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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJust opened my ballot. Will vote straight D. But I am not excited, not eager.
I know what the other options are on the ballot, and I am not going to screw myself and my state and country by voting for them. I am happy to be voting for Charlie Crist. I like him as a person, and I think he was a good governor in a time that was dominated by the rise of the Tea Party. They are now his worst enemy, and in no way will he cater to them.
I am seeing the harm being done to public education with both parties enthusiastically on board.
I am truly alarmed at clauses in the new trade deals (also strongly supported by both parties) that will harm everyone but the 1%.
What I am seeing happening now is the culmination of the efforts of one group to make the Democratic party only accountable to the wealthy. In their own words:
The words of Simon Rosenberg, a founder of the DLC in the late 80s made it clear they wanted to marginalize the usual party constituents.
Originally from an early 2000 article called How the DLC Does It.
"Simon Rosenberg, the former field director for the DLC who directs the New Democrat Network, a spin-off political action committee, says, "We're trying to raise money to help them lessen their reliance on traditional interest groups in the Democratic Party. In that way," he adds, "they are ideologically freed, frankly, from taking positions that make it difficult for Democrats to win."
They have definitely freed themselves from those restraints.
There was a great article in 1997 at Mother Jones. It told of how the views of the DLC were prominent. One of them was that moving to the right and pre-empting the positions of the right wing would help us win.
Democrats at the Crossroads
Two factions of Democrats with sharply divergent ideas are fighting to lead the party. Will they resolve their differences? Or will it be Republicans who cross Clinton's "bridge to the 21st century"?
The predominant analysis in the media echoes the New Democrat view that Clinton won by pre-empting the right on such issues as crime, welfare reform, and a balanced budget. "Every time Dole tried to get cracking on an issue," Al From pointed out at a post-election DLC press conference, "he couldn't do it because the president had, in a sense, beat him there."
That might be okay to take those positions while campaigning, but it's not okay for a party to keep those stances after they win.
After 1994, the Democrats understood the threat the Gingrichites posed, and they cooperated long enough to do remarkably well last November. Now the question is, can Democrats of different stripes manage their ongoing debates and learn to cooperate to build a new majority? Maybe. But only if the New Democrats temper their tendency to throw out all of the party's legacies in order to leap into an undefined world of "reinvented government" and market fixes. And only if the re-energized populists can reach out to popular constituencies beyond organized labor, and go beyond defense of public programs as they are, to fashion fresh solutions to problems of family security.
Populists may not like the "new ideas" of the Democratic Leadership Council. But they will have to come up with better prescriptions and political strategies of their own, not just more compelling descriptions of America's economic woes. CAF's Robert Borosage puts it in a way that could be a caution to his fellow populists as well as to the Democratic Party as a whole: "People will demand the basic protections they need to raise a family. Democrats will find answers -- or face decline."
In 2008 we were golden for a while. But it didn't last long. By the 2010 midterms we were again fighting the battle for the middle class, unions, the poor, needy and elderly.
Howard Dean's words at a conference right after the midterms struck at the very heart of it all. They were not popular, but they are still true today.
From the 2010 Washington Post:
Dean at progressive conference: Time for Democrats to 'behave like Democrats'
Dean, in a fiery speech Tuesday at the America's Future Now conference, gave voice to frustrations on the left that President Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress have not used their big majorities to pursue a more progressive agenda. "We are done with putting people in office who then forget who got them there," said Dean, a former Democratic National Committee chairman.
"You did your job," Dean added. "You elected Barack Obama. You elected a Democratic Congress. You elected a Democratic Senate. And now it's time for them to behave like Democrats if they want to get reelected. They have forgotten where they came from -- and they haven't been here that long."
Dean echoed other progressive leaders who opened the conference Monday, expressing dismay, even anger, at the White House and Congress, saying they have been too timid and compromising on issues such as health care, the economy, climate change and banking reform.
Dean said the progressive base is critical to Democrats' electoral successes this fall and beyond. "If Washington understands that they can't do things that demoralize their base," Dean said, "then we'll have a permanent [Democratic] majority."
2014 is sounding a lot to me like 2010. Except now we are having to fight even harder.
As a retired teacher my heart aches when I see what they are doing to education and to career teachers like I used to be.
I can not wrap my head around the clauses in the trade agreements, especially the ones that allow other countries to sue us over laws we have that they do not like.
So, excited or not, I will vote for the Democrats on the ballot. I want it to be different, but our voices have not been enough to be heard.
When the DLC folded in 2011 and turned the policy shop over to the Third Way think tank, they claimed victory. They said they had done what they needed to do and had won. Hard to argue with them. They do not have to appeal to the ordinary everyday people, and they do not on many topics. Sometimes being better than the other party means you are not just plain crazy.
