Should the Democratic party move left, or right?

[Gothic Sponge]

Democrats should NOT pander to the republicans! We have changed enough to cater to them! Now people are saying the party should change more? NO!!! The line must be drawn here! I'm sick of the DLC "republican lites." This party should return to true liberal democratic principles! This WOULD bring in more votes because we would eliminate the need for some 3rd parties. No more spineless Democrats! We either start kicking some ass, or we die!

[saracat]

1. And great post to you too Gothic_ Sponge!

Amen! Absolutely!

[Gothic Sponge]

2. Your post inspired me.

:)

[whathappened]

3. there should be

room for all veiw points here in usa , if there is,nt , this is not the usa

[wyldwolf]

4. If I HAD to choose one, I'd choose "Left" because we're "right" enough...

..for me right now. I'm comfortable where the Democratic party is at the moment but would rather it move further left than further right.

But it isn't our position on issues and the political spectrum that is causing our losses, but rather the GOP is outdoing us in framing the debate and presenting the message (and doing a fair amount of cheating.)

I'm sick of the DLC "republican lites."

We could use more Clintons and Kerrys...

This party should return to true liberal democratic principles!

As in which principle and when did we have them?

This WOULD bring in more votes because we would eliminate the need for some 3rd parties.

Nader voters don't seem to have made a big difference this time around.

[LiberalPersona]

5. We need to move left

We have to provide a real alternative to the republicans, otherwise people will just want the "real deal."

[depakid]

6. Dems will NEVER be able to pander enough

to satisfy the far right and in the end, all they will do (as they have been doing) is look weak and alienate not only their base, but others who look for candidates who actually believe in something. The only way to deal with bullies is to stand up to them- cowering before them only brings more of the same.

The so called "strategy" of the past 10 years (and of 1988) is now undeniably a failure (of course, how many times has that been proven before).

The Dems have winning issues- but they've sold them out, and alllowed the far right to frame the debate and capture the media- and in turn, the voting machines. I don't want to to say that there's no hope- there honestly isn't much, but what there is lies with being true to the principles that built the party in the first place, because with what's going to happen in the next 4 years- economic decline, environnmental degradation and widespread disillusionment with an unending and unwinnable war- those principles will seem very attractive again, even in the face of the never-ending propaganda.

If the Dems have the courage to stand up for what they should believe in- and wait for their opportunities as the inevitable happens, they may be able to become a majority party again.

Even though I personally have no intention of sticking around to see it- I have great faith in the ability of the far-right to foul up just about everything they touch (people who act irrationally- and don't listen to experts usually do). Bushco and the crackpots in Congress will be no exception.

[RC]

7. The Right is exploring new frontiers

and has dragged the center with it.
The real center needs to be measured against the rest of the world and not be defined by the extremest to starboard.

"Go Left young man."

We need to reclaim Liberal and what it stands for, Caring about others.

We have been setup to become a 3rd world debtor nation.

The safety nets are being cut away. The last 4 years they were just sharping the knives and testing them. The next four they will be used.

We are being led by a pack of greedy criminals and almost half the population support them because they claim to be Republicans.

[H2O Man]

8. Left.

I would think it is possible to consider issues on an individual basis. However, I can not think of a single issue that I would move to the right on. Move to the left.

I have been talking a lot about the grass roots. I say move the foundation to the left.

[Walt Starr]

9. I can't vote in this poll, because I see no reason to move either way

:shrug:

Oh well, your poll disenfranchised me.

[tibbir]

10. We need to stop pandering to the undecided voters whoever they are.

The democrats were floundering and going nowhere in this campaign until Howard Dean came along and ignited the base.

We need to show that we're pround of being a progressive party and not a "me too" party. As long as we don't clearly delineate our differences from our republican opponents the campaign gets mired down into contests of which candidate is more like someone the voter would like to drink a beer with, which is ludicrous.

