Progressive Democrat Issue 40: THOUGHTS
Week after week it seems we are flooded with obscenities from the right. It is hard to keep up! What I am doing this week, however, is to choose NOT to jump from one Republican obscenity to another. Instead, I am picking some of the MOST IMPORTANT actions that I have touched on before and continuing to focus on them. I really want to emphasize that PERSISTENCE is what we need. Cindy Sheehan is showing how to be persistent in the face of ongoing right wing attacks. I want each and every one of us to show some of the same tenacity as Ms. Sheehan. I am choosing to focus on the 2005 and 2006 elections, the Exxon/Mobil boycott and supporting Venezuela through patronizing Citgo, and reminding everyone of Karl Rove and Bob Novak’s treason. So please, revisit and continue the actions I highlight this issue. If we keep it up we just might win some of these fights!
posted by mole333 | 12:10 PM
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5 comments
5 Comments:
I read most of your blog, and I fully agree with your sentiments. Indeed, I am with you.
Having said that, I would not be honest if I did not also say that before Democrats can begin winning again, they have to take care of what I call their "character" problem. And that is something I really do not know how we solve. Unless of course we directed ALL our efforts at scaring the devils out of these people so that they are more afraid of us than they are of the Republicans and their slime machine. As long as Democrats are weak, spineless and silent and treat Bush as legitimate, they won't be winning anything big. We need more folks like Mr. Hackett of Ohio.
Thanks, Lords, for the comment! Dems have been scared since Reagan. Best we can do is to help out the best of the best on the local level (a la Democracy for America A-List) so that the next generation of Dem politicians are better. I have been helping out some REALLY good local Dems in Brooklyn/NYC, but find it is sometimes hard to get the grassroots doing anything for even the best of candidates.
It is easy (and accurate!) to blame the politicians in office. But the flip side is the grassroots folks need to get their act together if we want REAL grassroots candidates to win. Cause otherwise, it's the big money that wins the elections.
Thanks again for the comment and for reading my rants. If you have any other thoughts, feel free to comment!
I think that the reason you're finding it so difficult to get the grassroots inspired, or doing anything, as you said, is because no one represents them. If they felt that politicians were fighting for THEM, believe me, they'd be plenty inspired.
Democratic politicians have a habit of coming to us when they need our votes, and as soon as they are elected, their ambition is to prove that they are "moderate" so they turn their backs on the base as they try to curry the favor of those who voted against them. Republicans on the other hand only care about nourishing and satisfying their base.
What's more, their disloyalty goes unpunished. We can always find excuses for why they did what they did. Thus, we are the enablers.
Some people still love Biden, even though he's the senator from MBNA.
And remember Stephanie Herseth, we at Kos, helped her beyond measure, yet she helped pass the bankruptcy bill.
In any case, I genuinely fear that this is a major problem, and without fixing it first, we can make little progress.
We need people of moral and ethical strength who will stand up for the things they believe in. More to the point, if they find the courage to trust us, and fight for us, we will then turn out for them.
I applaud what you are doing and I love your passion. I too consider myself a progressive, no, I am a liberal Democrat. I am also proud of it. I refuse to abandon that word because it is no longer in vogue. I also admit that I pay very little attention to local NYC politics, although I am involved to some extent. I attend my Democratic Club meetings very often, I know and support a few members of the city council, a friend is running for Borough President and I am vigorously supporting her, and yet, and yet, I have no idea what these people do as they leave no impression that I can see. I like Norm Siegel, but what did Mark Green DO as Public Advocate. Mind you, I'm delighted it was HIM and not someone else, but what did he DO? Beats me.
You are nuturing your excellent candidates, in the hope that when they mature to positions of real power they will make excellent Progressives. That to me takes too long, and IMO by that time the damage to the country may be Irreparable. To this extent I concentrate my thinking and my energies on the folks who have the ability to improve or destroy our country.
Now to Marjorie. You are in good hands. What a passionate woman. And loyal with a capital L. I believe she is the person to whom you refer. To say she was FOR Kerry is to say New Orleans is flooded. Talk about understatement. I told her that Kerry would never be President, not because he would not make a good President, but because he could not beat Bush. People may disagree with all the reasons but here we are. Bush is not the patrician Bill Weld. Bush is a thug. And kerry is no switchblade fighter. Kerry did not understand the nature of the fight he was in, he thought it was a senate debate.
I cannot stress it enough, but this is what I think our problem is. We are a party of wimps, and until that changes, don't expect any major progress. We can wait for 2006 all we want but the danger signals are already there, in that although the Repugs are not very popular, they are still more popular than Democrats as no one in the damned country knows what we stand for. Expect to lose more seats.
What you describe as "the thuggish old-school incumbent, the sleazy, corrupt machine candidate" . . . although I share your sentiments, you are describing *a winner*. I have learned that Americans love winners, and they really don't care HOW they win. Democrats/Progressives/Liberals concentrate on how the game is played . . . and then they lose. What would we do without our righteous indignation?
Look, RFK was as Liberal as anyone, yet he was as tough and as ruthless as nails. Cross him at your peril. So while we may have passionate liberals and progressives, do they suggest strength and decisiveness? People who won't turn on you when the going gets tough -- like Freddie Ferrer before the Cops. Do you have any idea how many people I know who have switched to Bloomberg from Freddie because of that. Why? It went to the core of who he was. And this is the sort of behavior Progressives have come to expect from their candidates.
What you SEEM to be saying strikes me as a bit contradictory--we need candidates who will do anything to win but we need candidates who stand for something?
If I implicitly believe in a woman's right to choose, if I think prayer in school is hateful, and that creationism is nonsense, etc etc, I see absolutely nothing wrong with my proudly and unambiguously stating my views while defining my opponent as harshly as I perceive him or her.
We are talking about POLITICS. We Democrats try to make it cricket, but it never will be. It's a messy and ruthless business, and as the great Democrat said, if you can't take the heat stay out of the kitchen. We don't get this, so we send preppy choir boys into the ring with ear-biters like Mike Tyson thinking they'll be fair.
The Hynes' of the world will always win, as will the Bushs'. And the Gores' and the Kerry's and the Edwards' and that we send up against them will always lose., No need to despair, it's the way it has always been and will always be. Most precedents have taught us that good men rarely win *the battle* for high office, as they are not prepared to do the things one may have to do.
So once again, in my book, this is the biggest issue facing Democrats and Progressives. We talk about fighting, but it's more than that. It's morality and character. Instead of choosing candidates for their brains, choose them for their balls. If we can get the combination (its extremely rare) so much the better. We can get real and begin to win, or we can forever reminisce about all our good, honest and intelligent men who went down to defeat.
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