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)fat-cats and "New" Democrats that don't even know what's in the Party Plank. All compromise all the time. And we're just supposed to clap louder, dammit!
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)But it's better than the other side.
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)It's like asking, do you prefer DEATH by firing squad or DEATH by lethal injection???
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)we get eviler, with no hope for change.
bravenak
(34,648 posts)Thats what I do when I Feel like hating on democrats . I think.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)it is my sincere hope that doing so provides the "choosing the lesser of two evils, still gives you evil" crowd the release they need.
Now, do I drive 20 minutes out my way to take the relatively clear express way to get home; or, do I take the congested surface streets and get home 20 minutes sooner? I'd far rather click me heels three times and POOF, I'm home!
Oh ... those lesser of two evil choices!!!!
bravenak
(34,648 posts)He should just use MAGIC.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)the protagonist always comes to appreciate the magic negro!
bravenak
(34,648 posts)He always seems to have to die before they realize how much the needed him and how awesome he was. I can wait. It's never too late to say'I TOLD YOU SO!!!'
BlindTiresias
(1,563 posts)JI7
(89,173 posts)rarely get much discussion here says a lot .
a lot of people are mostly talk,. they love the drama but it's not more than "look at me".
The democratic leadership tends to be pretty antagonistic towards leftists, primaries are a valid theoretical solution but without support from the party itself it is very easy to marginalize certain players in favor of orthodoxy.
JI7
(89,173 posts)BlindTiresias
(1,563 posts)JI7
(89,173 posts)BlindTiresias
(1,563 posts)And an enemy of the party to be attacked relentlessly and also responsible for Republicans being in power. Have you seen the kind of stuff that gets said about people who even consider supporting third parties?
JI7
(89,173 posts)BlindTiresias
(1,563 posts)Because as I said before, the way the two party systems works means that if a substantial cohort breaks away, you are essentially gifting the other party a victory unless they too encounter the same phenomenon. That is why the lesser of two evils argument is so effective, if you do break away from the closest aligned party you are essentially guaranteeing a victory for the one you really disagree with.
JI7
(89,173 posts)BlindTiresias
(1,563 posts)JI7
(89,173 posts)even in cases where there is different system there was no involvement by those who claimed to dislike rahm.
so goes back to my original point about a lot ofpeople just wanting attention .
Probably because the two parties are absolutely huge and take up the majority of discourse. I'm sure even the most orthodox dems here will educate you on the futility of third parties.
JI7
(89,173 posts)BlindTiresias
(1,563 posts)If the two parties take up effectively all the political discourse and third parties are actively discouraged (and for good reason, admittedly) that is going to have an effect that is scalable to the local, state, and federal level. Your argument would be stronger if we had a substantial presence of other parties but that simply is not the case.
JI7
(89,173 posts)just look at rights for minorities. even same sex marriage being legal doesn't mean gays will suddenly have an easy time it. they are still facing discrimination in getting people to perform the ceremony and even things like just getting a cake.
BlindTiresias
(1,563 posts)But look at the history of third parties in the US.
I mean are you seriously advocating for third parties here on DU? Why haven't the doctrinaire dems started tearing into you?
JI7
(89,173 posts)as some here claim to feel i sure would not be in the party and yes, i would support a third party.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)choose the lesser of the two evils.
Now, do I drive 20 minutes out my way to take the relatively clear express way to get home; or, do I take the congested surface streets and get home 20 minutes sooner? I'd far rather click me heels three times and POOF, I'm home!
Oh ... those lesser of two evil choices!!!!
BlindTiresias
(1,563 posts)So how does one stop the rightward drift? I understand the lesser of two evils argument, thank you, but how does one get from there to people not adhering to Austrian school economics?
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)Step 2: Work you butt off to get the requisite signatures to get them on the ballot
Step 3: Work your butt off to get them through the Primaries.
Step 4: Work your butt off to get them elected in the General Election.
And if they lose, at any point, conduct an honest assessment on where the candidate faltered (honest, meaning, not "the establishment wouldn't let him/her win" , and go back to step 1.
BlindTiresias
(1,563 posts)Would you care to offer any assessments on why this hasn't happened yet?
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)A possible aversion to the hard work of doing the hard work of getting a candidate elected; or maybe, the "winning" message is not as widely had as some believe.
The former is fatal; the latter can be changed through putting in the hard work.
BlindTiresias
(1,563 posts)But I've seen a lot of hard working leftists and progressives whose work comes to nothing, so, in keeping with the second argument: do Americans just love far right economics?
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)and the committed ones keep trying. With each loss, the message and name identification spreads wider ... that's where the honest assessment comes in.
I don't believe the average American pays much attention to far right economics (or far left economic) ... they pay attention to whether they can feed their families, hang out with their friends, and possibly buy a few toys; they care whether they can walk down the street in relative safety; they care that they can get the support that they need to solve whatever problem that faces them.
