I would like to ask who we consider our "'own"?

[saracat]

There has been a lot of talk lately on DU of our eating our "own" or attacking our "own" when it comes to the Democratic Party. Who are the ones we should be claiming as our "own"?

What is a political party but a group of people pledged to unite under a single set of principles, usually referred to as their platform?

The Democratic Party platform alleges support for choice ,unions, and the protection of Human and Civil Rights.The Democratic Party base has traditionally been composed of Unions, women, Civil Rights activists and those people dedicated to equality and the pursuit of peace.

Recently our elected Democratic officials, from the president on down, have taken an opposite approach to these issues.Women's reproductive rights have been allowed to be uses as a flash point by Anti-Choice Democrats , civilian surveillance has been expanded, teachers and Unions have been condemned. Public education has been endangered.GBLT rights have been ignored. DADT has been requested to continue as a moratorium by the WH.A Public Option which is demanded by all our constituencies has been discarded with a"promise" to revisit it later.Our seniors have had legislation giving them a very small stipend reversed while their benefits have been cut.Do any of these actions reflect Democratic principles?

Are we to consider the people who initiate such actions our"own", and feel obligated to protect them from criticism? What becomes of the women, union, teachers, seniors and LGBT? Are they not our "own", or do we disregard them in favor of politicians voting their own interests?

I stand with the real Democrats. I stand with the unions, the seniors, women, and the LGBT Communities.These are the real Democrats we ought to be protecting.These are our "own".

[Political Heretic]

1. It's incredibly simple. You either stand with workers or you stand with rulers.

Those who do the former are "my own." Those who do the latter are not.

Sadly the majority of the national democratic party fall into that latter category. I think we should change that.

[readmoreoften]

3. People do like to make it complicated though, don't they? Obfuscation.

In order to have solidarity among the workers, you can't have racism, sexism, or homophobia. If you do, the enemy wins. It's all so simple.

[Political Heretic]

8. It IS obfuscation, yes. Of course there are particulars, but this principle is critical.

And yes, it is possible to decide of someone prioritizes the needs of working families first and ahead of the whims of the financial elite. That's something you can observe.

[laughingliberal]

13. Works for me. My own are the ones who support and work for policies that support the working class

and believe in separation of church and state. The job of a Democratic elected official is to stand for the working class and leave religious beliefs which give rise to all the wedge issues in church.

[readmoreoften]

2. Workers (women, men, LGBTs, immigrants, blacks, latinos, asians) are my people.

And if you abandon my people, I'm not wasting time on you.

[BunkerHill24]

4. I'll bite

We vote, we Elect, We expect legislation passed in favor of the electorate. Period.

[asdjrocky]

5. I'm with the poor.

[Political Heretic]

9. Solidarity.

[asdjrocky]

15. Just lost another neighbor to foreclosure.

This is getting old.

[Political Heretic]

25. Homeless are everywhere you can look in Eugene. Shelters are full. Support agencies strapped.

It's midnight in America.

[asdjrocky]

28. Took a road trip up your way in November.

I was stunned at the sheer number of homeless at the rest stops along the highway. People, sometimes whole families sitting there with signs asking for gas money or food money or anything that anyone could give.

I thank my lucky stars every night for the roof over my head.

[Political Heretic]

29. We have the highest homelessness in the country, I think. It's a full crisis in Oregon.

Doesn't mean our politicians are treating it like a crisis, however.

[unapatriciated]

36. I was in Portland last week.

Rode the train to my daughters home in Beaverton, was saddened by what I saw from the window of my car.
Way too many makeshift camps. Yes it is midnight in America.

[cali]

31. I did too.

broke my heart. the guy built this beautiful little house high up in a corner of this beautiful field. And I mean he built it himself. Then his wife got sick a couple of years ago. long story short, he had to take out a mortgage, got screwed with medical bills, she died and he got behind on the mortgage. He called me up and asked me to take some of his plants. I just cried.

[asdjrocky]

34. This is the third in the last 6 months.

These are my friends and my neighbors.

Cali, it feels like someone is ripping my neighborhood apart, and I can't begin to understand how they feel.

[laughingliberal]

16. +1 nt

[Echo In Light]

18. With the poor, and AM the poor

[ipaint]

19. Yes on both counts for me too. nt

[Individualist]

6. I stand with real Democrats

and against DLC which wants to destroy them.

