Tell Me, Why Should I Remain Registered as a Democrat?

[Stevendsmith]

This party, in its continuing evolution to Republican-Lite, has repeatedly caved-in to the Republicans and suffered catastrophic electoral defeats.

Name me one major agenda item the GOP has not achieved since 9-11.

I am so furious with my party right now, I could scream. The image of a pathetic, defeated Tom Daschle on election night encapsulates my rage with this feckless party.

I will not change my party affiliation in this angry state, but why in the hell should I stick with this loser? Because it's the only loser we've got?

I think I'll become an independent.

[PatsFan2004]

1. Literally, overturning Roe v Wade has not occurred yet.

[Lefta Dissenter]

2. I think it's up to us

to change the party.

[whirlygigspin]

4. you have the power?

ahum.

[Lefta Dissenter]

9. We need to

claim the power. I am not going to roll over for the fascists. Our Democratic Unity group is meeting this afternoon to decide what we need to do in the coming months and years.

We need more than cute slogans, or even mighty ones. We have to reclaim FAIR elections (currently working on BBV issues) and we have to learn how to do battle with the immense machine that the repubs have created. They are trying to steamroll us, and if we run away from the fight, they will have won.

[ShaneGR]

3. Snore.....

I'm not looking forward to people like you doing nothing but bitch and moan for the next four years.

[Stevendsmith]

6. Snore?

Oh, sorry, did I wake you? Yes, I realize the colossal failure of the "opposition" party to check the neoconservative juggernaut is a rather sleepy affair.

Yes, the Democratic Party is doing just fine.

Resume your nap.

[Q]

17. Don't let the detractors bother you...

...they've been saying the same damn thing for years (since at least 1994): stay loyal to the party, don't complain and everything will be okay. But here we are ten years later with...nothing except a party that thinks winning is everything no matter what they have to give up.

- You'd think that after 1994, 2000, 2002 and 2004 they would have finally realized that they need to revamp their strategies and go back to their base. But hell no...here they are talking about 'working with' Bush* and pandering to HIS base.

- I've been a Democrat for so long that I'm not sure I could be an 'independent'. But the next few months will determine everything. If the party continues to go down that same terrible path of bowing and scraping to the Bushies...I and many other Democrats will simply leave and find a party worth fighting for and with.

[bullimiami]

5. literally. unless we stop this now.

there will be no point in taking part in any politics ever again. democracy will be dead.

[Senior citizen]

7. I'm going back to the Green Party.

I registered Democrat for this election and I voted for Kerry.

My bad.

[jobycom]

12. Uh-huh. Right. nt.

[seabeyond]

8. simply, democrats did a kick ass job. they won

that is why you are a democrat. now we have to get to work and do a kick ass job once again. the more that help the more we do

[Geek_Girl]

10. It's not going to change

unless you stay and fight for it. We are not just in a fight for the democratic party but for democracy itself. We need to fight for what is good in our party and change the bad. That's what the progressive movement is all about. You didn't think things would change over night did you? This is a fight for our country's future and our children's future. If you give up then they win and you mine as well sign up to get blown up in iraq, start giving your minimum wage earnings to the Evangelist and become one of sheeple that are being fleeced.

[jobycom]

11. You want the party to change? Be the goddamn change yourself.

Same crap we listened to with Nader in 2000. The Dems did this wrong, did that wrong, blablabla. Name me one thing worthwhile accomplished in this nation in politics in the last forty years that was NOT accomplished by the Democrats. One, just one.

Every damn thing good that has happened has been because of the Dems. That doesn't mean they do everything right-- they piss me off, too. They're pissing me off right now. When you have 54 million people, some of them are going to have different ideas on what to do.

But they are the only ones trying.

Change the party. Join a local club. Go down to your party HQ and talk to the leaders, find out what they think. They'll probably think like you. Get involved. If there's no club, make one. I was president of a big club here in Austin until August. We had a group show up who got really mad at the way we ran things, because there was too much Parliamentary stuff going on. (I hated it, too, frankly, but the club kept it up.) So they went off and formed their own club, and spent the entire election blockwalking, phone banking, preaching, and getting involved. The two LIBERAL candidates they backed, both of whom were running against popular Republican candidates, did very well. One won, the other lost by 171 votes, out of about 100K. And that's still up in the air, because there are provisional ballots yet to be counted.

It was almost all because Democrats in Austin got pissed. They joined clubs like mine, and when it wasn't what they wanted, they formed their own. We beat Bush, here, in his own home town (one of them), 56 to 42%.

