What is wrong with the Democrats today? Really. This is a serious post

I'm not looking for drive-by platitudes or drive-by "spineless" type answers.

What, really, is wrong with today's Democratic Party.

It seems to me, in very broad brush, pretty much all of our elected representatives are doing what might be expected of them. I don't see a lot of surprizes. A few, to be sure, but not a lot. Just as an example, Leahy's vote on Roberts was a surprize.

But in the larger sense, what's wrong with the party?

In my view, it comes down to one word - 'leadership'.

We don't have a leader.

(Howard Dean is DNC chair. By definition, that isn't the party leader. I think he's been doing a great job is his new role and this is NOT a hit against him.)

Who is the party leader, if it isn't the DNC chair?

Not party spokesman.

The DNC chair IS the party leader. That is the highest Democratic position which is elected (albeit indirectly) by Democratic party members. Everyone else is an elected official too and has several hats to wear.

original discussion .........

What is wrong with the Democratic party today?

Seriously. What are the symptoms of "wrong" as you see it?

What's Wrong With The Democratic Party???? What's Wrong With The Democratic Party???? What's Wrong With The Democratic Party???

HEY, they AIN'T listening to their BASE!!!

Gimme An (A)! Gimme A (C)! Gimme A (T)! Gimme An (I)! Gimme An (O)! Gimme An (N)!! What does it spell??? Not so hard to figure out!

None of the Congress people listens, to him though. Most think the party leader is GWB.

Our leadership has been stolen from us. Every time someone steps forward and speaks eloquently and persuasively in favor of liberalism, they die or their character is viciously assasinated.

The brothers Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Bill Clinton, Paul Wellstone, Howard Dean, etc.

We have to find a way to keep our opponents honest. I believe Clinton struck a deal on women in the 92 election..."if you attack me, your mistress is out."

We need something like this to hold over the military industrial complex's head so that our leaders will stop meeting the fate of lone gunmen or plane crashes or blue dresses or media screams.

particularly the Wellstone incident, I don't disagree with you.

Do I take from your post that any of our potential leaders **today** are cowed by history?

And I'm sure Clinton is as well. The rest I don't know about.

And I know it's slightly tinfoil, but it's also true. One trait of liberalism that does not match with conservatism is the willingness to kill to create the world you want.

We lack it.

They do not.

It's no wonder that their leaders never die in plane crashes (add JFK Jr. to the list), get shot (Hinckley aside, and he was suspect too for the Bushes), or get totally destroyed by the media...in fact, they are usually defended by the media.

to hold against them. Politics these is like a football game where the republicans get to make up the rules as the game goes along. Democrats need to get very dirty and very creative to win the game.

That's just the way it is now. We NOT getting extra brownie points from the voters for fair play. It's survival of the fittest at this point.

Kerry should have known about BBV, and had a nuclear option that Rove and Bush would have backed down from.

That kind of thing.

your choices as a democrat are:

1. be subsumed and compliant and therefore complicit by omission
2. be in opposition and viciously attacked and then do #1
3. be in opposition and don't do #1

the number three choice is going to be small in any dominated system where there is real consequences for opposition.

In the number three category, I would place Conyers, Boxer, Mckinney and the black caucus, to a lesser extent Kerry.

the other categories are understandable, with people who are either beholden to corporatism or simply trying to save their own political hides.

Understandable does not mean excusable.

What we need to do, is elect more #3 dems, who do their job IN SPITE OF being outnumbered. They were never elected to do their job only if they were in the majority.

IMHO

Conyers, Boxer, McKinney, the CBC... damn near every single one of them have no fears at all of not being re-elected. That's WHY they exist. If conditions for more people like them existed, #1 and #2 wouldn't exist in the first place.

You seem to stop short of fully connecting the dots. You say there are real consequences for opposition, but you don't seem to go far enough with that idea. The ultimate consequence of their opposition is losing re-election. Until we remove that as a consequence, you will always have Category 1 and 2 Democrats (or you will have very, very few Democrats at all).

