Ted Rall: At Some Point, Progressives Need to Grow a Pair and Stop Having Anything To Do With...

[unrepentant progress]

Ted Rall: At Some Point, Progressives Need to Grow a Pair and Stop Having Anything To Do With the Democratic Party

You don’t have to be clairvoyant to see that the next presidential election promises nothing for liberals but more of the same: dismay, disappointment and disgust — in no small part with themselves.

Hillary Clinton, a conservative warmonger ideologically indistinguishable from Dwight Eisenhower, will almost certainly be the Democratic nominee. But she isn’t really a Democrat. Traditionally, Democrats were pro-worker; she and her husband pushed through NAFTA, GATT, the WTO and a slew of free-trade scams that have destroyed American jobs and depressed salaries. Democrats cared about the poor; Hillary has never so much as suggested a substantial anti-poverty initiative. Democrats aren’t supposed to invade sovereign countries for the hell of it; Clinton repeatedly pushed WMD lies, voted to invade Iraq and still hasn’t apologized for the two million Iraqis whose deaths for which she shares responsity. Democrats want single-payer healthcare; instead, she created the template for Obamacare, which keeps rates high to protect insurance company profits.

Yet in today’s “Democratic” Party, Hillary is “inevitable.”

Yes, the highly resuméed, slightly accomplished ex-senator could face a challenge from the left. But not a real one. Even if party bosses allow an actual primary process (they did not in 2012), any primary challenge will be symbolic and impotent (hello Bernie Sanders), poorly funded and sad, raising the faded, tattered flag of liberalism in a quixotic bid to coat Hill’s coronation with a veneer of small-d democratic legitimacy.

More: http://rall.com/2014/07/03/syndicated-column-at-some-point-progressives-need-to-grow-a-pair-and-stop-having-anything-to-do-with-the-democratic-party

I quite agree with Rall about the current state of the Democratic Party. It's been this way ever since the 1970s, although the 1990s were a sea change. But what are you going to do? Vote another madman like Dubya or McCain in?

Personally I've accepted that the Presidency is beyond hope for a good long time, so I vote strategically. I live in a red state with no chance in hell that Hillary, or anyone else to the left of a rabid raccoon, could win. So I write in my heart's desire -- Green, Socialist, whomever. Same thing if I lived in an eterna-blue state. However, if I lived in one of the battleground states, you can bet your bippy I'd be pulling that lever for whomever the saner candidate is -- which almost by definition means the Democratic candidate.

Meanwhile, I try to work where I can to get more liberal candidates into offices at home. Maybe someday down the line they'll hold offices with real power, maybe not. But for now it's all I can do, and at least I don't have to feel like I've sold my soul or as if I've enabled another Hitler.

[RufusTFirefly]

1. IBTBL

"In before the blue links"

I am a lifelong Democrat. Ted speaks for me.

If you’re a leftie, the Democratic establishment doesn’t care about your opinion. They certainly don’t want your input. What they want is your vote — in exchange for exactly nothing in return. They’re political parasites, draining the enthusiasm and idealism of progressives, simultaneously neutering and exploiting mainline libs.

Like a tick, mainline “centrist” (i.e. conservative) Democrats will suck you dry. First they misdirect your hope for real change. Then they extract your vote. By the time you realize you’ve been chomped, the buggers drop off, bloated on stolen power and wealth.

[unrepentant progress]

3. "In before the blue links"

Pardon me for I am old, and not hep to your youngun's jive talk. What does that mean?

[RufusTFirefly]

4. Sorry.

I see you're a relative newbie. Welcome!

Most OPs that run contrary to the conventional wisdom trigger an almost immediate, well-constructed rebuttal, complete with lots of self-serving (and frequently recursive) hyperlinks to supporting information. Hence, the reference to blue links.

Finally, as you may already know, IBTL is a relatively common acronym for "In before the lock," addressed toward threads that are likely to be -- for any number of reasons -- locked by the moderators.

[unrepentant progress]

6. Ah! I hadn't heard that before.

Thanks.

[RufusTFirefly]

8. Thanks for your concern!

[unrepentant progress]

11. You clearly didn't read what I wrote

[leftyohiolib]

14. yeah i lept right to outrage sorry

[unrepentant progress]

15. No worries.

[yurbud]

60. I was energized to fight during the Bush years, then from picking Rahm as Chief of Staff...

I have been dazed about what to do politically.