It seems to me that the first thing we need to do is to replace Terry McCaullife. Great fundraising abilities has its place but a great strategist is priceless.

[Silverhair]

11. The RW sites agree with you.

I cruise several of the RW sites to keep up with what they are saying. Naturally they often comment about what is happening over here. They are convinced that the left is rejected because it is too far left for the bulk of the American population, and that further leftward movement by the Democrats would help them.

[Cuban_Liberal]

12. Wrong question to ask, IMO.

We don't need to 'move' either way, but we need to start talking to people about the things that matter to THEM, rather than the things we THINK ought to matter to them.

[snippy]

13. For twenty years Newt Gingrich and Tom Delay have been working to

make the democratic party more liberal. DeLay likes to say that by the time he is done the democratic party will consist only of blacks, homosexuals, and radical environmentalists.

[mmonk]

14. Not any more right.

The party just needs to be innovative. What it really needs to do is stress to the American people the current situation that not all of their rights are in force and there exits threats to other rights (beyond abortion and prejudice against Gay and Lesbian rights). Once they perceive the threats to their own rights, only THEN will they begin to wake up.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

15. If they move any more right they can put (R) beside their names.

As it is, they have become pretty much the moderate wing of the Republican party now.

That's why I'm switching to Green after 39 years of noseholding in vain hope of the Democratic Party ever taking it's name seriously.

[Gothic Sponge]

16. kick

[69KV]

17. False dichotomy

There is no either-or about it.

The Democratic Party should expand in *both* directions and become a big tent.

[German-Lefty]

18. When i was bitter after the election, I thought Right - real hard

I thought "hey let's just give em what they want." Screw the country they deserve a right wing trashed country. Let's grab the biggest fascist Christian right wingers and try to outdo them.

Election Promises:
* genocide in Israel - Unlike our faint hearted opponent, we promise to give to help the Israeli government do what ever it takes to end Palestinians.
* religious values - screw putting the 10 commandments on public grounds, we promise to brand it onto the foreheads of everyone.
* money for the rich - we promise to tax nobody that makes more than 10Million a year
* military spending - we promise to double everything including wages in the military
* United Nations - we will quit the United Nations
* SS and Medicare - the government will stop paying any social benefits, screw you.
* Abortion/stem cells/God - all public officials will have to swear an oath to one of our great Churches, if the church repudiates him he's gone and banned from any future public service.

I'm sure we could get plenty of republicans to help enact these laws. Before they know what happened the country would be broken and everyone with brain will have fled. Eventually the other 50% of Americans will realize something went wrong.

After a while cooled down and realized that it's probably not the best outcome. I'm not even 100% sure it would work.

[SeanQ]

19. Neither!!!! It needs to expand to include the center

while holding the line on the left. Personally I think this can be done without changing our core values, but rather by just improving how we organize & present our message. Better regional work on the ground using regionally appropriate language.

But I really have strong doubts that the current Democratic party is capable of this. Tell me - how many people who did volunteer work in red border states where we lost by a relatively small margin have been contacted, in person, by a member of the DNC seeking to expand contacts and operations on the ground in those states? During the campaign, I got weekly or even daily emails from a host of organizations with suggestions on ways to help (beyond just asking for more money), links to useful resources, summaries of news and counterpoints, etc. Nothing from the DNC.

There is so much complacency in the ranks of the organization - I've heard so many tales of lack of organization, petty tyranny and outright laziness (including my own, on these boards and from many activist friends) - that it almost seems as if rigor mortise is already setting in. I despair that the party has what it takes to remodel itself, and we seem to willing to look elsewhere (Move-On, Green, Democracy for America, etc.) for a voice, for organization. Maybe there is stuff going on and I am just not aware of it. I hope so - but if there is - shouldn't we be aware of it?!

Are we going to just continue to be fragmented, are we going to build a new party to replace the moribund DNC, or are we going to revolutionize the DNC?