Should the Democratic party change?

[Gothic Sponge]

IMO the Democrats need to stop being "republican light." Stop pandering to undecideds. Cut ties with corporate interests. Move the party to the left on environmental/social issues to eliminate the need for many 3rd parties.

What change would you like to see, if any?

[greatauntoftriplets]

1. We need to stop being repug light.

Move left, dammit.

[gmoney]

2. Go for the throat...

Middle America thinks were pussies because we don't fight back and don't fight dirty... The rightwingers and Bush knows they can lie with impugnity because of this.

[LTRS]

23. I second that! (n/t)

[Eric J in MN]

3. Move left on economic issues, move right on abortion.

Call for withdrawal from NAFTA and the WTO.

No federal contracts for companies which outsource.

Make abortion illegal after fourth month of pregnancy, with exceptions (so we have some common ground with "pro-life" voters)

[NMDemDist2]

9. i can get behind that program and add a few more

realistic sex ed for kids
affordable birth control

tax code reform-- chuck it out and re write the whole thing in about 30 pages with a nice sliding scale. Tax corporations at 10% across the board, no loopholes. Realistic estate taxes, child credits and small business tax (under 250K is small IMO)

federal grants for companies looking to free us from oil dependency

the list goes on.....

[Starlight]

4. Absolutely. Move left. n/t

[Crowdance]

5. It should fearlessly argue class issues

The party's strength is its work toward supporting the middle and lower classes. And those classes are being threatened by the repugs.

And it should stop threatening to throw women and gay to the sharks. Without women and gays, the party's BASE, the party is toast.

I have a compromise I like much better than giving up abortion rights: all Democratic men will volunteer for vasectomy. That shouldn't be a problem for men--should it? I hear so many men volunteering us for a white sale of our rights. Why should women carry the entire load?

[Gothic Sponge]

8. I'm a man, and i agree.

:)

[rucky]

6. Naw....let's keep losing.

I'm moving left, with or without the Dems.

[Bjornsdotter]

7. I think...

...we need to move to the left. In the DNC survey I wrote that we were socially behind other countries by at least 100 years.

We need to grow a spine and also need to replace Terry.

Cheers,
Kim :toast:

[DeadManInc]

10. play dirty

When the repukes play dirty we have to jump down into the gutter and beat them bastards at their own game.

[OutsourceBush]

13. absolutely

we gotta wake up every morning with the goal of fucking the Republicans, any way possible.

[Gothic Sponge]

19. I agree, but we need to stay honest

Let's not become what we hate.

[OutsourceBush]

11. The majority of voters are in the CENTER, it is continued idiocy

to keep moving away from the center. At the moment the CENTER has moved to the right so we must chase that CENTER majority of voters. This is basic politics 101.

[scarletwoman]

25. You've GOT to be kidding!

The Dems have moved so far to the center I hardly recognize the "party of the people" anymore! I'm a born and bred Democrat, almost 55 years old, and I've watched the party that once stood for the working class and the downtrodden move steadily rightward and abandon nearly everything that gave real meaning to being a Democrat.

News flash: When the Dems do repug-lite, the voters chose the full-strength repugs.

Dems will have to choose their constituency -- is it going to be the corporate ownership class, or is it going to be the common man as it once was? Guess which class has more voters.

You're positing a false dichotomy. The choice isn't between "center" and "left", the choice is between corporatism and the workers. Offer the working class a clear platform of economic populism instead of insincere lip service while sucking at the corporate teat.

The ruling class LOVES the "culture war", because it keeps the masses distracted with wedge issue emotional hot buttons, which allows the ownership class to fatten its wallets and institute corporate feudalism while the unsuspecting peons squabble over god, gays and guns.

Who does our government serve? The Dems need to answer loud and clear that government serves at the consent of the governed, and that it is the party that will serve OUR interests.

The "center" strategy has already proven to be a loser -- where are our Congressional majorities of yesteryear? Gone with the advent of the "moving to the center" strategy. Bring on the class warfare -- THEN you'll see the shift back to Dems.

sw

[scarletwoman]

12. The Democratic party needs to have economic populism as its core.

It's either gotta be the party of the people or the party of the ownership class, it can't be both.

sw

[mzmolly]

14. We need to change one thing. That is WHO'S IN THE WHITE HOUSE.

Everything else is secondary. Yes I said 'secondary' ... :hi:

[OutsourceBush]

15. Dump gay 'marriage' bull sh*t and stick with equal rights

for domestic partners. Give domestic partners all the same rights as marriage, but NEVER use the word 'marriage'. The repukes will contune to kick our asses with that word.

[AndyTiedye]

21. That's What Kerry DID!

Kerry advocated civil unions only.

Nobody seems to have noticed that either.

[bitchkitty]

16. Ban black box voting. n/t

[Gothic Sponge]

18. Yes, i agree!

That should have been 1st on my list.

[Quixote1818]

17. No, we just got hit like the towers did. Now we know they have been at war

with us even though we were not at war with them. So what we need to do is win the culture war! After all all, the greatest minds through out history have been on our side. We just need to believe we are right again and remind everyone Jesus was a flaming liberal and Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were just like us! Free Thinkers, not Fundamentalist nut cases.

[Nordic]

20. Go after the media, go after BBV

those are the two enemies of Democracy right now.l

Everything else is a waste of time.

[LTRS]

22. Move left and emphasize social values

... and I don't mean fundie values; I mean true social values like the ones ACTUALLY found in the bible. A decent living wage and health insurance for the working poor; protection of social security; seniors and their medication needs over big pharma; the air we breath over profits for corporate polluters.

In short, we need to get back to our core values. Kerry ran a good campaign. We should move forward with it, even if he isn't president. Hone the message, but other than that, stick to it.

Edited to include: Actually do something for the minorities we claim to represent! No more relying on just lip service. Show people we will fight for the ones we claim to represent.

[Gothic Sponge]

24. kick