Theses On Failures of the Democratic Party

Wow.
I can't believe how many people responded to the November 3rd Theses on
the Failures of the Democratic Party. So many people sent emails that
our mail server crashed -- so if you want to respond this time send an
email to INFO@COMMONASSETS.ORG

To the people who got through -- the questions that I heard were the
following:

1) How can I help?

We need some people at the DNC headquarters in DC on monday to help
post the Theses on the door. I'm hoping for 10 or 15 brave souls -- can
you forward this message to people you know in DC? Monday, Nov 15 at 7:30
am at the DNC Headquarters at 430 S Capitol St, SE

2) What can I do if I'm not in DC?

One person said they want to post the Theses on the doors of the San
Francisco and Alameda DNC headquarters. If you want to organize a local
posting -- send us a note, and we'll hook you up with other people in
your area -- if we hear from any
Feel free to just go do it yourself as well.

3) What if I don't want to leave my house because I'm still depressed
and angry?

Send the Theses (I've attached them below) to your friends -- to blogs.
This is truly a grassroots action -- no budget, no staff -- so anything
you can think of you should do. (Just don't hurt anyone!)

4) A volunteer -- David Steuer -- offered to put up a website at
www.3Nov.com -- it should be going up in an hour or so. Check it out -- I
think there will be a blog on it as well.


THANKS!!!! Write us back!
Adam
PS REMEMBER TO USE:

info@commonassets.org to reach us until we fix our mail server




----------------------------
Here's original message:


If you're like me, the results of this election opened your eyes to the
extent to which the leadership of the Democratic Party is mismanaging
our political future. At some point, people like you and me have to get
together and communicate these profound misgivings.

We worked hard. We got out the vote. And we still lost by four million
votes.

Yes it was close. Yes, we didn't have the best candidate. Yes, the
campaign made serious tactical errors.

But the bottom line is this: the Democratic Party is today in the hands
of people who have failed to articulate a moral-intellectual vision for
America and the world, and you can't win the confidence of the
electorate without a vision.

I feel complicit in these failures. I have spent the last 15 years of
my life trying to organize the public towards social and environmental
change. It's not working.

It's time for a bit of healthy debate.

To that end, I will be going to the Democratic National Committee
Headquarters on Monday, November 15 to paste the November 3rd theses (below)
on the front door. I'm hoping to find a few other people who will stand
with me on that cold morning.

I'll be there at 7:30 AM. The DNC is located at 430 S Capitol St, SE in
Washington, DC.

Spread the word.

Love,

Adam



November 3rd Theses on the Failures of the Democratic Party

----

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different
results."


I.

The 2004 presidential election was lost not by John Kerry over the last
several months but by the Democratic Party over the last several
decades. Democrats have lost control of all three branches of government for
the foreseeable future. We are now a minority party.

II.

When the Senate Democratic leader is defeated while spending $16
million attempting to get the majority of 500,000 votes, the problem is not a
lack of funding or effort.

III.

The failure of the Democratic Party to connect with America's desire
for fulfillment is political death.

IV.

Democrats are now history's spectators, Republicans its actors.

V.

The obsession with denouncing the radical conservative project as a
"lie" has become a useful substitute for vision.

VI.

Renovating Democratic politics is not a question of moving to the right
or talking more about G-d. It is about creating a framework that once
again communicates to the core needs of the American people.

VII.

America is not now, and never was, simply "the economy, stupid." What
the American people want is a deeper sense of personal meaning, a
national mission, and passion in times of fear.

VIII.

Returning the Democratic Party to majority status will require a
political realignment no less sweeping than that which was accomplished by
conservatives over the last 40 years.

IX.

Only the breath of a serious and new moral-intellectual vision will be
sufficient to resuscitate the Democratic Party.
X.

Democratic candidates will continue to lose as long as they treat
Americans as rational actors who vote their "self-interest" after weighing
competing offers for health care, jobs, and security.

XI.

Conservatives have spent the last 40 years getting clear about the
values they represent. They have even developed a "family values" brand to
represent a framework that coheres traditional prejudices around prayer
in school, gun rights, restricting abortion, and restricting gay
rights.

XII.

By contrast, liberal or "progressive" groups and Democrats have spent
the same period of time defining themselves against conservative values,
even "morality" in general.