We can pursue particular issues, but without a party we can rely on to carry our water on the inside, it would take Wisconsin style protests to get anything done and even that would be a crap shoot.

I would run for office myself, but I'm afraid I'd win, and I don't want to expose my family to those kind of people, or have my daughter marry a hedge fund manager as Chelsea Clinton did (not that I think I'd make it to the White House. I'd be lucky to make it to the statehouse, but the principle is the same).

[Maedhros]

2. Bad policies should have consequences.

If we continue to elect and re-elect Democrats, even after they push anti-worker, pro-corporate, pro-war policies, only encourages more of the same.

Elected representatives who do not represent our interests should be held accountable at the ballot box.

[leftyohiolib]

9. that's what primaries are for. in the general you vote for the democrat. if you dont like him you

primary him. then if you don't like him etc. what you shouldn't do is concede your vote to the republicans there are a lot of people working very hard to get a democratic majority, we need to change the makeup of scotus

[Maedhros]

18. I will not vote for any politician that will work to pass the TPP or TISA

or who will expand our military operations overseas, or who will continue NSA surveillance activities.

If the Democrats want my vote, they will oppose these things.

[billhicks76]

23. Hillary President Of College Republicans

She has always been privelidged. And anyone that doesn't think Bush Sr colluded with Clinton to keep progressives like Jerry Brown and Paul Wellstone down is living in a fantasy bubble most probably defined by TV.

[Scuba]

26. Bush Sr. and Clinton? Say it ain't so!

[brush]

30. Photoshopped? nt

[Scuba]

31. Nope.

[unrepentant progress]

39. It's real.

{George} Wallace and his third wife, the former Lisa Taylor, meet with Vice President George Bush and Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton at a lobster bake at Bush's residence at Kennebunkport, Maine, July 30, 1983. The third Mrs. Wallace, whom the governor married in 1981, was 30 years his junior and half of a country-western singing duo, Mona and Lisa, who had performed during his campaign in 1968.

Credit: AP/Birmingham Post

Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/george-wallace/13/

[leftyohiolib]

25. that is one sure of making those very things happen

short-sighted liberals are going to blow our chances to change the supreme court

[Maedhros]

40. I refuse to be held hostage by a political Party that doesn't represent my interests.

If enough Liberal Democrats did the same, we'd actually see some positive change in the Party's behavior.

The only effect of electing a Democrat is that when the inevitable betrayal comes, the rank-and-file cheer for it instead of opposing it.

Political courage. It's in short supply in the U.S.

[leftyohiolib]

43. the party is what you make of it and if you dont vote you concede your vote to the republicans

" I refuse to be held hostage by a political Party that doesn't represent my interests." so you give up and let the party of lunacy control your life AND EVERYONE ELSE'S. while it's nice that you get to feel all smug and superior cause you held to your beliefs, everyone else gets fucked over by president Romney's supreme court appointment because YOU 'refused to be held hostage by a political Party that doesn't represent my interests' so you gave it to the republicans who clearly have your intrests,
the cycle of stupid never ends with this ridiculousness

the supreme court is all that matters right now - get scotus back and then pamper your sense of principle - EVERY 2 YEARS WE GET THE OPPORTUNITY TO PUSH THE DEMS TO THE LEFT BUT 1,2,OR 3 "TED CRUZ" TYPE OF SUPREME COURT JUSTICE WILL INFECT YOUR LIFE FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE.

btw what your doing is NOTHING as lofty as "Political courage " it is political suicide and that would be fine if all you were suiciding was yourself but there are a whole lot of people who take this seriously and have put a lot of time and effort to change things and would appreciate help from all the dems

[Maedhros]

44. I vote in every election. [n/t]

[840high]

54. ...^ that

[jeff47]

34. Then you get the TPP and TISA and military operations overseas.

Splitting the liberal vote in a general election is a fantastic way to elect more Republicans. Who will do exactly what you do not want to happen.

Vote idealism in primaries. Vote pragmatism in general elections. Repeat until the blue dogs either change their position or lose in primaries.

[Cha]

7. Yeah, you listen to ted rall.

[unrepentant progress]

13. You also did not read what I wrote

[Cha]

16. good for you.

[1StrongBlackMan]

12. I generally love your cartoons; but ...

who wants to sign your suicide pact?

