Clinton alienated many Democratic socialists with neoliberal policies

[Christ was Socialist]

The Democratic Socialists of america (3 members in congress) tried to work within the party structure. But Clinton and his reaganespe policies have forced even the most conservative members out. Pure conscious. Clinton broke the spine of the new deal with the welfare reform bill. His 1997 budget compromise was disgusting. The top 20% gained after tax relief while the bottom 20% became poorer. In fact Tom Paines book deals with it extensively

http://www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/4371/view/print

I know the party doesn't care about its left, But those of you who don't appreciate the far left, helped put bush in office, by Giving leeway to canidates who appreciated us.

[Cleita]

1. I'm for forming a socialist democratic party after the election.

I don't like the DLC brand that the moderate Democrats have adopted. Once they were Republicans I think.

[w4rma]

3. The DLC isn't another party. Democrats need to counterbalance the DLC

WITHIN the Democratic Party.

[Cleita]

7. Truthfully, I think we are too far apart in ideology to do that anymore.

When I joined the Democratic Party back in the sixties, it was very liberal and progressive. The DLC has turned it into a type of Republican moderate that my father was. Honestly, what it says and does is not much more liberal than my father's ideals were back then.

[Gildor Inglorion]

5. A European-style Social Democratic Party?

Sign me up! It's the logical continuation of the ideals and ideas of FDR & HST.

[Christ was Socialist]

9. It seems

like they have begun to dangerously appease, they give a blank check to bush everythime there is a crisis, reminds me of the enabling act in a little country called germany.

[freetobegay]

2. LOL

eom

[IrateCitizen]

10. Wow! I never looked at it that way!

Typical. :eyes:

[Quetzal]

4. Isn't Cornel West an active member of the Democratic Socialists of America

[Christ was Socialist]

8. yes he is as well as

feminist Gloria Steinem, actor Ed Asner, scholar and libertarian socialist Noam Chomsky. (love noam)

[rogerashton]

6. It is difficult to be enthusiastic about

a party whose message seems to be that they can manage corporate globalization better than the Repubs because the Repubs aren't smart enough.

I could hope to see the day that the Democratic party is a real center party -- which it clearly aspires to be -- since that would mean that they would be under as much pressure from socialists on the left as from Republicans on the right. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be selling. It seems there is no center in this country -- just the near right and the far right. But, this time around, it seems we have little choice but to support the Democratic Party as it tries that strategy, since the alternative is "not far right -- just far out." Maybe it will work. We can hope for the best.

[IrateCitizen]

12. I think Noam Chomsky is on target on this conundrum

Here's a passage from his blog (http://blog.zmag.org/ttt/archives/000026.html)

We have several choices to make. The first is whether we want to pay attention to the real world, or prefer to keep to abstract discussions suitable to some seminar. Suppose we adopt the first alternative. Then there is another choice: electing Bush or seeking to prevent his election.

Naturally, Bush has an overwhelming funding advantage, thanks to the extraordinary gifts he lavishes on the super-rich and the corporate sector generally and his stellar record in demolishing the progressive legislation that has resulted from intense popular struggle over many years. Since US elections are pretty much bought, he will therefore win, unless there is a very powerful popular mobilization to overcome these enormous and usually decisive advantages. That leaves us with a choice: help elect Bush, or do something to try to prevent it.

It's a matter of judgment, of course, but mine is that those who favor electing Bush are making a very serious error. The people around him are likely to cause very serious, perhaps irreparable, harm if given another mandate. Activist movements, if at all serious, pay virtually no attention to which faction of the business party is in office, but continue with their daily work, from which elections are a diversion -- which we cannot ignore, any more than we can ignore the sun rising; they exist.

There are also tactical questions. Those who prefer to ignore the real world are also undermining any hope of reaching any popular constituency. Few are likely to pay attention to someone who approaches them by saying, loud and clear: "I don't care whether you have a slightly better chance to receive health care or to support your elderly mother; or whether there will be a physical environment in which your children might have a decent life; or a world in which children may escape destruction as a result of the violence that is inspired by the Rumsfeld-Wolfowitz-Cheney-etc. crowd, which could become extreme; and on, and on. Repeat: "slightly better." That matters to sensible people, surely the great mass of people who are the potential victims. So those who prefer to ignore the real world are also saying: "please ignore me." And they will achieve that result.

[Mick Knox]

11. Your success would be the WORST thing to ever happen

If you were successful and say got an unthinkable 15%-20% of the vote.. Repukes would own the country. We would lose every election.

I hope you are never successful.

[rogerashton]

13. That's too doctrinaire.

You seem to take it for granted that the Demos cannot take away the suburban moderate Republican crowd, and operate as a centrist party. You may well be right, but that is what the democratic leadership seems determined to do. IF THEY SUCCEED, then the stage may be set for a democratic socialist party with 20-30% on the left, balancing the Repubs left with 20-30% on the right. IF THEY FAIL, as I'm also inclined to believe they will, then the only other hope is a splitup of the dominant Republican party into right and center parties. If that should happen, the only niche left for Democrats is social-democracy.