[Spheric]

7. Indeed!

The simple truth of this is difficult to argue against.

:yourock:

[sui generis]

10. there will always be somebody spouting about THEIR agenda

for instance I could say you're either FOR human and civil rights for everyone, or you're a republican.

But then somebody will come along babbling about the proletariat and the bourgeoisie or the workers and the evil overlords - nature abhors a vacuum and you created one by asking. :P

If the answer were truly simple there wouldn't be a question, you can count on that.

Vote for the politician who supports your core issues. Don't vote for the one who doesn't. It's political darwinism, and we should all participate.

If you want somebody in office whose main focus is labor equity and healthcare, then find that person, or make that person, or else BE that person.

If that person arrived as a democrat and he said he was against repealing DADT, against civil marriage and for puppies and kittens, I'd still not give that person my vote, nor should I be obligated, nor obliged to do so.

Oddly, we're democrats, in a democracy with a self-describing partisan alignment, so one would THINK that the democratic process practiced as an individual would be sacrosanct.

Now hang on and watch while certain posters call in the cavalry to try to convince me I'm wrong or evil.

[anonymous171]

17. [phone]

[EFerrari]

22. Not evil, but I disgree about political darwinism.

We do not own the candidate selection process. There is no real survival of the fittest but survival of the best deal for our owners.

[Political Heretic]

27. Ah yes, the multi-millionaire white male voice hath spoken again.

:eyes:

Not evil, just a perspective horribly skewed by your status at part of the top 0.5% of income earners in the United States, by your own admission.

[saracat]

30. The Democratic Party has an Agenda.It is the Platform

If you don't support human and civil rights, OR the Democratic platform, you may not be a Republican but you are NOT a Democrat. You are not our "own." You are not, in my opinion, part of the Democratic family and I have no obligation to defend you.If you skew from those positions which define the Democrats as a party, you are not defending me.

[scentopine]

37. certain posters call in the cavalry to try to convince me I'm wrong

I've read a few of your posts and they always end with this mime - "now watch people as certain people say I'm ... " Is this intended to hustle unsuspecting middle-brows into a shooting match with quick draw McGraw? Nothing is so certain in life as the stench of conceitedness.

I don't think you are evil - I think you are really smug about yourself and oversimplify complex problems, then lob a preemptive insult to ward off disagreements.

"If you want somebody in office whose main focus is labor equity and healthcare, then find that person, or make that person, or else BE that person."

This completely discounts the marketing aspects of politics and the uniquely human fault of intellectual trust. Now many here have argued that on an intellectual level had we buried ourselves in the nexus-lexus database, and carefully parsed every long winded speech - we would realize that Obama was going to protect torture, privatize schools, escalate a never ending war, go soft on banking reform, let insurance companies and pharam lobbyists write health care legislation, negotiate new free trade agreements, institute trickle down stimulus - all the while scolding "those on the left" and embracing "those on the right".

But many of us have family and work obligations so we do the best we can with debates and campaign promises. So strong was the rhetoric for change that if even a fraction of the rhetoric came to legislative victory, we'd be way ahead. That hasn't happened. In fact, just the opposite has happened.

I do not have the skills (and the vast majority of people do not) to BE that person. So we attempt to FIND that person. And this is difficult - like finding healthy food when everything is labeled "all natural" - certainly I could carry around a mass spectrometer and other scientific equipment to conduct chemical analysis before consuming any food - or at least endeavor to gain employment in a field where I could afford to do so. But because I can't, it does not mean I am unworthy of safe food, or political representation, or health care.

We are not in a true democracy where one vote belongs with one man. We rely on representatives who share our values. When, trust is broken, over and over, the legislative damage isn't so quickly fixed. There are very few consequences for those who squander the public trust - Cheney, Rove and Bush should all be sharing a jail cell. There is nothing metaphysical about this. So, insulated is our political process that men at start a war, kill a million people, displace a million more, all based on lies to the citizens. And there are no consequences.

We have a real monopoly of power shared between only two converging political parties. Both of these parties control billions of dollars, they use it for marketing, and and they continue to vote for legislation for themselves and against the best interest of the majority of their constituents. In the process they have made it virtually impossible to elect third parties and most states outlaw "fusion voting".

No - if we really want change, we need to take to the streets and raise some serious hell. Fuck spending every night in the databases and strapping candidates to lie detectors trying to figure out who is lying and who is not.

