I'm a "Green Democrat". Join me?

[chaska]

Another one of my modest proposals.

Why don't we start to identify ourselves as regular and green dems. We could have blue and green donkeys for instance (avatars, pins, whatever). This will give us an idea of what's happening in our party, where our true feelings lie, whether we are being adequately represented, etc.

THERE DOESN'T HAVE TO BE DIVISION BETWEEN GREENS AND DEMS. DON'T BE STUPID. WE ARE ALLIES.

[LiberalEconomist]

1. Here is my hand n/t

[veteran_for_peace]

2. I agree with you!!!

[info being]

3. Why not just be Green?

What are you so afraid of? You can still vote Dem if they deserve it...which they usually don't.

[chaska]

9. Afraid? Not an issue.

The purpose is to move the party back to traditional Dem issues. I think it's essential for our survival as a party, besides just being the right thing to do. Two parties against the pugs guarantees they win. I want to make it so I don't have to hold my nose to vote (no slam against Kerry, but...).

One party: Green Dems/Blue Dems.

[auburngrad82]

17. I think the point is if we don't join together we'll be stuck with the GOP

What would be worse- a one-party state or a two-party state?

I know you will say a three party state but that's not about to happen. We are on the verge of a one-party state, in case you haven't been paying attention.

If progressives of all sorts can't get together to beat the GOP then you might as well resign yourself to watching the green in the environment fade to brown.

It will happen.

[Old and In the Way]

4. Sure, I'll stand up for that.....

nothing shameful in being Green. If anything, Democrats should be developing a vision of the future with alternatve/renewable/decentalized energy as an opportunity to invest in America's domestic economic future and a way to stop the Republican dead foreign policy entanglements in the Middle East that are literally killing this country.

[bluedog]

5. well I'm a Dean Democrat

wish he would start his own party..............hes got plenty of internet backers.........

[AgadorSparticus]

15. he sure does!! and he will be a force to be reckoned with...

[dean_dem]

26. Hey, me too....!

I knew this username would come in handy one day.

[fujiyama]

30. Starting his own party

would be stupid.

Fortunately he's smarter than that. Were he to start his own party, it would look like Perot and the party would collapse like the reform party.

I like Dean a lot and he's basically been proven right on just about all major issues. I really wish he would be the chair of the DNC. Is there any chance of it happening?

[MileHiStealth]

45. Doesn't matter how many BACKERS you have ...

its how many HACKERS you have that decides the election ...

[Old and In the Way]

6. How about a Green donkey symbol?

I'd go for that.....

[LiberalEconomist]

7. Leprechaun

No, bad idea, because then Dennis Kucinich will sue for copyright infringement.

[Eurobabe]

10. oh, that's nasty, be nice to Dennis, he was my #2...

after Wes.

[Zorra]

8. My beliefs are more Green than Dem now that the Dem Party has moved

so far to the right - it seems that the Green Party has become what the Democratic Party would have evolved into if corporations had not used the DLC to infiltrate and take over the Democratic Party beginning in 1984.

I am still a Dem because it is the only party that can effectively challenge the fascist republican party. But I plan on joining the Green Party.

I'm with you. Dems and Greens are allies. Also, there is a new Dem organization called the Progressive Democrats of America.

DU Economic Activism Forum:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=255

Campaign To Starve The Beast Thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=2600099&mesg_id=2600099

[ConservativeDemocrat]

11. Does it ever occur to you that DLCers might be right?

Clinton was a proud member of the DLC. He is also known for his economic genius. That wasn't an accident. The nation grows best when it neither coddles plutocrats (like the GOP does) nor wages war against businesses (like the Greens do), but takes a neutral stance.

I have personally persuaded more than 20 Republicans to vote for Kerry. I have gotten almost ten Independents to become Democrats.
What's your record?

- C.D.

[chaska]

12. So you'd be a blue Dem.

We can argue all day about whether a conservative or liberal approach is right or better. It serves no purpose. The fact is the Democratic party has certain core beliefs. And we are not following those beliefs. Clinton was a liberal pug for all, okay most, intents and purposes.

Our party has moved far too far to the right. And we are losing because, BECAUSE of it.

[ConservativeDemocrat]

16. I disagree...

Democrats didn't loose because we moved too far to the right. Mainstream Democratic thought is exactly where it needs to be in terms of economic issues. The public trusts Democrats to run a good economy. We win on those issues in every single poll.

Where we loose in the public eye is on the issues of Terrorism and Religion. Not because we're wrong, but because the public is. The majority of voters equate empty swaggering rhetoric with "strength". And I don't have any solution to that other than to say that enough body bags will cure that perception. As far as religion is concerned, I believe we need to have Democrats go out and not merely make the case that "we're Christian too", but state baldly that "we're Christian and the GOP is not" - that the UnChristian Right are the American Pharisees have twisted the teachings of Judeo-Christianity into exactly the opposite of what it says.

The last thing I want to see is the public finally coming around to see the Democrats being the TRUE party of Morality, only to have us being taken over by people who are anti-Business, and have us lose because of that.

