Democratic Party at a Crossroads

[DuctapeFatwa]

There was a window of opportunity, almost a half century ago, for the Democratic party to separate itself, uniquivocably and forever, from the Republican party, to become the party of the people - that 75% of eligible individuals who do not vote.

For whatever reason, that didn't happen. After a few little flurries and photo-ops and vans sent down to the projects, the party settled back into its niche, that has now become familiar, comfortable, and expected, the party of "us, too, just not as much," with props to SNL :)

At this point in the nation's history, the combination of events, and the bringing to fruition the PNAC strategies, there is again a window. Not the big gaping window of the 60's with brightly painted signs pointing it out - the polarization by now is deeper, because of that betrayal, and the 75% have been made more invisible for the comfort of shoppers, but it is there.

Last night, I had an interesting conversation with an elderly gentleman, who has lived through the days of the "white" and "colored" bathrooms, through the marches, and Dr. King's speeches, and the dogs and the nightsticks and the jail cells and 4 little girls in Alabama, 4 little angels now, he lived through the rage and the hope and the disappointment, the heartbreak and bitterness too deep for words, and I sat and listened to him, in an area of a large southern city that has gone in the past few decades from country road to singles apartment heaven to, as my friend calls it "America."

Few signs are in English. One seldom hears English. One hears Spanish, Mandarin, Korean, Amharic, Arabic, VietNamese Urdu, Hindi, Portuguese, Russian, Gujarati, Jive - one hears America.

He drove me, a visitor to his city, around to see the historic places of dreams deferred and the wretched detritus of dreams interred, and he took me to the cul-de-sacs and gated communities and neo-colonial ranch monstrosities of the yard signs and fund-raisers, and then he took me to America and we had supper.

"It's like one of them sugar sores you get on your foot," he told me. "You let it go and let it go, and after while the only thing they can do for you is cut off part of that foot, maybe the whole foot."

He said a lot more, too, about talking the talk vs. walking the walk, and sinning on Satruday cause you know the preacher will save you again on Sunday, and after he got done with the metaphors, and his food, he said it plain.

"The Democrats got 2 choices. They can keep on fighting with the Republicans over that same little old bunch of folks, or they can tell the Republicans to keep them folks, cause they're going to be the party of all them other folks, they're going to be the Revolution Party."

He's disappointed in Al Sharpton.

Al, he thinks, is just trying to impress that same little bunch of folks.
No different from the rest of them except he's blacker and smarter.

"But that don't matter," he went on. "If once they decided to become the Revolution party, they'll get a candidate. Ain't no real candidate going to knock on the door and sign up to be a Democrat the way it is now."

The Revolution party would have to go beyond Living Wage. The Revolution party would have to add Right to Housing, Right to Child Care, and hold elections like they do in India, polls open for ten days, thumbprints, vote where you want to vote. And everybody votes. "If you live here, you vote," he said, looking around at America. "These folks is America now," he said. "The future ain't rich white folks."

I don't know what his formal education is. I do know that anthropologists and sociologists and various distinguished ologists all over the world have been whispering gently for quite some time, heads inclined, eyes furtive, as they offer thick professionally bound studies that contain charts and graphs and formulae and projections and progressions and monographs and theses and proofs that all say "the future ain't rich white folks."

What did he think the chances are, I asked him, that the Democrats will decide to throw the house out the window and become the Revolution Party?

He laughed. "Ain't no chance. The Revolution Party gon' come from right here in America."




edit to add disclaimer

In accordance with the Uniform Code of Shape-Shifting Posting Rules, Volume 23, Chapter 87.5, Section vv-t, Paragraph mcmxviii, I have neither endorsed, volunteered for, contributed to, had sex with, or received crack from any candidate or fat-free candidate-like substance, nor am I employed by, affiliated with, or scheduled to have brunch with any regime or any government or principality, legitimate or illegitimate, natural or supernatural, nor any corporate entity, political action committee, focus group, quality circle, task force, college of cardinals or manufacturer of snack foods, and my views do not necessarily represent those of this site, the Vatican, Al Qaeda, or the Coca-Cola company, and I specifically deny knowledge of any pending agreement between myself and any combination of the above entities and Sanrio.

[mmonk]

1. Not a crossroads

more like a highway to hell if we don't start turning things around.

[tom_paine]

2. Love that sig line!

so true, so true...

[David Zephyr]

3. Nice.

Your elderly friend speaks with wisdom and insight.

The Democratic Party has become so compromised by corporate money that it truly lost its identity and ability to stand for anything.

I like the sound of the Revolution Party.

Instead of pandering to the some 19% of the so-called independents who swing back and forth depending on their job situation every 4 years, the Democrats should reach out to the 50% who don't vote, expand the base and change this country once and for all. That's revolutionary.

[Upfront]

15. Dean

is doing just that with the way he is getting his funding. Get on board if you want a change.

[RichM]

4. I concur with the distinguished ologists,

and with your wise friend in the southern city.

The Democratic Party is more the enemy of "the people" than their friend. There is nothing more treacherous than falsely posing as the "party of the people," while selling them out at every turn.

[mmonk]

5. The right brought in their revolution

the answer is to identify voters most likely to sympathise with the democratic party, identify them, register them to vote and get them to the polls.

[papau]

6. I disagree with your friend - in the 40's and 50's the Dems party got

progressive ideas passed - to the extent they did get passed - only by dealing with populist Southern racist Dems.

One of the Things that I recall is the way the GOP ideas ran the House and Senate despite "Dem" control - as those Southern Dems voted with the GOP.

Progressices just do not have the numbers - folks can be moved by fear for security, and fear of the "other" as to job, to the point we never can do any good. We must be non-threatening, promising only to end GOP corruption, and to give a larger role for government that helps folks, but all the while we "keep gov out of their lives (since the GOP has made an art form of saying Dems put gov in your way - all the while passing the look in the bedroom and bug the house laws we have today)".