[Tarheel_Dem]

17. Gee thanks Ted, but I'll pass...mmmkay? Perhaps you could start up, "I'm a Liberal...

not a Democrat" Underground? AFAIK, the rules for THIS site remain the same:

Vote for Democrats.

Winning elections is important — therefore, advocating in favor of Republican nominees or in favor of third-party spoiler candidates that could split the vote and throw an election to our conservative opponents is never permitted on Democratic Underground. But that does not mean that DU members are required to always be completely supportive of Democrats. During the ups-and-downs of politics and policy-making, it is perfectly normal to have mixed feelings about the Democratic officials we worked hard to help elect. When we are not in the heat of election season, members are permitted to post strong criticism or disappointment with our Democratic elected officials, or to express ambivalence about voting for them. In Democratic primaries, members may support whomever they choose. But when general election season begins, DU members must support Democratic nominees (EXCEPT in rare cases where were a non-Democrat is most likely to defeat the conservative alternative, or where there is no possibility of splitting the liberal vote and inadvertently throwing the election to the conservative alternative). For presidential contests, election season begins when both major-party nominees become clear. For non-presidential contests, election season begins on Labor Day. Everyone here on DU needs to work together to elect more Democrats and fewer Republicans to all levels of American government. If you are bashing, trashing, undermining, or depressing turnout for our candidates during election season, we'll assume you are rooting for the other side.

[billhicks76]

24. Casablanca

This place has gone Casablanca. All the usual suspects. The mainstream centrist republican-lite view can join the bile creeping up my esophagus because that's what it is.

[unrepentant progress]

36. I am not Ted Rall, and you did not read what I wrote

You know, that part where I said vote your conscience when you can afford to, otherwise vote Democratic because at least their candidates aren't (usually) batshit insane. I'm paraphrasing, but unfortunately this is not Democratic Reading Comprehension Underground.

[TeamPooka]

19. So the same ideological schism that we say could sink the GOP with the Tea Party is good for us?

[Dustlawyer]

20. I agree with Ted on almost all of what he said except for the solution.

I say we plan to raise HELL AND MARCH!!! We get out and tell the country we have had it with both parties taking all of the corporate cash and selling us all out! The mid-terms are around the corner and it would be a great time to draw a line in the sand and SHOUT THAT IT IS TIME TO REGAIN OUR DEMOCRACY BY GETTING THE MONEY, ALL OF IT, OUT OF OUR ELECTIONS!

I am sick and tired of voting for the lesser of two evils. Actually, they are the same evil! I believe in the Democratic ideals, but not the Democratic Party! Take away the billions in campaign contributions and I would love to support real Democrats, we just don't have very many real Democrats to vote for! This good cop/ bad cop routine has worn thin with me! They throw us the ACA bone, only we find that there is no meat on it because the insurance industry ate it. Obama throws a few bones, but only after he gave the Filet to Wall Street! They attack Obama daily so we get caught up in believing we must help fight for him, yet he usually gives them the things they really want. Another record year for Wall Street while we limp along, no thanks I am tired of it.

Fight to get the money out of politics and then you will really see what true Representative Democracy is like, and what REAL DEMOCRATS look like!

[yurbud]

47. the protests in Wisconsin were on the right track UNTIL they bought into recall election

that was the correct model for reform EXCEPT they shouldn't have left until Scott Walker was literally run out of office and forced to resign.

There will be a point to where direct action will have the support of the police and military, but who knows if we are there yet.

[Dustlawyer]

48. That is why in other posts I have recommended people to talk to the cops they know.

I should add National Guard and other military to that! I am just feeling my way through this looking for all of the help I can get to make this happen and be successful.

[840high]

53. Sounds good. You know

people will not shout and march. You can shout and march in the voting booth. Send a clear, loud message.

[geek tragedy]

66. There is plenty of meat on the ACA bone to anyone

who actually knows anything about it.

People who claim the ACA is not doing any good or improving anyone's life are part of the problem, not the solution, because they promote ignorance.

[nikto]

21. GOP or Democrats--It's sort of a "charybdis and scylla situation"

GOP-Charybdus--A vast whirlpool, engulfs and destroys everything---Not survivable

Democratic Party-Scylla--Bloody monster on cliff bends down to snatch sailors;
Some casualties, but survivable.













I choose Scylla.







?w=594

Oops!
There goes Pubic Education.
Oh well. Just because they're Democrats, you can't have everything.