BlindTiresias
(1,563 posts)But how does that explain the huge power of the right wing in the United States? The left is essentially the weakest it has ever been, to the point where right wing ideology permeates both parties to a large extent, although this is less prevalent in the Democratic party. If it is the case that people are working hard to further left movements, and they just need to do an "honest assessment", and if this honest assessment really has no errors outside of popular appeal, doesn't it then follow that the American people are indeed a right wing people?
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)doesn't attempt to talk people that might think of voting republican out of voting for a republican, or sitting out elections, because the republican isn't republican enough (well ... until relatively recently).
A DUer, earlier, posted as reasonable an answer/opinion on this as I have seen in a while. I will attempt to find a link to it later ... but, essentially, she said ... when Democratic enthusiasm(sp?) is driven down, progressive representatives pay the price, leaving conservatives and rightward leaning Democrats.
Whoa ... that has too many "Ifs" in it. I'll try and respond later. I have to step out.
questionseverything
(9,631 posts)elzenmahn
(904 posts)...do this, and you build a base from which you can put progressives on the ballot for the national offices with a serious chance to win.
The Republicans knew that. That's one of the biggest reasons why they have the House right now - that, and gerrymandering.
BlindTiresias
(1,563 posts)But we have to remember that it was dismantled and the people who dismantled it are still around. Furthermore, there is no more coherent ideological structure to that kind of base.
pscot
(21,023 posts)no matter how we vote. All our choices are avatars of The Pharaoh.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)nihilism, thy name is DU!
JI7
(89,173 posts)just the fact that you are posting on this site shows that.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)adirondacker
(2,921 posts)Yay!
Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)One doesn't have to be enthusiastic to vote. One can even regard it as an onerous chore and still do it.
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)gratuitous
(82,849 posts)At least, that's what I'm given to understand from the teevee machine and the reports I read here about what they say on the teevee. If you just say, "Meh" and vote for the candidate of your choice, apparently the ballot tabulating machines can tell that you aren't enthusiastic enough, and they won't count your vote.
So you have to say "Fuck YEAH!" as you fill in the little circles. If you're uncomfortable with swearing, you can also say, "Darned tootin'!"
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)JI7
(89,173 posts)this is why non presidential races usually get lower turnout.
BlindTiresias
(1,563 posts)And I'm not excited, what should I be excited about? More Austrian school inspired center-right dems?
JI7
(89,173 posts)it's like the people who come to a website that's about supporting the democratic party and then mostly talk about how the parties are the same, how horrible the party is etc.
i think a lot of people just enjoy attention. they cant get it in person so they go on the internet.
it's weird but for some reason there are people who are like this.
because if i was as disappointed as many claim to be there is no way i would be on DU. i would not be supporting democrats. i would already be getting behind something else and promoting that.
but most of these are not activist types. as i say it's mostly about attention. strange but people are into weird things.
BlindTiresias
(1,563 posts)So people necessarily -have- to try and converge on the most closely aligned party in order to have some impact. In the left's case it is the Democratic party. Obviously the ability to effectively influence such massive parties is very difficult and all the worse considering the amount of money the party elites have at their disposal, so naturally this will lead to lots of frustration.
I think your point would be more valid if we had a different system for elections, in which case yes it likely could be reducible to attention seeking. In this case I think it is frustration, powerlessness, and venting.
JI7
(89,173 posts)there were a lot of anti Rahm threads on DU but nothing about supporting someone else .
even if he lost another Dem was mostly likely going to win. similar to the NY mayors race.
I mean a pluralistic party system, not a two party one. Surely you can understand my point, yes?
JI7
(89,173 posts)but if you feel that is the only way i would work to build support to change the system.
Chathamization
(1,638 posts)your local party is terrible. I'm somewhat lucky - we've finally had some good successes lately, and it looks like this election will actually get us 2 - 3 more good progressives in our city council, one particularly bad council member will be gone (because, eh, she'll become mayor, but can't win 'em all) which paves the way for possibly another progressive next year, and we'll most likely end marijuana prohibition. There's still a ton of work to do, but we've been fighting (others much more than I), and now it looks like we'll have some victories.
But yeah, if I were in some areas I imagine it'd be pretty depressing. My suggestion would be to keep voting for good people in the primaries, encourage others to do so, and if it looks like volunteering locally won't make any difference, join some group like the DFA that can direct you to other candidates you can volunteer for that have a good chance to win (and in return, they can help out local politicians you think are worth it).
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)of the people. Done to cater to a very very wealthy teeny tiny minority.
That is why I am angry most.
It was done on purpose.
wyldwolf
(43,865 posts)Used to be an almost daily occurrence. Same points. Same articles. Altered slightly.
