for Kerry, but not as a dedicated group properly organized. Once Kerry conceded, we all stepped back again and started lobbying for our own personal....whatever.

Two of the main keys to our dilemma are 1. organization 2. Leadership (and not necessarily in that order). Once that comes into play, then it is up to the rest of us to fore-go some of our own personal agendas and to jump on board for the good of all.

We are in really sorry shape right now because we as Democrats don't really even have the choice to follow a proclaimed leader or to cooperate with an "organization" because neither clearly and unmistakably exists. When that opportunity arises though, we must be prepared and willing to come together for the good of all.

Dean and one or two others are one of the only shining lights out there. I hope that their lights burn long enough and have the opportunity to grow.

It might be hard. We're a big, messy party with different reasons for being here. I don't think it has anything to do with "individual rights" -- we just care about different things (with a lot in common, too).

It's easier for repubs to speak with one voice because their issues are simpler: lower taxes, for ex. They all get on that bus.

I like that we're a big tent. Because of how strongly liberals and progressives feel about their issues, if we try to solidify around a few select issues, we'll lose people to the Greens and to other small parties.

Liberals tend to care about their issues more than about power. Repubs are more likely to take up an issue in order *to get power.*

Just some thoughts.

Their way has shown a strength that has literally beat us down though. I believe that we are like a family, sometimes what is best for the family isn't maybe agreeable or best for a member of the family, but in order to preserve the family that member must put themselves aside for a time.

As difficult - or impossible as that may seem, that is what has to happen. The Republicans did simplify it for their constituents and maybe they are the official "no brainers" of the world, but we have to overcome the simple minded answer. Their simple mindedness allowed them to grow and gain a power and we, while diverse and varied in our thoughts and ideas sacrificed the group for the individual.

The Republicans knew how to "take over" and strengthen with little passion or conviction, they recognized the simple truths - we need to sing the song together or the words will never be heard or understood. As long as we keep emphasizing individual messages and giving everybody a voice to speak their own views and placing EQUAL importance on it all simultaneously - nothing will be heard, it will be just noise.

Your solution is that we should each and all give up our pet whatevers in order to stand together as one unified party. Guess what, that's not a problem at all.

EXHIBIT A
Howard Dean's candidacy AND his recent election as DNC chair. His presidential run attracted everyone but fundamentalist Christians -- and even one or two of them -- people from all across the political spectrum. He attacted Greens, Libertarians, Socialists, Independents, Libertarians and even Republicans. Why? Not so much his policies (because most of us disagreed with him re SOMEthing or other0, but because he recognized and spoke the Truth, stood up for what he believed in, wanted more than anything to empower The People again, etc. His candidacy, his wide-ranging support and his incredible organization proves that it's not so much individual policies that are the key ingredient. (And before you point out that he didn't win the primary -- let ME point out that he was gunned down by his own party, and the media helped toward the end. We don't KNOW if he could have won the primary or not; he wasn't allowed to sink or swim on his own.)

He was elected chair of the DNC NOT because of his policies (he's not supposed to SET policies, according to Reid and Pelosi), but because of his strength, integrity, willingness to speak out, honesty, organizing ability, vision for the party. Everyday Dems spoke up loudly and clearly and fomented a coup against TPTB in the Party. It was a revolution, frankly, a very welcome one.

EXHIBIT B
John Kerry's candidacy. Not that many people loved Kerry or his policies, whatever they were. They just knew he was better than Bush. Furthermore, IMO evidence shows he actually won, which means there's NOTHING we need to do differently to win elections (altho a more exciting candidate with more clearly identifiable and internally consistent/congruent positions on things could only help).

that we do need to unify to be stronger. The unification behind Kerry didn't make any difference when it came to actually taking the WH and didn't last long enough to protest the obvious theft of the WH. The unification was superficial at best. We need a stronger and deeper unification. Whether Kerry won or not, he is not the President and that is the point. The Organization behind Bush put him in the WH AGAIN. That is one of the points. The other is that, Yes, Dean got in because of his leadership abilities....which is exactly one of the problems that I said we are sorely lacking in right now. If you noticed, I signaled out Dean as one of a couple of bright lights in the party. I just hope that his light can shine long enough to garner enough support AND that we can organize well enough to stop the stealing of the Presidency (and the rest of the Government).

Yes, another point, Dean was gunned down by his own party AND that is what is killing us! Our collective voices have been muted. I hope not for much longer though.

I'm not sure what we need to do next, but I know what doesn't work. Basically, chasing the chimera of the "moderate swing voter" as endorsed by the DLC has gotten us nothing but failure in the last three major elections. Thus, we should probably be looking in the other direction - moving towards our base. However, unlike the republican base, the Democratic base is vastly diverse. There is no single concept we can all agree upon, so we may only be able to unite against our common enemy, the pieces of shit republicans in power now.

Your last two sentences were priceless!