- C.D.

[chaska]

20. It's 'lose', not "loose".

I'm going to start a thread on this lose vs loose business.

You're making my point. The dem party is the moral party. Jesus was a liberal. I want us to get back to that.

I don't think that liberals are necessarily anti-business, we're pro-people. Business will take whatever profit it can take, from whatever source. And they have been allowed to go too far. People who make minimum wage (among many others) are suffering because the *immoral* policies of the republicans allow business virtual carte blanche. They can do damn near anything they want now. And that is wrong and immoral, and we won't survive if it's allowed to continue.

This funnelling of money from the poor to the investor class is simply a wrongful and immoral act. Defend it if you wish, but you'll be arguing from a Republican POV. The most good for the most people, that's what the Democratic party is all about.

[ConservativeDemocrat]

31. A spelling flame?

So I misspelled "lose" at the top. I spelled it correctly at the bottom. The spelling checker doesn't catch everything.

I actually think that we agree far more than we disagree. I am certainly not defending GOP plutocracy. But Greens so far to the left that they can't see the difference between the Republicans and the Democrats are barely any better, either.

Here's an idea: stop treating the "investor class" as the enemy. Instead, help convince them how their long term interests lie in preserving stable societies that can sustain growth over the long haul. Instead of attacking them as being greedy for wanting to keep more of their money, show them how their taxes are well spent and help everyone.

I'd really like to see less of "Billionaires For Bush" venting against the mega-wealthy. Anyone who kept track of such things knew that real billionaires, being the smartest and most forward thinking investors, actually supported Kerry - despite the higher taxes they knew he was proposing.

- C.D.

[Walt Starr]

13. If the DLCers were right, we would have WON the past three elections

The DLC had their chance. They lost, time to take a different approach!

[ConservativeDemocrat]

19. Kerry was hardly DLC

Clinton told Kerry what he had to do to win. He could have endorsed some of the anti-Gay Marriage propositions - specifically, the ones that did not preclude civil unions. That would have been consistent with Kerry's stated position on the issue: Civil Unions Yes/Gay Marriage No.

Kerry declined. He stood up for what he believed in. Good for him. But it also made poor religious conservatives worry that he really was for Gay Marriage, so he lost.

Now we have No Gay Marriage AND Bush for the next 4 years. But don't blame the DLC for this. It's not their fault.

- C.D.

[chaska]

21. We lost because we ran on, or rather competed on, their issues.

We lost this election years ago. We should not have abandoned the traditional Democratic constituencies. The vast majority of those church goers that won this election for Bush are by right ours. Those people are mostly poor (I generally use the term 'poor' rather too broadly, I mean basically anyone who's not rich) and they at least think of themselves as moral. Those WERE our voters once. They're not now. And we may never get them back.

...Certainly not if we keep on the way we are.

[ConservativeDemocrat]

33. Dixiecrats ran on racism, not socialism

Are you sure you want that back?

- C.D.

[Bush was AWOL]

23. That's a good point

and with more and more people calling themselves Conservative than liberal I think the DLC/Clinton approach is what is best for the party. Kerry was not conservative and was probably the most liberal candidate to win the nomination since McGovern. I know too many people that said if Clinton was the nominee instead of Kerry they'd have voted for him. They saw Kerry as too liberal and wishy washy.

[chaska]

24. They saw Kerry as too liberal only because the right...

has made the term a pejorative. We need to think more broadly and longer term.

[Lone_Wolf]

42. I read the Green Platform and said this is what the Dem's should look like

The Green Party platform is much more inline with my beliefs.

[Cuban_Liberal]

14. I'll just stay a plain, old-fashioned, yellow-dog Democrat

I don't know who we'll pick, green, blue, gray or anything else, but I do know that whoever it is a.) stands a better chance of winning than anyone else except the Republican and b.) will get my vote because of a.) .

[vet_against_Bush]

18. I am game...

:hi:

[w4rma]

22. No. The Green Party is worthless except as a tool to create infighting(nt)

[chaska]

25. And who exactly is advocating for the Green party here?

I'm proposing that there be green dems *inside the Democratic party.* Precisely to prevent our lefter brothers and sisters from bolting.

[deutsey]

28. If such a thing ever happens, I may reconsider joining the Party

[Arkana]

27. I prefer being an Orange Democrat

but Green is okay too. :)

[ArkDem]

29. Democrats have always helped people of color.

[Guava Jelly]

34. how about..

I am a racist jesus loven F_G haten warmongering rich people loven Democrat.

Aint that what we are supposed to believe after this fraud they call an election. Why are the morals polls correct whilst the exit polls incorrect,..hummmmmmmmmmmmm makes ya wonder

[Julien Sorel]

35. ?

Democrats were the party of the KKK. It wasn't until FDR that blacks began voting Democratic, and it wasn't until Truman that Democrats started looking seriously at civil rights.