Stop the friggin' whining and get out and do something useful. Here's a hint. Rocks are not useful, there is no point hiding under one. Quitting will never help you get what you want, and becoming an independent is quitting.

Look around. See what you want to do. Be the change you want. If you need help, ask here, there are so many resources on DU, so many people who can tell you how to start a club, how to get involved. Just do it. You'll feel a lot better than if you quit, I promise you, because I've been there, on both ends.

[Stevendsmith]

18. Good Advice

You're right.

I am just angry right now.

[Q]

22. "Be the Change"....

...what a bunch of happy bullshit. Change must come from within the party leadership. Yes...you'll say we should just 'vote them out' if they're not doing their jobs. But the leadership has redefined what their job should be. They don't even pretend to the 'party of the people' anymore. Like the GOPers...they're out to save their own asses and careers...even if it means selling out to corporations and their lobbyists.

- I'm not suggesting that anyone should quit the party. What I AM suggesting is that if the party is unwilling to change then Democrats should begin thinking about alternatives.

- This is a more complicated issue than you're willing to admit. Just as the GOP was taken over by RWing fundamentalists and Neocons...our party is now in the control of those who call themselves 'new' Democrats. They want a different kind of party...one in which many Democrats are not welcome. They want to get rid of the 'whiny' Liberals and Progressives so that their consciences won't bother them as they sell the party to special interests.

- Liberals and progressives have to ask themselves if they're welcome in the 'party of Clinton' and whether we can work together to actually BE the party of the people.

[jobycom]

31. You also have to be ready to ask yourself

How a minority can win an election?

There's a short and unhappy answer to that.

My "Happy Bullshit" is the only chance you've got, Q. We have two parties. We have to form a winning coalition with one of them. You act as thought there are a few leaders who are against 90% of the party. The moderate Dean couldn't even get elected by progressives. You can't blame the leadership for that. Well, you can, but that's just dumb.

There are different opinions within the party. We have to work with people with different opinions to form a coalition to beat those with radically different opinions.

That doesn't mean we give up what we want. We fight as hard as we can to get people to agree with us, to pull the outcome as far our direction as we can. If we just sit on our butts, we lose. If we cry and whine about how unfair the big, bad, rich people are, we lose. If we do anything other than work our butts off to win, we lose. Unfortunately, to win, we are going to have to lose a little bit, too, just as every single person in the Republican Party has had to do.

[KitSileya]

32. What a wonderful story.

And good advice too.

If the Democrats can mobilize that strongly and successfully in a city in Texas, they sure as heck can do it in small towns and cities in NYS, Ohio, Kentucky, Alabama, Idaho et.al.

[UL_Approved]

13. Where you gonna run, son?

If you abandon the Democratic party, where will you go? Canada? Europe? Well, let's propose and argument here.

If, like you, millions of people run away from the Democratic party in this nation, where will they go? Will they leave the U.S., will they join a dozen smaller parties? And what of their influence? Twenty parties that can't get enough common support to stand up to the GOP. Or a hundred, and so on. Or let's say that we retreat into left-wing territory. We lose a lot of people and become a fringe party.

Commonality and catering to the enemy is a fact of life in American politics. Do not forget, FDR made many concessions to the Dixiecrats in WWII to get national unity. You either compromise or you go home. You will NOT get everything that you want, and sometimes you lose everything but one issue to get things done. This election destroyed compromise as a viable political tool. If we can't get it back, our party IS finished.

[shrike]

25. We've catered to them for years, though

And where has that gotten us? I appreciate what you're saying, and under normal circumstances it'd be good advice. But these aren't normal circumstances and these aren't normal people.

[puddycat]

14. The Democrats did WIN this election; its just they didn't fight the fraud

and that is what has me disgusted

[Gyre]

15. Unless this election is overturned

Any energy or money spent on national races in states with BBV in the future will be wasted because it can be safely assumed it's already stolen. I'm ready to check out for awhile if Kerry doesn't challenge Ohio's vote by Tuesday.

Let these paranoid christian fucks rapture without me. Who wants those mindless drones for company anyways?

Gyre

[Lefta Dissenter]

16. we have no idea

what is going on behind the scenes with Kerry.

Rather than holding judgment, DO something! Have you checked out BBV and http://www.independentmediasource.com/evotingfraud.htm to see what YOU can do???

