The Dems need to get behind...

[slor]

a unified populist message now, while the rethugs and their ilk talk about whether sponge-bob is gay or not. Talk about creating manufacturing jobs, bringing green technologies to help the environment and reduce energy costs, all while breaking our dependence on foreign oil. It is the vision thing, we need to offer that vision, while the chimp talks about "freedom" through military intervention. I read that Kerry is offering a plan for health coverage for children, we need to do that for everything, we now have a growing voice in the media (AAR)and dammit, they must use it to advance their ideas! It can be that simple.

[Goldeneye]

1. You're right.

But how do we get the message out. Our leaders aren't going to do it. At least not until Dean gets in. We need to buy newspaper ads and tv time, but how do we raise money?

[Skidmore]

2. I totally agree.

If the Dems want to salvage the party, then they need to return to their roots as the party of the working person and quit getting bogged down in arguments over religion. Identify issues that reflect basic human decency, and the rest will follow.

[mopinko]

3. jim hightower for president eom

[justinsb]

4. In case you are interested, the group

listed in my signature, Earthlings United, is trying to craft a populist message that resonates across the planet and then working cooperatively to spread that message and make it a reality all over the world.

Earthlings United is a group of activists, writers, artists, musicians and concerned citizens from around the world dedicated to working cooperatively for the principles of peaceful self-determination, environmental protection, human rights, social and economic justice for all people in all nations.

Original Yahoo Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EarthU/

Website
http://www.earthlingsunited.info/

Message Board
http://earthu.proboards38.com/index.cgi

[JNelson6563]

5. Here's what we need to do

We have to realize that there are no red states and no blue states, just American states. I believe the country is still more in sync with Democratic values than Republican values. Our task is to remind ourselves and the American people of the hallmark issues that distinguish Democrats from Republicans.

For example, Democrats historically tackle economic issues with bold, common sense policies. Our last Democratic president created 22 million new jobs in this country. In the last four years, George W. Bush oversaw the loss of over 1.5 million. Democrats balance budgets, Republicans do not. Democrats consistently try to pass legislation that would provide some kind of affordable health care, Republicans do not. Democrats believe we ought to raise the minimum wage to help the average worker keep up with the cost of living, Republicans do not. Democrats believe corporations have too much power over our daily lives; Republicans do not—and to prove it, they have given away billions of dollars of our tax money to the biggest corporations in the world over the last four years.

On each of these issues, the majority of the American people are with Democrats not Republicans. Democrats have the right beliefs to win; we just execute a poor public relations plan. And, despite the enormous improvement in our ground game, the Republicans executed a more effective strategy. Republicans are far more successful because they work in a more unified, disciplined way with local supporters, especially with their base. They also avoid the Democrats chronic pitfall of listening to pundits from inside the Beltway.

I truly believe that Democrats can return to national dominance. But, we must not be afraid to compete in every race, in every district and in every state. We can start rebuilding the Democratic Party from the bottom up. Through my organization, Democracy for America, we have already started that process. This past election cycle, we endorsed over 100 candidates, at all levels of government—from school board to U.S. Senate and we contributed to almost 750 candidates around the country.

These candidates helped return Democrats to the majority in the Vermont, North Carolina, Oregon and Colorado State Houses; as well as the Senate in Oregon, Washington and Colorado. These candidates included more women than men, 25% were African American and there were members of nearly every other minority group, including American Indians. Nearly ten percent of the victors were from the gay and lesbian community, which included wins in places like Idaho and Missouri. And, 15 of the candidates we endorsed that won never ran for office before.

Democrats can win by simply being Democrats. Reinventing ourselves as Republicans is the death knell of our party. We need to get back to basics and start listening to people from outside Washington. Only then can we save the greatest nation on the face of the earth from the twin Republican perils of enormous deficits and constant misadventures abroad.

http://www.democracyforamerica.com/features/2004/12/08/the_future_of_the_democratic_party.php

[rucky]

6. No, no, no...HERE's what we need to do.

wait...

Here's what we need to do....

No, HERE'S what we need to do.


Why can't we just be sincere? And that includes whichever sentiments and emotions that go along with the truth. The truth rings out with a tune that plays well with other people.

[MadHound]

7. Nice thought, I would like to see it happen,

But I doubt that the Democratic party's corporate masters are going to let their "leftist" lap dogs do anything close to what you call for. Kerry's plan for health coverage for children is a pale shadow of what is needed, and wanted by the majority of Americans, and that is universal health care. The Democratic party has had ample opportunities over the past thirty years to bring about greener technologies, reduce energy costs, and end our oil dependence, yet the only thing that they pushed through is Carter's alternative energy tax breaks, and tax credits for homeowner's making their houses energy efficient. And these meager initiatives were repealed when Reagan came into power, with help from the compliant Dems in Congress.

Clinton had the opportunity to tackle these issues, along with a popular mandate to do so, yet he squandered that political capital on initiatives that were more style over substance, shadows of the programs needed, and were eventually so bogged down in minutia that they died a quiet death(think Hillary care).

What is needed in this country is a party that truly represents the people and their needs. Neither the Democrats or Republicans can provide this type of representation since they have become entirely beholden to the interests of corporations, the have and have mores in our society. Therefore it is time that we looked outside the corporate controlled politics of yesterday, and rally behind the only major leftist party that doesn't take corporate cash, who listens and acts on the wishes of its true constituents, we the people. That party is the Greens, and quite frankly I think that they are the last hope for our country. Traditional politics have proven to be morally bankrupt and ethically unsustainable, therefore we have to look outside the normal two party system for real solutions.

One defintion of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result everytime. By our continued participation in traditional two party politics, we are engaging in a collective form of insanity. It is time for us to regain our sanity, and in the process, regain our government and country.