Reply #11: Can we stick to that topic? [View All]

[welshTerrier2]

i don't think we should view the argument in the narrow terms your OP presented. I think it makes a false case that the primary motivation of those who are so angry with the party just intend to hold their breath and stomp their feet until they get their way.

many of us are dedicated political activists who have worked our asses off for the changes we seek. I don't see that kind of respect reflected in your post.

i've already acknowledged that I agree that voting 3rd party probably will NOT change the Democratic Party. But your post didn't acknowledge that working within the system and holding our noses and voting for corporate Democrats hasn't "changed the Democratic Party" either. In that sense, I see the argument in the OP as needing to be broadened. It's easy to say leaving won't help; that doesn't make the case that staying will help either.

The problem I have with threads like these is that all they do, without much real analysis by the responders, is encourage carnage. all the true bluers recommend the thread and say how foolish the "lefty freepers" are. "don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out." wonderful ... that hardly addresses the real issues like Iraq, global warming, health care, fair elections, centralized media control. people showing their disdain for those who leave NEVER seem to demand that candidates start really addressing these issues. i mean NEVER. all i hear is "purist" and "perfect is the enemy of the good" ... it's such crap. no one called for "perfection". the message is that we aren't being heard and we aren't being respected and we aren't being represented. the message is that the entire political process has become a sham. it's pretense. it's fake. it will not address the changes we need.

is there frustration? you're damned straight there is. plenty of it. most of us have NO ANSWERS. we do NOT believe that "going along" and "working within the system" has provided much progress or any hope.

so, if you want me to reiterate my straightforward and unequivocal agreement with the narrow point about leaving not changing the party, you got it. i think the impact, and perhaps the intent of the OP, was to do more than that. in the end, i think it distorted what most of us are saying and why we're saying it. i think the reasons for leaving your post described are more what you and others have been hearing and less what many of us are actually saying.

btw, feel free to pop in on the thread I started about "leadership". it elaborates on the reasons I MAY not vote for anyone in 2008 or MIGHT even vote 3rd Party. The issues are just not being addressed.