David Sirota: Debunking Centrism

[mrgorth]

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ooking out over Washington, DC, from his plush office, Al From is once again foaming at the mouth. The CEO of the corporate-sponsored Democratic Leadership Council and his wealthy cronies are in their regular postelection attack mode. Despite wins by economic populists in red states like Colorado and Montana this year, the DLC is claiming like a broken record that progressive policies are hurting the Democratic Party.

From's group is funded by huge contributions from multinationals like Philip Morris, Texaco, Enron and Merck, which have all, at one point or another, slathered the DLC with cash. Those resources have been used to push a nakedly corporate agenda under the guise of "centrism" while allowing the DLC to parrot GOP criticism of populist Democrats as far-left extremists. Worse, the mainstream media follow suit, characterizing progressive positions on everything from trade to healthcare to taxes as ultra-liberal. As the AP recently claimed, "party liberals argue that the party must energize its base by moving to the left" while "the DLC and other centrist groups argue that the party must court moderates and find a way to compete in the Midwest and South."
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http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050103&s=sirota

[itzamirakul]

1. This article is worth the read...

and I read it for the second time and find it even more compelling. I sure wish some of the centrists on this board would read it and respond to my question: "How much is Al From's annual salary?"

Does he continue to earn that salary whether or not the Democrats win or lose an election?

Seems like the centrists who support the DLC are not the only Americans who vote against their own best interests.

[IronLionZion]

2. corporations control both parties

it's disgusting, but they control everything. They even managed to brainwash millions of Americans into being so pre-occupied with consuming that they don't have time to care about anything else.

Who gives a shit what the DLC does anyway? If progressives can win in Colorado and Montana, then they can win anywhere. More progressive people who are not controlled by corporations should run for office on grass roots campaigns. Grass roots can and will defeat the corporate interests.

[GOPBasher]

3. This argument of going left or right is pointless. It's issue-by-issue.

One of these days, when I have a lot of time, I'm going to write a really long post about this. My feeling is, it's pointless to just say, "We should go left," or "We should go right." Let's look at it issue by issue. It depends on which issues your talking about. There are some very left wing positions that are popular, and some that are not. Let's compromise on some things, but not others. Let's pick some of the issues that are so important to us that we won't compromise, no matter what. Of course, therein lies the problem: not everyone agrees on which issues those should be. But still, I think we need to look at individual issues and decide what to do, not just issue a blanket decree on every issue at once.

For me, it's not going "left" or "right," but going "populist."

[CWebster]

4. Populist ...popular

The populist peddles the views which make them popular, which make them the norm or the conventional view, which make them "moral". The DLC does not stand for the issues--they figured out a corporate strategy for fund-raising and they triangulate on the successfiul efforts of the Right to frame the debate.

A sell out. The DLC are self-loathing Democrats.

[CWebster]

5. The article brings up a great point

about centrism not actually reflecting the center.