[DeSwiss]

22. K&R

- You can't unrotten, rotten -- when it's rotten you put it in the compost pile. That's the only value it has once it goes bad. You break it down, reuse the good stuff, let the rest turn back to dirt.

And you also can't make repairs with broken tools either. So when the institutions that run your life are broken and can only be fixed by itself, then you won't be able to fix things at all with those institutional tools, because they don't work anymore.

And when they do ''work'' you end up with the very shit we're now in......

[Scuba]

27. ...

[yurbud]

46. great toon

[840high]

55. Yep

[LiberalLoner]

28. I do think we need to do our best to pull the party to the left, but....

I have taken a vow never to tear down anyone who looks like a viable candidate for 2016.

I just feel so much is on the line, and will be on the line for at least a couple of decades, we have to do everything we can to make sure our side is the one appointing justices to SCOTUS.

I believe she is a viable candidate, and I believe she will be more progressive than some might believe.

[stillwaiting]

29. I think there's a very good chance we might get some good speeches, and maybe a few crumbs.

As far as cabinet appointments, major policy initiatives, and the agendas that government agencies pursue (and don't pursue), well, it would be foolish to get hopes up too high at this point.

And, center-right is still better than far-right so Democrats deserve our votes. However, the Democratic Party being co-opted by the wealthy and Big Business will have repercussions in this country one day one way or the other. Those repercussions will most likely manifest when least expected and very rapidly. A movement WILL manifest one day. I just hope I'm around to see it. This neo-liberal agenda will receive pushback eventually.

[Dustlawyer]

49. Check out what I said above #20. and take part. MAKE IT HAPPEN IN YOUR LIFETIME!

Don't wait, there is no need. Hope to see you on TV on the 13th of September!

[yurbud]

62. in a very minor way, the Rush Limbaugh/Sandra Fluke example is instructive

Rush had said worse things before, but somehow it was the combination of what he said and the moment that led his biggest decline in sponsors.

Here in LA, Clear Channel took him off the channel with the strongest signal and put him on the channel that used to be the progressive one.

His demotion was some consolation for losing the only progressive commercial radio station in LA.

The protests in Wisconsin against Scott Walker COULD have been such a moment, but once they were diverted back into the existing political process, they were dead. You would think some far-sighted oligarch might have realized the current system could creak on a bit longer if they sacrificed Walker to fool us into thinking we have some power as things are.

[stillwaiting]

63. Sacrificing Cantor and maybe McConnell will be high profile enough to fool enough of us...

…who pay attention.

Don't you think?

Until more of us being to care enough to pay attention they have a pretty easy time of it in my opinion.

[Springslips]

67. No.

The protests in Wisconsin against Scott Walker COULD have been such a moment, but once they were diverted back into the existing political process, they were dead. You would think some far-sighted oligarch might have realized the current system could creak on a bit longer if they sacrificed Walker to fool us into thinking we have some power as things are.

No. Sacrificing Walker would had created a cascade emboldening Ohio, Michigan, and elsewhere that protest were on-going. By diverting it back into the political process the oligarch prevented that. Losing the bill in Ohio by process, but keeping Walker.

[yurbud]

68. in that sense, they lose either way. You could be right that would have been the crack that burst

the dam

[Schema Thing]

32. A pair of what? brain tumors?

[blkmusclmachine]

33. I agree. The Democrats have little to offer if you're not part of the 1%. And that goes double for

the Clintons, part of DLC/Third Way scam.

[jeff47]

35. We need to stop only looking at general elections

There's these things called "primaries". And they are the place where we can steer the party.

Refuse to vote for a blue dog in the general election? Then they will ignore you. It's easier for them to pull in a few more votes from the right than to radically change and get your vote. So that's what they do. Your protest vote in the general election makes the situation worse.

Instead, we need a lot more of us to bother showing up at primary elections. Those blue dogs do not have the option of pulling in votes from the right. So they have to actually give a damn about us.

Further, we need to work harder at the lower levels of government. It's the lower-level politicians who become the pool for higher office.

The teabaggers understand this. They run lots of people in primaries in order to drag the Republicans further and further right. Even if they lose, the "mainstream" Republican has to turn right to win the primary. And they do so at all levels of government, so they can steer the pool of candidates available for higher office.

Apparently, we're too dumb to understand this. We spend all our time bitching about not having a real liberal at the top of the ticket. We seem to expect them to appear out of nowhere, and magically save the day. With almost zero votes in Congress.