Once again, we come down to grassroots. We have to create the conditions for our leaders to speak up. If we don't do our jobs, they can't do their jobs, and vice versa, of course. We all feed of off each other. And we HAVE been making quite a bit of progress, but we still have a lot of elected Democrats from Red States/Districts. It takes more to protect them.

Whether it's someone high-profile, or just an average, everyday Democrat, we have been bullied. I personally have been reprimanded at my job for speaking out.

When we do have someone speak out, like Howard Dean, he is portrayed by the right as radical and mean spirited. They create the hoax of the "Dean Scream." They marginalize our ideas, and with the help of the MSM, say that we're out of step with America.

We have been bullied, and like you said, we are outnumbered in Washington. And as you said so well, our Dems need to "do their job IN SPITE of being outnumbered." Couldn't have said it better myself.

Personally, I see this is issue number one .... even bigger than the whole electronic voting issue. (If the country knew the magnitude of the BBV problems, both sides of the spectrum would be out with torches and pitchforks and the problem would be fixed post haste. But the media won't report on it in a clear, fair, in-depth way.)

We need to either get the country back to a fair media, or find someone or some group who can help **us** with messaging.

do you? Or if your words are parsed to the point of meaninglessness and the media is busy marginalizing you before you can do it to yourself, it doesn't matter how much you try to stand up.

I'm actually prepared to say that there is *nothing* wrong with the Dems that an honest media wouldn't cure.

I'm not even talking about a left-biased media .... just an **honest** media.

I could write a whole, huge post just on that!

And come to think of it ... I have! Several times.

When I read your opening post, I said that in my mind verbatim: There's nothing wrong with the Democrats that a truly free, neutral and balanced media wouldn't cure.

To me, it's all about the media. Their bias towards the GOP has distorted our whole political culture. Dems are muted, shellshocked and gun-shy because of it.

Honestly, I could care less about the Dean scream. The scream was after the fact anyway, and all it conveyed to me was amusement in an otherwise dull political world. Heck, I still laugh when I hear it played on talk radio every so often. But other comments he's made were out of line.

"I hate Republicans and everything they stand for." "Republicans don't mind waiting in long lines (on election day) because they've never made an honest living in their lives." "This is a struggle of good and evil. And we're the good."

Such comments do not contribute to the national debate in this country. They only serve as cheap shots directed to the other side, so why would Republicans have any different reaction than Dean is radical and mean-spirited?

The only idea Democrats have to push around these days is universal healthcare--which, having been in existence in Europe for 50+ years, isn't exactly new.

I figure the main problem with the party was suicide, they got it in their heads that adopting highly conservative "law and order" policies was in their best interest so they proceeded to imprison large parts of their traditional base. In a nation where elections are decided by margins of hundreds or thousands we've managed to either imprison many who would have voted Democratic or at best convinced them that there's little difference between the parties.

Rather than repeat it here I'll just link to a post I made a short time ago that explains the idea in more detail. Those three strike laws and other "tough on crime" measures haven't worked out so well, and unless we change course I don't see anything changing.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2136462

The leaders have no clear and cohesive message. Yes yes....I know WE hear the details of the message, but WE aren't the problem. Like it or not, there is a big country out there and the Dems must win the hearts and minds of these people if things are going to change.

The Republicans have many positions and many viewpoints, but most people understand where their core principles lie (whether they act on them or not is the discussion here....the MESSAGE is the issue). They are for smaller govt, lower taxes, and traditional Christian based values. Plus, they support big business and personal responsibility. Again....I am NOT saying that these are true when you get to the details, but the average American appears to see this as their message.

The democrats have no such widely know core. They oppose the Republicans on this, that, and the other thing....but why? From where do these values come? What is the central message of these policies? Its the values stupid. Democrats need to come up with a message and STICK TO IT. That doesn't mean adherence to blind faith or zealous ideology, but the policies and leadership must come from a core belief in something.

Now....what is that something?

unfortunately a little out of tune with the voters. A lot more could be done by grassroots sinc the media isn't on our side. Also there is a constant split in policy withing Congress Dems which doesn't come out well. I'm not sure if wearing Republican clothes is going to win us the next election?

like Republicans, Democrats get large chunks of change from various corporate sponsors . . . Biden, for example, is attached at the hip to MBNA . . . Hillary is also closely tied to the banking and credit card industries . . . senators and representatives trade votes with one another . . . "you support my guy's bill, and I'll support yours") . . .

the influence that corporate money buys in Congress ensures that most will vote for the corporate (Republican) agenda . . .

and that's the way it is, Ollie . . .

No, I know they actually don't, but that is the perception. With Affirmative Action, Political Correctness, and admiration of Jackson, Sharpton, and those other leeches.

Republicans use this to say that the Democrats hate white middle class people and want to take their money and give it to poor black people. Thus, they get support for tax cuts.

Democrats have to deal with this perception that they are the enemies of the White Middle class before they can win an election.

Democrats have become too "strategic" rather then going by gut instinct.

Anyone with an ounce of common sense and common decency is aware of the mess the US is in. And, it isn't really very complicated. We have allowed a climate of immorality, and we have allowed certain segments of society to gain far too much wealth and power atthe expense of everyone else.

Democratic leaders need to get back to basics, and start listening to their own brains and consciences more.

We lose our message in the details.

The reson the Rs make the two-word culture work is that they stick to the message regardless of what the argument is.

We don't need to play it dirty, we just need to find the simplest message and stay tunnelvisioned on it.

There are a few true-hearted fighters in the pack (we all know them when we see and hear them, because they are always such a shock), but for the most part, the Democrts are a disorganized, egotistical, disloyal, out for their own glory and re-election at all costs, group of cynical assholes. (Sorry, you said "serious"... I could be cute about this, but I have lost all patience today, so...)

Because of a cohesive message, the rank-and-file is being left to faction off into meaningless little cults of personality, hoping against hope for a savior to appear.

We are a boat, adrift, and out Party is too busy covering their own asses or cowering in corners to do anything meaningful to coalesce us, lead us, and point us to victory in 2006 OR (as it appears) 2008. People like Wes Clark, Howard Dean, Al Gore, and John Conyers can only speak out for us for so long before they sound like they are in an echo chamber.

You asked.

TC

Indeed I did.

This is copied from another post I made...but it addresses the subject here.
-------

The point of my original post is to say that...

I keep waiting and waiting and waiting for something to finally give on this administration. I remember right after Katrina, so many here were expressing the view that "this is it!" This will be the final blow to the Bush administration...there is no way they can survive this.

As it turns out, Katrina was just another unbelievable screw-up by the Bush administration that they seemingly recovered from. How can this happen. I mean, this pattern of disaster and recovery has been going on since day one...

When Bush made jokes about no WMD, I thought...no one will stand for this. He's outta here.
When Fahrenheit 911 was released and exposed the Bush lies and corruption, I thought...Great, now everyone else will see Bush for what he is...He's gone!
When no WMDs were found...and it was understood that Bush lied and people died, I thought...That's it! He is outta here!
When the Gitmo pics of torture and humiliation were shown, I thought, he's outta here.
When the Downing Street Memos revealed themselves, I thought, there ya go...he's definitely outta here.
When the Plame disaster was revealed, I thought...Okay, for sure, he's gone.
When it was shown that our troops were ill-equipped and being killed as a result...I thought, no president can survive this incredible error. He's outta here.
When Cindy began her protest and some momentum was established, I thought...finally, we will see the end of this administration...He's history.
So, when the Katrina disaster hit and he was off playing guitar and cutting cakes while poor Americans died, I thought...He can't survive this...He's gone.
I could go on and on and on (as we all could).

Now, more Gitmo pics are to be released, the Plame issue is going to get hot, DeLay has been exposed, Frist is in no better shape...etc, etc. And I'm supposed to be hopeful that this nightmare will end??? Not a chance. I'm outta here.

With all that has happened, we can no longer say that the electorate is "uneducated" to the real issues...they still voted for him. His re-election confirmed in the minds of our allies that we are all crazy over here. I will not live long enough to see repaired the damage that this administration has done.

The only thing that I can blame is the lack of balls by the Democrats to take advantage of this mess that the Right has put us in. Don't fool yourself...this is a war and those that represent out point(s) of view are not fighting a very good battle.

Can you imagine RFK putting up with this crap? Or how about Cuomo, Dean or MLK??? No, they would fight with everything they have. It appears that our party leaders are just waiting for the Right to self-destruct. Meanwhile, we continue down a road that we may not be able to return from.

Yes...I'm complaining. It is not only my right to complain as a part of the democratic process, it is my obligation as a good American.

Hell, many Republicans are just as pissed off at the Bush administration as we are...but even with their disgust we can make little or no headway.

For those who believe that there are some Dem leaders that are doing something about all this....All I can say is that it isn't enough and it isn't going to be in time to save what little freedom and dignity that we have remaining.

There was a time when I was much younger that I looked at our leaders with admiration. I thought of them as the best and brightest among us. It took this administration for me to understand that these people (most all of them) are no more capable inspired leadership than I am. They are not super-human...they are not a cut above us, they are not necessarily the brightest and best that we can offer.

There is a vacuum of leadership in our party...As bad as the Bush administration is, we seem not to have an inspired message to offer those who have had enough.

-Paige

-----------------------
I leave you with this from JFK...September 14th, 1960:

What do our opponents mean when they apply to us the label "Liberal?" If by "Liberal" they mean, as they want people to believe, someone who is soft in his policies abroad, who is against local government, and who is unconcerned with the taxpayer's dollar, then the record of this party and its members demonstrate that we are not that kind of "Liberal." But if by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people -- their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties -- someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal," then I'm proud to say I'm a "Liberal."

JFK was a great leader, and so was his brother.

I doubt anyone can seriously tell me that were they alive today, we would be in this mess.

We need a trump card. Something that instill utter fear in the Right Wing, that they would never fight dirty again.

Until we get that, we're kinda doomed.

And what's more... in case others haven't noticed, this SUBJECT has become one the the MAIN topics here at DU!!

So, does ANYONE have ANY suggestions??? They don't seem to be getting the message! I was told yesterday that OUR leaders can't come out and take "hard" stands because they are up for election in '06! That's a bit toooooo lame for me! Why do we want to re-elect them if they aren't willing to do ANYTHING now??

I mean, it's not like they haven't been given many issues and many open doors to run through!

Do I sound over the top and fed up??? You bet your ASS I am!!

PINK FLOYD.... M O N E Y!!!!

Diversity. Passionate diversity.

The thing about the Democratic Party is that it attracts people who want to voice THEIR opinion, not just parrot somebody else’s. People attracted to the Democratic Party do not want to be slavish devotees. They want to be participants. They want their individual voice heard; not to be part of the chorus.

Up until very recently, I would have said that the leaders of this party were spineless. But I think I am going to start cutting them a little more slack and see where things go. Five years seems like an eternity, but in reality, it is not long for the GOP to go from being on top with astronomical support to imploding. Maybe Democrats aren’t as stupid as I thought. Instead of my knee jerk, “You weenies” reaction when they do not come out swinging on an issue, I think I am going wait and see what shakes out. Cause one man's leader might be another man's wimp or loud mouthed nut. It all depends on where you want to be lead.

The thing about the GOP is that they seem to have A stand on any given issue with A message and A leader. Everybody else just trots along behind in lockstep shouting, “Heil!” The leader gets VERY little challenge to anything he says and it is easy to look like a leader under those circumstances. I mean, if George can do it, come on!?!?!

I think it would be awesome if we could come up with a Democratic Party message that was unified and cohesive enough to allow people to identify where we are coming from, yet broad enough to cover all the colors and shapes of people represented by this party.

But good damn luck.


**edited for typos**

(You knew there's be a 'but', right? :) )

As we have a party that allows - encourages - many voices to sing, so to does this pure democracy of the party lead, at times, to complete inaction. The special interest groups. The one-issue voters. The litmus testers.

The Repubs have a few of these. We have many.

I think that a part of the solution si to find some way to get some consensus on **something**.

I have my ideal candidate and my ideal spokesperson and my own idealist views. But I am also smart enough to know I am part of a larger whole. And in the spirit of that **socialism** I am willing to accept a popular leader who is the choice of the majority, and then work for that person.

Some other Democrats ..... not so much.

So your posit is really a double edged sword. It cuts the leaders and the followers.

But to fashion a sound byte that covers all the diversity. Find a message that the diverse aspects of this party can look to and say, "Hey, you know, this guy isn't my guy 100%. But I can live with him because I know he stands for me best over all."

I understand what you are saying, I just don't know what to do about it. I also think that a lot of what we see here (please don't hurt me)on the DU does not in any way represent the vast majority of Democrats. I think the vast majority of Democrats just want to feel heard and have a basic 'we are all in this together' philosophy about the world. They are NOT one issue voters. They are lazy voters who will be attracted to an attractive, cohesive message that represents a platform that they can understand. So, yeah, we need a good message generating machine. We need candidates that are not 'lofty', if you know what I mean. A big part of Bush's appeal to voters is that they feel that he is approachable and 'just like them'. Why in god's name every Bubba in this country thinks that somebody just like them is qualified to run this country, I have NO idea. But they do.

The iron IS ripe for striking right now. But it needs to be struck with the right note. I don't really think we need to attack the GOP right now so much as we need to offer a foil for them. But to do that, we need a message that covers us, the Democratic Party, as a whole.

So, here is the example I came up with. It may not be the best, but it is an idea of what I am talking about.

I have always felt that Republicans look at the world and think that it would be an ideal place if everyone would just help themselves. A Democrat looks at the world and thinks it would be an ideal place if we would all help each other.

I think that people can relate to ideas like selfishness and selflessness. While I do think people tend to be innately selfish, they want to identify with being selfless. And there are a lot of people who need help right now and they are being told, "Help yourself."

Non-specific but lofty. Lofty but understandable. Understandable and personal.

And dare I say it ... good vs evil.

The Dems have been playing with this sort of thing for a while, but two things always seem to stop it dead in the water ...... the Three Monkey Media and 'free thinking' elected Dems who want to try to 'rise above' their peers for the sake of personal gain.

The ones I see who are - what to call them? - "selfless messagers" are Howard Dean, Charlie Rangel, Mario Cuomo, Jesse Jackson, Wesley Clark, John Conyers, and a few others. To me, at least, most of what I hear from so many others is posturing behind a reasonably good message, but avoiding any message that will help *all* Dems.

The media are also to blame. Rather than sending out our message in the same unfiltered way in which they send out the message from the right, they filter and parse ours. Right now, just as an example, that odious little fucking weasel Ben Ginsberg gets on Hardball and spews any shit he wants, and Matthews lets him go. Then they introduce someone like Durbin with an intro that says 'And Democrats want to stop any appointee that might be pro-choice. Next up is that (implied) sorry ass whiner, Dick Durbin, speaking for the 'Democrat' party ..... '

This shit HAS to be stopped.

It is interesting that we all seem to think that the GOP faithful fall in lockstep behind every idea put forth by the party....and that this is just "in their nature." Is it? Or is it the result of them having been the minority party in Congress for so long? Because of that they had the luxury of a clear need for unity. Well, now that they have been in power for a while, you start to see the cracks (I think had it not been for 9/11 the cracks would have shown up years ago). And do any of us really believe that if the Rep's continue to rule that the cracks won't grow larger? Can you really see the more moderate Reps backing every measure put forth by the scarier DeLay-Santorum branch of fundies?

Same goes for the Dems, but in reverse. The Dems had the luxury of being the majority party in the Congress and Senate for years (well, for the most part), and felt the freedom to push for their individual interests rather than focusing on the unity of the party. As the years have gone by since the Republican takeover, you can start to see Dems focusing more and more intensely on party unity.

These are strong feelings that die hard....but they are changing.

So, NOW is the time to come together and forge a central party message. Not one full of tiny details and "yeah-buts", or "nuh-uhs"....but a forward looking visionary message that tugs on what is good about America. The Republicans and what they stand for should NOT be part of this message. They are not the issue....WE are. The message is what we stand for, NOT why we are against what they stand for.

Here is where I would like to put in my own version of this statement....but I have yet to come up with one that I think is just right. It needs to be a little bit populist....a little bit green, but not too green....pro working families....responsibility mixed with a safety net....greatest country on Earth that is a beacon of hope in the world....each person with a responsibility to make their city, state, and country a better place....fairness....

Think JFK in 2005. What would he say? WWJFKD

Where I am, I hear a lot of people who parrot whatever Bush says. I am the only member of my family who isn't a Republican. They spout the GOP party line verbatim like tape recorders.

I agree entirely about forging a message. And I agree entirely that we need to think less about attacking them and more about selling US.

Thanks for thinking!

Look at the issue of the Iraq war, clearly one of the biggest issues facing this country.

You have the pro war crowd notably Senators Biden, Clinton and Schumer whose attitude is that the war was basicly a good idea but Bush screwed it up. This group calls for an even more troops being sent into the region and more money to bolster a failing policy. Being potential presidential candidates and favorites of the political talk shows they have influence beyond their numbers.

Then you have the "I voted for the war before I voted against it" group who are stuck defending their vote for the IWR even though they now thing that the war is a bad thing--but still insist they did the right thing by voting for it. John Kerry's the most prominent member of this group but he's not the only one.

As far as the anti-war Democrats go, they are also divided. While most agree that a phased pullout of some sort is a good thing, they are divided between those who believe in the "Pottery Barn Rule" in which the US must become part the solution and those who think that our troops have already become part of the problem. They are also divided on how to do the pullouts. Do we set a timetable for pullouts a la Senator Feingold or do we set up a series of benchmarks for the Iraqi government to accomplish before we take of the training wheels, a la General Clark?

Is there any wonder that when pressed by Cindy Sheehan as to why the DNC is not including the Iraq war on its agenda, DNC Chairman Howard Dean, a man who came to national prominence due to his passionate opposition to the war (he's a Pottery Barner with benchmarker leanings)was reduced to sounding like George Bush by telling her essentially that getting the Democrats to a consensus on this issue was "hard work."

Sad but true.

think the dems are no-good.

If they told the truth people out there might see how much they do behind the scenes. Instead, everyone wants these grandios gestures that don't do diddlysquat.

What hurts us most is US out here bashing Dems DLC-Liberals-greens whatever.

Perhaps if we MODELED the positive things they do instead of throwing the insults to be remembered then we wouldn't have to keep scraping against repubs and neoCONS who lie and stick together and make progress because NOBODY KNOWS IT!

Shall I hang my head in shame or was there a point to your post?

Please read the entire post before you attack me. I think maybe you'll see me a bit differently.

The notion of questioning things is noble.

The act of attacking your ally is self-defeating.

About the media, I mean. We get a really skewed view about what is going on from the MSM.

the media.

I see that as the biggest problem we face. We here on DU, as an example, are aware and informed. Much of the left leaning blogosphere is informed. And taken together and even doubled, we represent a tiny, tiny ... miniscule .... percentage of the the electorate.

The rest ...... ? Media induced blindness and media induced delusion.

Yes, the media is *the* issue.

I hit the reply button on the wrong comment.

Sorry.

*edited the above comment to reflect a general statement.

I didn't post about the Media... I posted about the LAME Democrats!!!

I'm SURE if some of them would stick their neck out once in a while, they WOULD get COVERAGE.... be it good OR bad!

They're CHICKEN!!

Is Anyone OUT THERE?? Is Anyone LISTENING!!

BOOOOO! It's Halloween time, put on a costume and scare the shit out of the IDIOTS for Criminees Sake!

Ain't gonna happen!

I watched him allow others to bash Dems without comment AFTER he was elected to chair the party. To me that showed no leadership.

I like Liberty and Justice for All.

And a theme, or talking points.

like:

Health Care
Education
Fair Taxes


And no matter when they are or what there doing democrats should talk about all three.

Again and Again and Again and Again and Again.

It works for republicians, Microsoft and McDonalds.

I'm married to a puke, and he's very, VERY afraid of me right now! Heaven forbid, I'm right, despite Bush *won* his second term.

Sadly, I had him at Edwards, but lost him at Kerry :shrug:

I had a lot of people fired up about Edwards. They just couldn't get worked up about Kerry, either.

It's one of the reasons I think we need to accept that the party leadership needs to be approached from a 'total package' point of view. Let the Presidential nominee be the salesman, so to speak. It worked for the GOP.

Big business issues are more important then Sally Homemaker's. When was the last time these people worried if they could make their mortgage? How many credit cards do they have maxed out because of a hospital stay? How many loans do they have, to pay for their children's collage tuition fees? Lets face facts we live in a different America than our elected officials.

we have to make it impossible for corporate enslavery of our representatives.
The biggest problem is the cost of campaigning...

I think we should require each opponent to only be able to spend the same set amount, so that no one can amass a larger "warchest" to outadvertise the opposition.
And that amount comes from the same fund, to which all voters contribute.

If we can break the chain of "scratch my back, and I will yours", that is the only way to stop it.

It will be much harder than my suggestion to accomplish, but until we do, we will always have this problem.

Too many in the Democratic leadership cowtow to corporate interests. Just look at the energy bill & the new bankruptcy bill (conveniently not touching Chapter 11 corporate bankruptcy code), not to mention weak opposition to the Inheritance Tax repeal and extending Bu$h's Billionairre Tax Cuts.

All this is related to the 14th Amendment, which gives corporations rights as individuals (see Abolishing Corporate Personhood for a full discussion). So, guys like Biden HAVE to go along w/ the Banking Industry's bankruptcy bill, because if he doesn't

• his corporate contributions dry up
  
• corporations spend their $$$ instead on opposition, sliming him in their corporate-owned MSM
  
• they threaten to close up shop in his state, costing jobs and tax revenue
  

I think the Dem leadership MUST speak to power and take their lumps from losing corporate $$$. That means WE will have to fill the $$$ void! Corporate tax loop-holes must be closed and the race to the bottom must be stopped. The IMF, World Bank, the WTO, the Bilderbergs and the rest of the New World Order crowd MUST be reigned in. The Fairness Doctrine must be re-instated and the broadcast ownership rules created in the Telecom Act of 1996 must be rolled back.

I think we've all now seen how the GOP's "haves and have mores" policy is ruining America, from civil liberties to environmental destruction. (Isn't it odd how the anti-evolution crowd is so dog-eat-dog-survival-of-the-fittest?)

Democrats of all stripe and color need to rally around our one core belief:
The Common Good.

Here is a snip from the above article that speaks to the cause of our current wave of corporatism:


My 2¢ fwiw :patriot:

lack of democracy within the party.

Our politicians don't care what 'we the people' want in our own party.
When was the last time the Democratic party held a referendum by registered Dem voters on the choices it makes internally? Never.

They look to national polls sometimes to see which way the wind blows, but never ask registered democrats for anything but money and demand our votes for who THEY choose to run.

Dean has been a letdown because he knows what I said is true and hasn't done anything to change it other than suggesting rearranging primary dates, which amounts to nothing.

So they need a leader who doesn't mind getting damaged.. like "give em hell Harry & Dean. Those with political aspirations beyond current jobs, try and stay out of the Repuke sights until election time.

IMHO they should not be shoving Obama out there to be killed. It should be the senior leaders who stand up and take the hits.

Hopefully - there is enough passion 'out there' with the Dems..that new congressmen & senators will run.. people who want to do a public service by fighting the neocon Rovbot Repuke incarnation.. and have at it - with integrity & might - with no other personal agenda of power than winning their country back and speaking truth to power.

Sad - but the climate in Washington is pretty sick. It requires brave souls who are not in it for themselves but are in it for the good of their country.

So many of the souls with integrity have been disgusted with campaign finance issues and the like..that they have dropped out of politics.

I think we will be very pleased with the character and the might of the people who decide to run in 2006. Call me pollyanna.

worry about Rove in 2006.

A girl can dream...

The moment we begin to fear the opinons of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls.
- Elizabeth Cady Stanton

when dealing with attacking monsters.

We have one in Howard Dean, who expects us to help ourselves with some help. There is no godlike fix involved here. There is no hero leader to lead us out of the wilderness.

But if everyone on DU contributed in some way to the DNC on a local or state level, a lot could be done.

(thats also the right one heh)

Don't ask me how to get there I have a day job.

A concise clear simple message. the rpugs are masters at the message machine.

not about whose moral and who is not, who has values and who does not, rather,

who has health care

who has viable education

who has a home and food and resources for energy

who has a small to medium business

Its like baseball--Get back to the basics, that's what the Dem leadership keeps missing and missing and missing

and still lost.

They need a long term, intensive, elaborate, kick-ass, razzle dazzle campaign and media strategy.

Pro-war vs. anti-war. pro-illegal immigration vs. anti-illegal immigration. Pro-gun vs. anti-gun. Then you have alot of our people who voted for the Iraq war and now realize it was a mistake, but they don't think they can admit they made a mistake. Do they want to look strong on terrorism or do they bash the repukes over the head with their floundering war? I think money has alot to do with it also. Everyone knows we need higher CAFE standards but they would lose corporate donations by doing that. Everytime you try to do something positive for the environment and energy conservation you get bashed for being anti-industry and anti-job. There seems to be no money in supporting alternative fuels. The people developing them just don't have capital right now. I guess it boils down to, how can I support something just and right and good for the country and still keep money coming in and keep from getting trashed by Sean Hanitty?

Our leadership has been stolen from us. Right now, President Gore should be our party's leader, cranking up his second term in office. Just imagine what a world that would be! Would we be complaining about a lack of leadership in that world? Or what if the 2004 election hadn't been stolen from Kerry? Would we be complaining about a lack of leadership then?

No, it's not that we don't have leaders. We do. They're just not in the offices they were elected to serve in, and thus they have less power than they should. They seem, therefore, to be ineffectual. This may be the source of your angst.

imho, of course. :)

-Laelth

I like to keep up with news and current events, so I'm curious. Did they ever do a definitive re-re-recount of the Florida ballots and determine without a doubt that Al Gore actually won Florida? Or was it assumed because it was such a close race to call? And did they re-re-recount Ohio to find that Kerry actually won it in 2004? So far, I haven't heard anything solid to suggest Bush stole either election, but maybe I'm missing something.

And would we be having this discussion if Bush won the popular vote in '00 but still lost the electoral vote? Just something to consider.

The Democrat's problem is that they only do the easy half of their job as political figures. The easy half is saying the other side is wrong and why. The other half, the hard half, is providing an alternate plan, saying why it's better than their opponent's, and selling it to the American people.

Democratic politicians are second-to-none when it comes to the easy half, but second-to-everybody when it comes to the hard half. In the '04 election, most of their capital was spent explaining why voters should oppose George Bush, but hardly any explaining why John Kerry deserves their vote (except the fact that he's a Democrat and he's not Bush). I think too many people voted for Kerry because they hated Bush more than they liked Kerry.

If Democrats want to win more elections, they need to focus more on developing their own message. Spend more time talking about the positives of their agenda, and less time talking about the negatives of the other side's agenda. Work to get the message out, and let the people decide which agenda they prefer.

and its good stuff. I don't understand why Democrats don't pick-upon that... oh wait... that's the half-half thing again isn't it?

On edit: This makes me think of the Chicago Cubs. Cubs fans are the very definition of mediocrity celebration.

When our elected Representatives are allowed to take money for campaigning it is all over.