Progressive Democrats of America: Way to make DINOS act like Democrats?

omega minimo

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Sat Jan-07-06 11:45 PM
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Progressive Democrats of America: Way to make DINOS act like Democrats?

...before it's too late?

We need a left of center coalition to pressure Democratic party leaders and legislators to start acting like Democrats IMMEDIATELY. Instead of sloughing off interests and votes they think they can afford to lose, or have in the bag because "you don't have anywhere else to go-- heh heh heh!"-- instead of letting DINOS think they can ignore whatever's left of the Left, the Real Democrats need to pressure the DINOS into representing the people and not the private interests they are beholden to.

At the Town Hall Forum I attended today, the Progressive Democrats of America seemed to be the group that is already doing this. Why is there zero visibility of PDA on DU? Why do we have these personal flareups about who's moderate and what's center and which direction to pull in-- when something like this organization already exists? This is what we ALL need to be working on-- building that coalition that represents the will of the people and gets us our country back. Eh?

"PDA combines progressive idealism with tough-minded pragmatism. During its first ten months, this national organization has jumped into key battles on Capitol Hill while starting to build a grassroots network that has the potential to transform the Democratic Party. Whether pro-war corporate boosters continue to dominate the Party may depend, in large measure, on whether PDA can keep growing."
- Norman Solomon, syndicated columnist and author of War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death

http://www.pdamerica.org

Copyright © 2004-2005 Progressive Democrats of America • All text available for public use with appropriate attribution.

Vision

We are committed in word and action, both personally and politically, to justice and democracy at all levels, and to the preservation and restoration of natural ecosystems in America and worldwide.

We are specifically committed to the realization of new models for achieving local, national and global security that redirect the current wasteful and obscene levels of military spending toward the uncompromising and effective funding of: health and education programs; an end to discrimination; the provision of full and meaningful employment; and an end to poverty for all people.

We believe with Robert F. Kennedy, that the Gross National Product is a false measure of progress and must be replaced by the quality of life as a standard for American achievement.

Strategy

To achieve these goals, we dedicate ourselves to work within the general framework of the Democratic Party and with sister organizations to create a new, democratic, grassroots-based, nationally federated organization.

Through this organization we shall endeavor, over a period of years, to build an unstoppable coalition of the hundreds of millions of Americans who would benefit from a taking back of our democracy, our economy, and our institutions from the "moneyed interests" warned of by Jefferson and the "military-industrial complex" described by Eisenhower: those who would rob from Americans our precious rights of informed self-governance.

Mindful of the continuing important differences between Republican and Democratic political values, yet fully aware of how much better Democratic candidates and elected officials must be to save our people and our planet from destruction, we dedicate ourselves to beginning the long, patriotic, nonviolent, and ultimately unstoppable process of transforming the Democratic Party.

Toward this end, we will educate ourselves, our neighbors, and our fellow Americans to the demonstrable validity of the progressive worldview, and mobilize our fellow Americans precinct by precinct, congressional district by congressional district, state by state, first to take back the Democratic Party and then our great country from the global corporate interests that currently dominate our lives.

Plan
We will accomplish these goals through the dedicated and deliberate process of working with thousands of individual and organizational allies to identify, within each local precinct or political district, supporters of civil and labor rights, real environmental protection, women's rights, the rights of the poor, consumer rights, and the right to live life in peace, free from racism, discrimination and institutional domination.

We will support grassroots chapters with local databases, publicity, educational materials, regional organizers, trainings, and funding.

We will strategically target those many districts where progressives are a strong majority to ensure that our demands are fully voiced by those we elect.

We will encourage all activists to work diligently to: fully educate themselves and their neighbors; to engage in local political organizing both in progressive caucuses within the Democratic Party and outside of the Party, and, perhaps most importantly; to create real and lasting connections to those of different political views and the apolitical or cynical by organizing meaningful, tangible "good works" in their communities - from stream cleanups, to mentor and after school programs, to local community development activities that create jobs.

Our spheres of concern, our volunteers, our staff, and our leadership will reflect a rainbow, as diverse and beautiful as America herself, at whose feet our pot of gold will be found: a renewed nation, respectful of the rule of law at home and abroad, fully integrated into and respectful of the world of nations and peoples, and re-grounded on the universal values of human dignity, justice, and environmental sanity.