Ted, pull your head out of your ass. We got to this point because people like you insist fixing this is someone else's job. It isn't. It's our job. Get to work primarying candidates you don't like. Nobody good on the primary ballot? Then run, or recruit someone to do so.

[bvar22]

37. "Hillary is a conservative warmonger ideologically indistinguishable from Dwight Eisenhower"???!!!

That statement couldn't be farther from the truth.

Eisenhower:

*believed in strong UNIONS

*believed in MASSIVE Government Spending to put Americans back to work!

*believed in a STRONG GI Bill (Socialism)

*believed the the RICH should do their part to pay down the War Debt,
and set the Top Marginal Rate at 92%.

...so anyone can see that Eisenhower was FAR to the Left of Hillary.

[unrepentant progress]

38. +1000!!!

There's a reason Bob Welch Jr. called Eisenhower a Communist.

[colsohlibgal]

41. What To Do

We do have to work hard at the local and state level, to elect good progressive folks, to start trying to get things turned around at those levels.

Ted's exactly right, any real progressive that challenges the Hillary machine and the corporate media will be marginalized right out of contention by the elites and the corporate media. It has happened to Kucinich and Feingold, it will happen to a guy who gets it all right, Bernie Sanders.

So for president we will get what would have been a moderate republican pre Reagan, Hillary, and some far worse right wing talking head. So most of us will vote, again, for who will do the least harm, rather than enthusiastically for someone. And that's sad.

We have to do what we can now and for the long term hope we thwart the plutocracy at some point. It won't be easy, the system is greased.

[Warren Stupidity]

42. but but but Ralph Nader!

[yurbud]

45. I wish Hillary were as progressive as Eisenhower. DLCers are slightly to the right of Richard Nixon

though on some issues, they are as far right as today's republicans.

[Blue_Tires]

50. So who's dumping in the tens of millions to float this new progressive party?

The harsh reality is the way the system is set up now, it's money and not ideas that win major elections -- And it's only getting worse in the future...(Thank you, Citizens United; and all you liberals and civil libertarians out there still trying to convince me why that was such a peachy decision)

Can a national leftist party even be a true leftist party with a $100 million slush fund? (rhetorical question)

[libodem]

51. Wow

I looked at who recommended this. Do you think we are on a "list" now?

[840high]

52. K/R Thank you

[BillZBubb]

56. I simply don't get this point of view.

If liberals abandon the Democratic candidate in the general election, we end up with president Ted Cruz, or president Jeb Bush, or president Rick Perry, ....

NO THANKS, Ted!

We have a chance to get candidates who fully support our views--its called a primary. Liberals need to fight in the Democratic primaries to make their voice heard. That's where the battle has to be fought and won. And frankly, if we liberals can't win in the primaries, we have to accept that half a loaf is better than none--because it is.

Whoever the Democratic nominee is gets my vote, PERIOD!

[Thinkingabout]

57. Just to enter into the record, work off of this list.

http://www.ontheissues.org/Hillary_Clinton.htm

[Agnosticsherbet]

58. What alternative can get elected?

There are very few people from other parites in national office.

The alternative you give us is to refuse support.

I think we need a dedicated liberal uprising to primary centerist and center right Democrats so that more liberals or progressives (those are not the same thing) can get elected.

The Tea Party is crap, but they have been successful becaue they took on the Republican establishment and primaried them with out right crazies. They have't won all the itme, but they won enough that the Republian Party is pretty much the Tea Party and certanly have to cater to them.

If we want ot be catered to by the Democratic Party, find the real leftiest and support them to take over the Democatic party from the inside.

[Historic NY]

59. Ted Rall, better stick to cartoons...

because he is even close to being a democrat or a liberal....he is an opportunist.

[geek tragedy]

65. the only thing shittier than his writing is his cartoons nt

[Tommy_Carcetti]

61. No True Scotsman much? nt

[geek tragedy]

64. Ted Rall is an assholitarian, not a progressive.

Untalented hack who gets his kicks by making fun of the disabled, widows, victims of violence, and of course drawing President Obama as an ape.

And, of course, the sexist and dishonest bullshit thrown at Hillary "slightly accomplished"--and yeah Hillary pushed for expanding access to healthcare back in 1993 when Rall was playing Dungeons and Dragons.

I am not at all troubled by having people like Rall not call themselves Democrats.