XIII.

If resources continue to flow to the same leaders who have failed to
construct a new vision and have thus left the Democratic Party in ruins
then we can expect more of the same. And worse.

XIV.

Those who resist the process to create a new vision will be left
behind.

XV.

Candidates who intend to win should no longer hire consultants who
repeatedly lose. Those who counsel caution when dealing with the
indifferent, the disaffected, and the undecided do not understand American
history. Consultants who advise their clients against offering a clear and
compelling vision in fear that it will be attacked should find themselves
without a home in the Democratic Party. The sooner they retire, the
better.

XVI.

Unconnected at a values level, the Democratic Party's laundry list of
policy proposals is a confusing and alienating hodgepodge of special
interests bound together by a vague sense that "we're all on the same
side." Such a conflation demands no critical self-examination of the
interest groups whose turf, and very identities, are treated as inviolable by
Party chieftains.

XVII.

The progressive vision must be a direct challenge to fundamentalism in
all of its forms: political, religious and economic. It must match
fundamentalism's power without replicating its authoritarianism. It must
appeal to the values of liberty, equality, community, justice,
unconditional love, shared prosperity, and ecological restoration, among many
others.

XVIII.

Democrats serious about returning to majority status must:

·Retire any leader who believes that we are currently on a winning path
that simply needs more money and effort.
·Define and articulate a coherent set of values of our base, and be
willing to lose those allies who do not share these values.
·Fight battles, win or lose, that define and advance our values and
expand our political base.

XIX.

In despair and defeat lie the seeds of triumph and victory. In that
loss lies the opportunity to define a new progressive politics for the new
century.

add also the word "tolerance" and "ecumenism" to combat fundamentalism. There are plenty of people out there who have progressive values who use these ideals every day to show there is another way to God-and these people are Muslims, Christians, Jews, and people of other faiths as well.

I think there is a place for them. I'm a little troubled though by some of your rhetoric. It sounds more like a plan to split the party than restore it.

Dems have close to a majority. It would be a shame to throw away everything.

this is a movement by others, not my personal convictions. This was not as clear as it should have been but I felt my fellow DUers should see it and what others are attempting to do to make things better in the future. I appreciate your comments.

I am not sure what the answer is but I know we need to do something.

the Democratic party has allowed itself to be redefined by its enemies. We have to disprove the anti-tax supply side cult and do it with facts. The people also need a lesson in the Constitution and Bill of Rights and how far we are currently off from our REAL heritage, and how far off the imaginary one created by the right is from what we have strived to be as a people. They also need to just be told the truth about current foreign policy (NO ME TOO COWARD DEMOCRATS).

Your thesis should be "how is it that the Republican Party 'wins' by cheating and stealing elections, consists of the most corrupt administration perhaps in American History, and yet 'wins' by fraud and deception, and supposedly 'moral' values? That what you want for the Democratic Party? Not me.

and you can see where you get.

eom

We are Americans.

We are teachers, lawyers, bankers, and doctors.
We work in factories, warehouses, farmhouses and office buildings.
We attend sporting events, company picnics, church functions, and reunions.
...and we believe we are a united country.

We stand up and sing along when we hear the National Anthem and speak loudly when we recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
We know love and life-long commitment are the foundations of a family.
We honor those who dedicate their lives to serving and protecting our children, our families, and our freedom.
We honor those who gave their lives for freedom by respecting the freedom of our neighbors to live the lives they lead.
We know that God gives us the strength to succeed and the wisdom to know the difference between right and wrong.
We ask our teachers and parents to work together in order to help our children succeed.
We demand a maximum return for our tax investments and believe they should be used for the greater good.

We believe in the American birth-right of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.
We believe in empowering and giving voices to all Americans.
We believe in is both a right and responsibility to speak out where we feel there is injustice.
We believe in the sanctity of nature and that the beauty of America must be preserved.
We believe in cultivating a culture of service where we develop stronger communities built on empathy.
We believe in working hard and embracing progress in order to ensure better opportunities for our children.
We believe in our cultural inheritance set forth by our founding fathers to never be satisfied with the status quo.
We believe in being a beacon of hope and integrity for the rest of the world.

We are hard-workers, free-thinkers and freedom-lovers.
We are Americans.

-TCNJ 11/12/04