Protesting can get tiring if you are accomplishing no changes to the system.

[Ardee]

16. what good are your ideals

if you keep them to yourself? How much faith ,or lack thereof, do you have in your fellow americans? I am so bloody sick of this false mantra that we cannot expect our democrats to speak to the ills of our society, to the corruption of our leaders, to the inequities ,to the defunding of our system of public education, to the ripping off of our elderly by hugely overcharging them for their medications.

We hear this "must keep quiet" from the vichy democrats who have led us to the brink of disaster while the GOP continues to be th eonly voice being heard. Is it not understandable why the people are listening to the only ones speaking? Is it not ridiculous that we have nine candidates for office who are invisible to the very folks we need to reach?

[LeahMira]

7. He's right...

He laughed. "Ain't no chance. The Revolution Party gon' come from right here in America."

Our elected leaders have pretty much sold us out. There are still a few "good guys" in Congress, but just look at the $87 billion vote if you want some idea of where most of them are.

Change comes from the people. It always has.

More than that, change comes from individuals. JFK called their lives "Profiles in Courage."

[Nederland]

8. Not Really

The Revolution party would have to go beyond Living Wage. The Revolution party would have to add Right to Housing, Right to Child Care, and hold elections like they do in India, polls open for ten days, thumbprints, vote where you want to vote.

There was a party that stood for things like this. The Socialist Party. It never got more than 3.5% of the vote.

[damnraddem]

9. It was a little under 40 years ago.

Lyndon Johnson had ushered through a Civil Rights law, a Voting Act, Medicare, Medicaid, and a War on Poverty. He was elected overwhelmingly in 1964 over a rightwinger (who today would be a moderate to liberal Republican). And he threw it all away, a betrayal to all progressives, by getting into the Vietnam quarmire. Yes, intervention in Vietnam had started earlier -- actually under Eisenhower, and then deepened by Kennedy; but Johnson was the one who blew it up into the major conflict for America. He was behind the Gulf of Tonkin facade, he threw in the first big troop deployments. And it was his administration that was so muddied by the Vietnam quagmire that he didn't run for a second term of his own. I mark the watershed year as 1965 -- the year of the betrayal.

[starroute]

10. Not just America -- a microcosm of the world

The majority of the world isn't white. The majority of the world isn't rich. If America has always been ruled by a small, elite minority, then the world has been ruled by a minority of a minority.

I hear rumblings from time to time, suggestions that it might all blow sky-high. I don't know about that. For one thing, the rumblings have been going on for decades, and nothing much changes. For another, I'd really rather it didn't blow -- I'd like to see a peaceful solution.

But for that to happen, something will have to give at some point -- and right now, the powers that be seem determine to keep the lid on no matter what it takes.

[DuctapeFatwa]

11. gauche and gratuitous nighttime kick

just to smoke out any revolutionaries in the hizzy

[Iverson]

17. and one for the daytime

n/t

[ulysses]

12. we reach that crossroads

every day. Every day it's new.

[bread_and_roses]

13. Once again, I am with you

and your friend. I think more than anything what I rage at is the near total disregard of the Dems for any form of social justice, anything that would challenge at all the status quo. After Bill Clinton gave us welfare "reform" I was done. The dialogue in this nation has changed so radically that people don't even believe me when I tell them that there was a time that a national guaranteed income was seriously discussed (in the Nixon administration, if my memory serves me). So many people on this board say "but if Bush wins again this will happen, that will happen." Well, it is happening, and has been happening among the really poor in this country.

[kwolf68]

14. .Cross

Sad as it is, the Democratic Party is out of its element.

The party used to be grassroots, populist ... however, the only way to compete with the Repukes is to raise the same money so that you can get on TV, thus putting yourself (and the party) at the whim of the corporate oligarchs.

I believe the only way to rid ourself of this menance is public financing of campaigns. TV and radio should allow each candidate equal time to say their peace.

This business where elections are decided on how much money you can raise is incredibly anti-democratic and will create a society that only responds to the whims of the few.

Our nation is rotting from the inside and this revolution party will one day rise up...it may be in the form of the Democratic Party or it may not.

[MLScott]

18. Reflecting supporters

The Democrats of the sixtys supported civil rights because it was the right thing to do. The solid south, once a Democratic strong hold jumpped to the Republican side of the aisle because the voters of the south moved across party lines. As any politician knows, his votes must reflect his supporters feelings on issues, or he must have time to prove his reasons for his votes. The Republicans played the race card to obtain the White majority, with open arms. The historic democrate party picked up the Black voters. We have settled into a political base that can only be overcome by economics and the progression has begun. Democrats must take the lead in the new South by bringing more jobs to the region and demanding union shops. Discredit the Republicans for wanting sweat shops and allowing new ideas to flow from the shop floor.

Although the idea of a new revolutionary party is grand, standing on a street corner barking out untraditional ideas won't get to many politicians elected in America, let alone the South.

[DuctapeFatwa]

19. Well, I guess it's about choices. You are absolutely right that

standing on a street corner barking out untraditional ideas won
t get too many politicans elected.

Would the politicians like to see just what a lot of people barking those ideas will get them instead, or would they prefer a political solution?

[BeFree]

20. Street Corner Talking

Has had it's success. Just ask Martin Luther King, et al.

Ask the Vnam protesters. Abortion clinic protesters. The Miami gang of election 2000. The First Amendment Zoners. Ask me, I've done a little barking out about 'untraditional ideas' with success.

If we are ever to alert the Sheeple (the 75% who don't vote are the Sheeple) we must become the modern day equivalents of Paul Revere..