Please Read: Taking over the Democratic Party

Project for a New Democratic Party.

It's clear to most of us that the Democratic party power structure is not friendly towards the goal of most of us: a "success oriented" Democratic Party committed to moderate/progressive values. Over the last few years we all have tried to push the Democratic Party in our direction through a variety of means: supporting particular candidates, online donation, threats to desert to a third party.

All of these approaches have failed. And they have failed because the people running the party, the apparatchiks, are not threatened by electoral failure. They've worked their way into their jobs and those jobs are fairly secure for them.

We are not talking about professional politicians here. We're talking about nameless, faceless DNC officials, local party leaders, money men, etc. Their jobs to them are simply that: jobs. Once they may have cared about progressive politics...but now they no longer do. Now they care about payments on their second homes, car payments, their golf handicap.

The party won't change until we change the cogs in the machine. Changing the public face of the party isn't enough. It must be owned. pwn3d, even.

In short, we must become the party.

We must take over the party, at the lowest levels, and work our way up. Become ward leaders, precinct captains, henchmen, whatever. But we must insinuate yourself into the parties substructure so that any decisions that are made must be made through us. The party can't ignore an army when that army has the potential to refuse to fight for them. So we must become that party.

I am organizing a mailing list to help coordinate this takeover. I encourage you all to join. The express purpose is to create a newsletter updating the steps each member is taking to facilitate our increasing control over the party apparatus. We're not going to have a website (yet). Nothing fancy like a scoop based blog. Just a simple mailing list where we let each other know what we're doing.

The only terms I ask every member to agree to are the following:

1) all list members must become active members of their local party apparatus within 30 days of joining the list. This is an honor system requirement. We can't check up on you. If you tell us you've become a ward leader, we'll believe you. But it hurts us all if you aren't honest.

2) all list members must support the broad *tactical* principles of reframing progressive issues as values issues. Examples: "taxes" -> "tax fairness". "Gay rights"->"personal freedoms"
a la George Lakoff.

3) Acceptance of our role as *opposition party*. In other words, no more "bipartisanship". We don't have to be mean, or nasty. We just don't try and help the Republican majority. Let them ram through their policies. Our point is to oppose them using the tactics from
2. Even though we will lose all these battles. The purpose of the party now is to articulate a Democratic set of values the public can recognize as such. Acceptance of these values we'll worry about later. First thing is to get them out there.

And that's it. If you want to join this list, please email me at
projnewdemparty@yahoo.com

I'll be setting up the list over the next few days. If you email me today I'll subscribe you and you have 30 days to report that you've joined (in some official capacity) the local Democratic apparatus of the party. If after 20 days, you haven't reported anything, you will be sent a reminder to report. If after 30 days, still no report, you will be unsubscribed. IF at any time after that you do wind up going through and joining the party machine at some level, mail me at projnewdemparty@yahoo.com and you'll be resubscribed to the list.
If you are already part of the power structure, you are automatically a permanent member. Just let me know.

Permanent members will be accorded status to coordinate and vote on policy positions for the list. By laws and such will be established soon by permanent members.

I hope this is a good idea.

I've already served as a district leader in my local party, but I will be certainly getting more involved starting almost immediately.

We need to stop bitching about the DLC and the apparatchiks, and instead take over the party and force them out.

I'll sign you up when I configure the list.

if i may be so bold.....

try this out as well:


http://groups.yahoo.com/group/democraticwing/

demwing started the group, and it is essentially about this same idea.

it would be grate if we could form a coalition.....



this is the thread i started with goals and tactics, and this is sorta where hte idea came together....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1306286

As an orgizational note you could set it up as a yahoo group, a private group. True change can only come from us, from the bottom up, locally. A group like this would be good, if only to have others to lean on when people get discouraged.

But to do this, at least in Florida, you have to sign a loyalty oath, supporting ALL Democratic candidates running for office. You speak out against any dirt-bag who calls him or herself a Democrat and you are toast. I could not do this and opted not to remain active. If you can find a way to overcome this, I would be happy to rejoin and become active. But I don't support dirtbags, no matter what party they belong to.

And if it is true, then it only proves that the entire Democratic Party needs to be cleaned out.

Is there a possibility of organizing on the outside of the party, and then taking a local party over en masse, tossing out such undemocratic ideas in the process?

is to become a precinct leader. In order to do this, in Florida, anyway, you MUST sign a loyalty oath to support ALL Democratic candidates. The first time this happened to me, I spoke out against an anti-choice candidate. Wow, it was like I had sunk a hatchet in the guy's neck. All I said was that I would not pass out the candidate's literature because he is anti-choice. The second time was for a real scum-bag thief. I was told that I had to support him and I quit.

Don't speak out against him, but don't actively support him.

At the polls Tuesday I met a great Republican. He was supporting a really good local Republican, but hated *. The * people came around and handed him a * packet. After they left, he promptly tucked it in his bag and no one ever saw the packet again.

In any event, My list won't have loyalty oaths. Join if you can get active in the Dem structure in some other capacity. If not...well there are other lists to join.

the state, and is not the option of local parties. Someone more familiar with various states Dem parties, is going to have to study the matter. You can form your own local Democratic Party, but it still comes under the state charter.

If you went to work for McDonalds Corp, and then started badmouthing McD's or praising Burger King, you wouldn't last too long.

If you take a position of authority within the Democratic Party (or any successful party, for that matter) you cannot remain truly independent because ORGANIZED political activity assumes that individual preferences are NOT part of the agenda.

If you want to say whatever you want, work for yourself. If you want to work for others, you'll have to limit when and where you express your own personal opinions, because it's inappropriate for a representative of an organization to present their own opinions while representing an organization that feels differently about the matter.

There's things I'd like to see, but I'm willing to compromise to get at least part of my personal agenda through.

I'm going to be kicking this a few times today, to insure maximum exposure.

We maust always keep sukinds article in mind

my comment(rather than deal with their reality why dont we create our own)

Certainly worked this year.

moderates are welcome too.

Nothing about requirements 1, 2 or 3 excludes moderates.

I wait for your apology with bated breath.

Just ordered three George Lakoff books and a Lakoff DVD from Amazon.

I'm in this one all the way.

Next time, something useful.

nt

.

count me in...been working within my own local party for a while now.

with a direction to this thread.

Thanks!

GuillermoX71@aol.com

and

mudman@speedfactory.net

Drop'em a line and say hi!!!

our group is at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pndp

nt

If you emailed me, you've been sent list invites.
Email should be from pndp@yahoogroups.com