I don't think your original candidate (making the assumption from your avatar) is a candyass, so why don't you follow his lead and FIGHT? Quit waiting and whining for other people to rescue you.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

19. Probably switching to Green. My nose is worn out.

I'll still vote for the few remaining progressive Democrats, but I'll no longer be voting for the DLC moderate wing of the repugs.

Held my nose and voted, reluctantly, for Kerry to my regret. The "electable" candidate wasn't. Nor will the next cold oatmeal candidate foisted on the party faithful by the "moderates" be.

Welcome to the "One Big Tent" party and state.

[Gothic Sponge]

20. I don't even know if i'm still a Dem

I want to be an FDR style Dem, but the party likes the DLC too much.

[ComerPerro]

21. So FReepers can check the rolls, see that you are a Dem, get your address

and come after you in the night.

Duh...

[spanone]

23. Whatever......

[shance]

24. Steven, you ask a valid question that Dems should be asking.

I think in any situation, when our needs, concerns, ideas are repeatedly not being addressed and/or respected, its time to look at other options.

I think not to look at this very real situation facing us, is lacking the sanity and intelligence necessary to move forward. Indeed, if we continue to do the same things over and over again and expecting different results, which we have been doing for quite some time now, shows a level of denial and perhaps delusion that is not healthy.

I believe if there was a way to reach our leaders, we would have done it by now. We continue to suit up and show up, take all the necessary actions like voting, writing letters, getting active, and yet, our Congress still ignores us.

In my opinion, I think one of the primary ways to show our power is through our pocketbook now and through our community, and through a third, UNIFIED organization of Americans who feel screwed by this system of ours. Many Congressional leaders Im sure feel their hands are tied and we need to connect with those leaders who understand the severity of the situation and want to do something about it.

Bottom line: Our reputation and integrity as a country is totally at stake now. That means us. Look what happened to Germany and all of its citizens.

I don't know about you, but I don't want to be associated with a governing faction (Democrat or Republican*), who thinks they can bully every other country into letting us have our way.

I don't want to be associated with those who think there wont be HUGE consequences to this road of action.

I don't want to be associated with an Administration that is taking our country and potentially our planet down the drain.

So, I understand what you are saying and I only hope more Democrats and progressives will look at this serious situation with open eyes and an open mind.

[Triana]

26. I became an Indy 4 years ago...

...for that very reason, and I will stay one. I vote for Dems but I will not be a member of that spineless jellyfish of a party and I reserve the right to vote for other than a Dem when I think it's appropriate.

[Astrochimp]

27. Bandwagon Democrat? Only stick with a winning team? N/T

[Stevendsmith]

28. Huh?

Bandwagon? I am a lifelong Democrat.

The sports analogy doesn't work. This is much more important than "team" loyalty

So I should stick with a perpetual loser?

[GRLMGC]

29. Register Republican

so you can cuss out the phonebankers who call you. Seriously, though, I know the party has problems and the leadership is inept, but its up to us to do something about it. Registering independent is probably a good idea if you'd rather not be part of the party right now.

[DemCam]

30. Yep...sounds like a good idea to me....

and the choices are:

Join the Republican Party...thereby increasing the odds of a Republican Majority into the middle of the century or until Karl Rove kicks the bucket.

Join the Green Party with 2-5% regstration depending on where you are.

Form a new party of bitter disgruntled ABDs with a potential registration of 2-5% depending on where you are.

Form a new party called We Wus Robbed with a potential registration of 1-2% depending on where you are.

[Senior citizen]

33. I believe the Green Party registration is about to increase dramatically.

In order to keep the election between two pro-war candidates, the Democrats did everything in their power to force Nader off the Green Party ticket, and to trash both Nader and Cobb.

As the most viable anti-war party, I believe that the Green Party will see greatly increased interest and membership as the Iraq quagmire deepens, and as more and more people become disillusioned with the pragmatic immorality of the corporate parties.

Read my sig, read the books, and get back to me on this. Neither of the corporate parties can take a principled anti-war stance. Given a choice between war profiteers/criminals, and their collaborators, I think most decent people will opt for neither. Many of us voted for Kerry believing that because he was once able to see that the Viet Nam war was unjust, we might be able to persuade him that the Iraq war is also unjust. We couldn't even persuade him not to concede and to demand recounts--and those were promises he HAD made. The Green Party is anti-war, pro-environment, pro-civil rights, and in favor of more democratic election processes. Well, heck, that's my sentiments exactly. What about you?