Reply #12: "bury our petty differences" [View All]

[welshTerrier2]

i agree with many of the things in the OP ... it certainly is not adequate to make your whole political life just debating politics on DU ... it's critically important, especially for politically aware people, to get involved and work on issues that are important to them ...

i also agree that the focus needs to be much more on 2006 than 2008 ...

but i very strongly disagree with the comments you made about "burying our petty differences" and the comments you made about how Greens and others should leave DU ... first of all, it's not your call to make ... while you made the point using respectful and thoughtful language, the message is nevertheless that those who are not fully behind the Democratic Party and each and every candidate they nominate should get the hell out of here ... as long as DU'ers comply with the rules, it's really not your place to be calling the shots ...

secondly, it's bad politics and it's short-sighted ... as a Democrat, my view is that we need to do more to attract voters on the left ... this does not mean the Party should move to the left or the center or anywhere else ... it means that it should be an objective to listen to voters, understand their concerns, and seek to find as much common ground as possible ... your "why don't you just go somewhere else" does not embody that idea ... we should not "bury our petty differences"; we should first respect the idea that they are not "petty" and we should second find a better process to work through them ... our differences are NOT "petty" and they should NOT be "buried" ...

you've also oversimplified the DU constituency ... at least i didn't see my views reflected in what you wrote ... i'm not a Green or a Communist or a whatever ... but i am a Democrat who will not support a candidate merely because they have a "D" label ... this will be true in 2006 and it will be true in 2008 and beyond ... that's because i don't accept the idea that we have to support ALL Democrats regardless of how they've voted on critical issues ... at some point, we have to demand reforms in the Party to give all Democrats a chance to be heard ... that's what i have a problem with right now ... our elected reps rarely meet with voters unless it's a fundraiser ... there's very little communication ... this hurts the party in two ways ... one, we don't get a chance to fully understand why they've voted as they have; and two, they aren't getting sufficient input from the spectrum of ideas in their constituencies ...

so instead of your polite and thoughtful "love it or leave it" position, maybe you should be preaching a "we need to do a better job reaching out to potential voters" ...

and finally, you raised the issue of impeachment ... here again, i disagree ... i don't think Dems need to be all over the media right now calling for impeachment either ... they have to lay the groundwork first ... but i do think they need to do a much better job talking about serious violations of the Constitution ... they do need much better message discipline talking about spying on Americans ... they need to do a much better job talking about separation of powers especially since it looks like bush might bomb Iran without Congressional authorization ... Dems don't need to lead with the "I-word" but they do need to start preparing their case ... the point is NOT whether a push for impeachment could succeed; the point is that we need to explain the case to the American people ... if you think we should only pursue things with a guaranteed win at the end, we'll be too afraid to fight for anything ...