Until we take to the streets and make these SOBs feel our pain AND until someone can finance and organize a real third party for opposition to the two mainstream parities, nothing will change. The idea that positive change can come via a simple democratic or republican vote (after which people retreat to lounge chairs) has not borne out in practice.

We had a very civil and organized vote for a man who promised change. Big change. It didn't work. Next time we need to be less cordial about our demands.

[ProSense]

11. Do you "stand with the unions"

when the unions stand with President Obama?

Mr. Obama has certainly taken numerous actions that have pleased labor: pushing through the $787 billion stimulus plan, naming a union-friendly labor secretary and ruling against China in trade disputes involving tires and steel.

“He really does get it,” said the A.F.L.-C.I.O.’s president, Richard L. Trumka. “He understands what working people are going through and he really does listen and we really have a seat at the table.”

“It’s totally unfair to say that the president hasn’t done this or done that,” Mr. Trumka added. “He’s tried on the stimulus bill. He faces tremendous Republican opposition. On health care, I give him the highest marks for tenacity.”

<...>

“We haven’t gotten everything we’ve wanted, but we sure get a hell of a lot of things from him,” said Gerald W. McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

more

Planned Parenthood statement on final stages of health care reform

[saracat]

14. You post the same old thing. Forgot about Labor Notes and the rank and file did ya?

http://www.labornotes.org/2010/01/anger-over-health-care-bill-creates-uncertain-future

and Businessweek

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-03-01/unions-regroup-after-stunned-by-losses-under-obama-democrats.html

[ProSense]

21. Speaking of old, that piece is dated Jan. At least my links are this month. n/t

[saracat]

23. We are a union family. Those links only reflect leadership, not rank and file. But that is all you

care about anyway.

[donheld]

39. +1

[Mithreal]

42. +1

[saracat]

24. The Businessweek one IS March!

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-03-01/unions-regroup-after-stunned-by-losses-under-obama-democrats.html

[Mithreal]

41. They certainly are monolithic. Some are satisfied feeding off the scraps.

You'll take what I give you and better damn well like it too.

[yurbud]

12. We have let too many seats in Congress go to the corporate owned DLC Democrats LINK:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x207294

[donheld]

38. +1 more

[Uzybone]

20. I stand with the people...of all stripes

even those who may not be union members, whites, teachers, seniors etc.

[bvar22]

26. I am an "Issues Oriented Activist".

I STAND for these ISSUES (among others).
When politicians move toward these goals, I support and applaud them.
When they move AWAY, I OPPOSE them.
I don't care which Political Personality occupies the White House.

*Medicare for anyone who wants it.

*Immediate withdrawal of ALL military forces and "contractors" from the Middle East.

*Immediate reduction of Military Spending by at least 50%

*The immediate break-up (Trust Busting) of everything "Too Big to Fail".

*Fair Competition Legislation that lets Mom&Pop (small locally owned businesses and farms) compete with Big Box and Factory Farms on a level playing field.

*An end to "Free Trade" (Race to the Bottom)

*Organized LABOR and local co-ops.

*An end to the two-tiered Judicial System

*Prosecution of rich American War Criminals and War Profiteers. (Oh yes they did!)

*An END to "Corporate Personhood"

*Strictly Enforced Publicly Financed Elections (severe penalties for criminals)

*Transparent and Verifiable elections (Why isn't this a front burner issue with the Democratic Party?)

*Re-Regulation with strict oversight of Banking/Investment/Insurance, Transportation, Communications, Trade, Energy, Utilities. There should be NO Public Money for private Prisons, armed Private Police, armed Defense Contractors, private intelligence agencies, or For Profit Health Insurance Corporations.

*Immediate Civil Rights and Equal Protection for ALL. (No Exceptions)

*Free Quality Universal Education to everyone who wants it.

*Strong Social Safety Net and Consumer Protections.

*An end to The Patriot Act and a return to The Constitution.(especially Habeus and privacy protections)

*A refutation of the "Unitary Executive", and legislation to ensure it NEVER happens again.

*An END to Republican/Corporate influence INSIDE The Democratic Party !
(NO! They DON"T deserve a seat at the table!)

[Name removed]

32. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Political Heretic]

35. Ok I admit it... I laughed.

Not making any friends with that post, but it did make me laugh. :)

[Nikki Stone1]

33. Amen.

.

[Mithreal]

40. Well said, too late to rec.

:applause: