Democrats need to come out of the closet...

At our deepest core, we believe in universal healthcare, protecting the environment for future generations, civil rights, women's rights (including the right to safe abortion), gay rights, the importance of the middle class, the benefits of labor organization, the right to a dignified old age, the value of research and technology, and the joys of responsible global citizenship. In short, we stand for everything implied in the statement "of the people, by the people and for the people."

But rarely do our representatives stand up and state our case in loud, sure, unapologetic voices. Instead, they sell out to fear, to corporate interests and to the bullies on the right. The cowardly "centrists" in DC hide their ties to the very groups that form the backbone and act as the moral compass of the party. It's as if they, and by extension we, are in the closet about our most important guiding principles and beliefs.

If we are to become strong and viable again, we have to stop ducking our heads and scooching to the right whenever we're called "liberals" or "tree-huggers" or worse. We have to be able to say in a sure proud voice, "You sure as hell better believe it!" and remember that it's not our job to make those on the right like us, but to do right by our country, by our children, and by the planet. If we can't come out of the closet for that, we might as well lock the door and fade into the woodwork.

:kick:

I think it might be a good thing that this primary season is so long ~ seems we're being faced with a period of reckoning within the party, and we may need the time to remember who we are.

Democrats consistently snatch deafeat from the jaws of victory.

Your post makes the case perfectly.

It reminds me of the way kind and moral individuals are played by cons, who use their victims' own good values to bring them down.

Read his "Don't Think of an Elephant" and "Thinking Points."

http://www.rockridgeinstitute.org

NGU.

Excellent ~ I'll spend some time on this site!

It's great stuff.

NGU.

nt

Down the line, his positions are majoritarian.

I am a LIBERAL!

Loud and clear & Proud!

Voted & kicked!

I think 'progressives' are cowards who have bought the
lie and believe the propaganda about liberals... and are
just afraid to go that extra inch and be completely human
centered.

Sue

I wonder,in my bed early in the morning,will it be shangrila or road warrior. I do believe,as Milton Nascimento said in the song "Nada sera como antes" Nothing will be as it was tomorrow. It will be interesting,but we all know the old Chinese curse,"may you live in interesting times". I think thats it. May we all live in sorta interesting times.

Your initial question is critical ~ the 2008 election will tell us whether the Democratic Party is viable or not. If we can't win this one, or we win it by selling out, there may be enough of a revolution to launch a new "true Democratic/progressive" grassroots party.

I'm known as a reasonable person and have been told I have a "Republican face," whatever that means. Calmly giving some of the views and beliefs you listed seems to provoke a stunned silence. Once in awhile, it even opens dialogue, although it more often brings on freeper comments followed by emails LOL. I think it has to do with mindsets here in the Bible-belt where the red vote was heavy.

Sometimes people do surprise you, and I think there are more Dems in red states than people figure. My mother started a Democratic women's club in a Southern right-wing area, and closet Dems stepped up from places she'd never have imagined. It helps that many Democratic values come straight from the teachings of Jesus, Buddha and others ~ expressed with conviction, they resonate.

People insist we need to be conservative or act like it to win an election. On the contrary, that's what's hurting us. There's
already a party for conservatives. We need a party for libs. Not that the Democratic Party isn't that party, but they need to show it.

:hi:

They're the ones who dodge and duck, not the people in the trenches.

And they only get away with as much as we allow them. It would help if the Dems in the trenches stayed in closer touch with their DC reps, both inspiring them to keep the faith and letting them know what we expect of them.

They're all better than any of the Reps, and each of them talk a few of the right ideas ~ but none of them have that BOLD BRAVE BACK-TO-BASICS STRAIGHT-TALKIN' DEMOCRATIC PUNCH that we need to take back both the party and the country.

I love this poem Brad Blanton wrote after helping to get Jim Webb elected:


The election is over, the results are now known,
The will of the people has clearly been shown.
We should show by our thoughts and our words and our deeds
That unity's just what our country now needs.
Let's all get together,
Let bitterness pass.
I'll hug your elephant.
You kiss my ass.



(It's silly and counterproductive to worry about what Reps think of us.)