I don't mean to rack on you, because this is something I see here every day: people who make assumptions about what the Democratic Party is or has been, based on the way the party was in the 1970s.
The OP, for example, talks about "getting back to traditional Democratic values." Which values are those? The racist, xenophobic values of the 1860 - on period? The hawkish, internationalist abroad, focus on the economy at home period from 1916 - 1964? Or the civil rights period we've been in since? Parties change as conditions change -- common sense. To adhere to something because it is "traditional" is a sure route to extinction.

[Guava Jelly]

38. we need to be the party of change

not more of the same...
YEah we used to be the bad guys thats when we owned the south..
Well since we let them thar darkies vote and embraced them using the same water fountains well we lost the south...I say Phuck the south.
I have been a democrat since i knew what one was..But I'll be damned if i am gonna embrace the hatred and ignorance of MORAL VALUES to win a election.
we are the party of inclusion..but I'll be damned if i belong to a party that includes bigots

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.
Pastor Martin Niemöller

[Hun Joro]

32. I love it!

I must confess that I voted Nader in 2000, although being in Texas, my vote did not count then any more than it did this election. Dennis Kucinich made me feel okay about voting Dem this year, because in his heart he is green.

[rman]

36. how about classic or traditional Dem

-

[Malva Zebrina]

37. I don't have to do anything

If the Democratic party keeps going further to the right and forces me to be further to the left through no change on my part, they have essentially, forced me out of their party . :shrug:

What to do? I will never again vote against my principles. I will not be held hostage to this rotten system that forces me to vote a vote in something that is not much different than the Republicans. Never again will I lose my resolve as to what issues to me are important and will vote accordingly. Too bad, Democratic DLC. It is not my fault but yours. I don't care is it is not "politically" smart. I will not prostitute myself again to support anyone who is obviously touting the platform of the DLC which has been a loser for the past three elections, and a panderer and a whining whore in order to "win". They lost and it because of their false principles, that they lost.

I have more respect for myself than that.

[Niccolo_Macchiavelli]

39. You are getting ahead of yourselves

1. The (so-called?) Democracy of the bipartisan United States is DEAD. Realize it. You can be a traditional conservative, DLC, Green, whatever voting WILL NOT get you back your country. All other is daydreaming and a waste of time Period.

It will require some sort of resistance be it peaceful, aggressive, actively or passively to oust the regime of the PNAC-Cabal.

Whether you get to that point sooner or later the country will have to be rebuilt perhaps in one peace perhaps seceeded. When all lies in shambles you can (have to) rebuild the system anyway... what about trying a proportional representation with multiple parties, drop the winner takes it all electoral colleges.

But before that reget your country. Give the Antichristians(Bush&Co) and their ilk the boot.

Allthough i feel thats somehow too easy to say from the safety abroad; your getting way too distracted in secondary issues.

good luck i really wish you dudes and dudettes luck

[newyawker99]

47. Hi Niccolo_Macchiavelli!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[ZombieNixon]

40. Blue has been my favorite color since I was two.

I'm not about to change it now. Please don't get me wrong about this. I agree with the Greens on most issues, and DLCers are, for the most part, "red" Democrats, if you get my meaning. I am, and will always be, regardless of my party affiliation, a "blue" person.

On this topic, it has occurred to me that part of the reason the Green party has been unsuccessful is their name. Think about is: green. It's a pretty color, but people are thinking "we've got the Green party, where the hell is the Orange party." People identify the term "green" (when used in politics) as purely environmental. To some, that denotes "hippy," and many people are turned off by hippies. In addition, it causes people to see the Green as environmentalist single-issuers and overlook many of their other (I think good) ideas, such as electoral reform and instant runoff voting. People don't see it because of the label. "Democrat" and "Republican," by contrast are sufficiently vague to invite further inquiry into policy. People subliminally think "democracy" and "republic," which don't tell them much besides describing the form of government we're living under. (Correction: the type of government we were living under before Jan. 2001 when the Chimpenführer took over.) If we really want to portry "green" as a political term in a truly positive light. Try equating it with other, every day things that are green, like a green traffic light:

Green->Green light->Go->Go forward->Progress->The Future. e.g. Green is the way of the future.

-ZombieNixon

P.S. If all that seemed to esoteric for words, it what we're working on in the Framing the Debate Group. Please join us!

[eridani]

41. Green Dog Dem here.

I switched to the Dems because of Kucinich. Greens are pretty good at the vision thing, but they really don't take electoral politics seriously (honorable exceptions exist, of course.) They don't have PCOs, for one thing. Nader in 2000 asked me to go to a super-rally. Kucinich asked me to canvass my neighbors.

[StopTheMorans]

43. i'm a dem dem; join me.

why don't we start identifying ourselves as "democrats" instead of "liberals, centrists, progressives, etc...". united we will stand, divided we will fall...

[ScreamingMeemie]

44. There is no party that truly represents me or my values anymore.

We need major slate wiping.

[UpsideDownFlag]

46. i'm a yellow democrat.

yellow dog, that is.