A modest proposal on protesting the Dem's spinelessness.

[DemBones DemBones]

If the Dems smilingly confirm Alito without a filibuster, as most of us fear they will do, it might wake them up if registered Democrats across the country went out the very next day and changed their registration to Green, Independent, Socialist, whatever.

If enough people did it, it would send a powerful message of how disgusted and disillusioned we are.

And if you're thinking "No, no, we have to fight for the Dems," remember that Independents and Greens can vote for, campaign for, and contribute to Democratic campaigns, not to mention that you can easily re-register as a Democrat to vote in the next Democratic primary.

[jn2375]

1. already thought about doing it

[TechBear_Seattle]

2. Already done

I quit the party back when President Clinton enshrined bigotry into law by signing the "Defense" of Marriage Act.

[DemBones DemBones]

3. Kicking for more reads!

:kick:

[NanceGreggs]

4. Kicked!

We can scream all we want about the Repubs - if we let our own get away with NOT REPRESENTING OUR WISHES, we're lost.

[Cocoa]

5. they're fighting Alito

you're fighting them.

I'm fighting with them against Alito. Time for another email to Bill Nelson, and first thing tomorrow another call.

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. People want to be part of a party which appears strong and which

will fight for them. If they're that concerned about how they'll be perceived, then the real enemy they must defeat is the media.

[tomreedtoon]

7. How about if a celebrity Democrat did it?

No one, especially not the people running the Democratic Party, will care if a bunch of us nobodies quit. They'll just assume it's business as usual. But what if...say...Barbra Streisand announced that she was leaving the party? Or Martin Sheen? Or Dave Chappelle?

It's not likely to happen, sadly. From the political speeches she's given, Streisand is more interested in protecting her stupid French cheese from Chernobyl's radioactivity than helping the lives of all of us whose cheese comes wrapped in individual plastic slices. For that kind of politics she would want to stay in the party, no matter how ineffectual it is. But if she could be convinced to publicly and noisily leave...if she did give a damn about the rest of us...think how effective it would be.

As far as other famous media Democrats, they would seriously shake the leadership up and possibly make them listen. A lot of their fundraising comes on the tails of these celebrities.

[PATRICK]

8. There are always reasons

such as giving the GOP the next step to squashing the possibility of a filibuster. However, the democrats must recognize in the long run they are dealing with a not too secret crisis of confidence in the party that has as much to do with their public consistency as much as the tactics of numbers. In fact, their decline in numbers has more to do with failure, caution, wrong-headed judgment, compromise, being bullied by a non-existent center right America, etc. than fighting the GOP too hard or too ungentlemanly.

This is again very stupid. It is the Democrats with their backs against the wall. No GOP minority would ever be in that idiotic situation. It is the people's backs against the wall and no one in DC gives that a priority. Poor persecuted Alito is weeping down from the last step to Olympus, his hand firmly grasped for the last easy pull to the summit. And it isn't even about little Alito so much as a disastrous, anti-American court being cemented over Democracy's tomb.

Thanks to the poor strategy and thinking and all the impunity of evil arrayed against this nation, we must face this humiliation every time a cut and dried issue comes up demanding our first our surrender and then our accolade. Starkly, we must face this party reality and neither condemn nor rejoice at the decision or skill about fighting it out. It is time to sink tooth and claw into the slope in something bigger by far than the remaining Democrats on the Hill, but who nonetheless are the people's tools for survival.

[BigBearJohn]

9. I sure love this idea. It sends a message, but decision can be reversed

[keep CHOICES legal]

10. Nope...not a good idea..

The Republiicans would get wind of it and use it.....oh, would they love to use it!

They would say, "Even Democrats don't support the Democrats". IMO...not a good idea.

[BigBearJohn]

11. How about if they we all register as Republicans then at the last minute -

switch over to Democrat. Then the Dems could broadcast
"People are leaving the Republican party in DROVES!!!"

[keep CHOICES legal]

12. In a warped kind of way....

...I like that idea better!

[AtomicKitten]

13. I think what we want them to do miscalculates

what they are really able to do. Without a majority, they are pretty much between a rock and a hard place. This is the pinnacle of the effects of allowing them to get away with stealing elections. It all boils down to this.

[duvinnie]

14. I'll give em another 3 years

hoping Feingold gets a shot at it

[jrd200x]

15. In a fair system that would work - but it's wrong for now

We need to play the right game. We have to stop pretending that if we are principled and ethical then it will turn in our favor. It won't.

I have thought of tearing up my Democratic party card (yes, I have one) and joining a third party, but it will only serve to help the Repubs win. Unless the current system changes, including money, influence, incumbantcy, etc, we have a defacto two-party system UNLESS someome so good, so skilled, so squeaky-clean comes along to drive a third party to victory. This would have to be Perot X 10 - although Perot was a wacko.

No, I think the answer is to leverage the Democratic party infrastructure and membership, and turn the party where it needs to go. But first we need some wins.