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)Good, I am so glad.
wyldwolf
(43,865 posts)madfloridian
(88,117 posts)wyldwolf
(43,865 posts)Douglas Carpenter
(20,226 posts)I will always vote against the Republicans because they are NUTS! Like Madfloridian I only wish I could vote for progress rather than just inhibiting reaction.
Skittles
(152,964 posts)they think everything is hunky dory - they grade an A+ !!!!
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)Because now we are seeing the culmination of the efforts to leave out the "traditional constituents" of the party....to get to the place where they don't need us.
LawDeeDah
(1,596 posts)I am sure it will help, immensely. someone, somewhere. Let's guess who.
elzenmahn
(904 posts)...and he's speaking for a whole lot of disaffected people.
I'm voting straight D, as well - and I don't feel like these people are really representing me, either.
You want me to get enthusiastic about Democrats? Then they should start doing things that are necessary but considered politically impossible today:
1. TAKE DOWN GOLDMAN SACHS!!!!
2. Support and pass SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE!
3. Start redirecting the billions of excessive dollars from the Military-Industrial complex towards improving our infrastructure;
4. Make a serious effort to address Human-Caused Global Climate Change, including the changes to the economic structure that are necessary;
5. And a whole lot of other things...
The reason for the disaffection? Because the Dems FEED AT THE SAME MONEY TROUGH that the Republicans do. Yeah, I get the same emails from them pleading for money and the matching grants (especially from the DAMNED DCCC). But why do you see them, at the same time, pleading from the hedge funds and the Big Money?
I'm not voting FOR the Dems. I'm voting AGAINST the Repubs.
And I'm getting FREAKING TIRED of having to vote AGAINST things.
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)And I will do what I can to keep the extremists on the right from being elected.
I was eager to vote in 2004 because I felt I could make a difference. Now I don't. But I will vote D anyway.
That's the whole point isn't it?
bahrbearian
(13,466 posts)Other wise we would have to jury you off DU. Its mandatory
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)liberal_at_heart
(12,081 posts)will make campaign financing public and get the money out of DC. Do what you feel you must do. I can't vote straight democratic anymore. I just can't do it. Either way we are on a slow march to hell. Sure we get there a little faster with the republicans but either way we are on a slow march to hell.
Proud Liberal Dem
(24,355 posts)Counts the same
MisterP
(23,730 posts)keep clapping or Tinkerbell gets it! why, if you don't let your vote be taken for granted unconditionally, someone *else* might be ignoring everything you need or ask for!
Iamthetruth
(487 posts)You could not pay me to vote for Crist, the guy is a pure politician that is going for his seventh or eight government job. I hate career politicians.
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)bahrbearian
(13,466 posts)madfloridian
(88,117 posts)Iamthetruth
(487 posts)I'm sitting this one out. Can't vote for either of them.
Mister Nightowl
(396 posts)As with most elections I've participated in, I'll be voting against rather than for
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)DrewFlorida
(1,096 posts)Thinking about what happens if you don't vote for Ds should be enough to get excited about!
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)True...that's why I'm voting Dem.
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)that we're fighting an unwinable battle. The sad thing is that the dlc brags about running away from the liberals, then blames them for not voting. They and the BOG and other such unprincipled dinos have destroyed the party.
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)Good point.
YoungDemCA
(5,714 posts)Which in our system, translates to Republicans winning.
Because hey, Republicans are definitely preferable to Democrats, right? :
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)READ THE SUBJECT LINE OF MY PREVIOUS POST. I WILL VOTE STRAIGHT DEM. IT'S NOT MY FAULT THAT OBAMA AND REID AND PELOSI AND THE CLINTONS AND THE REST OF THE CORPORATE DEMS ARE LOSING.
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)I am looking forward to voting except for that fact that I'm in a CD with a bluedog. In the primary I chose to leave my ballot blank in that race knowing he'd get the nomination by an overwhelming majority (which he did). Two years ago I voted for him in both the primary and GE. My ballot is filled out and I'm still thinking about it.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)This is why the nation is dysfunctional. This is how we lost the democracy.
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)Of course a post with such criticisms will no longer get recs here. Yes, it does seem like it will cause the loss of our identity as a country.
SidDithers
(44,228 posts)Sid
elzenmahn
(904 posts)...I've never seen a ballot in which there was a box for "enthusiasm". It's either one or the other - it's all about the numbers.
Kermitt Gribble
(1,855 posts)"And now it's time for them to behave like Democrats if they want to get reelected." The Third Way doesn't care how far our Party moves to the right, as long as their "team" gets the win.
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)Otherwise known as the medical marijuana issue. Yes on 2.
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)So why are both parties so eager to do it?
NightWatcher
(39,343 posts)I'm excited to vote this time.