It's time to rebuild the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party.

[Karmadillo]

As Paul Wellstone reminded us "The Democratic Party has lost much of its credibility with working class and low-income people. It retards progress toward presenting a genuine alternative." Tonight's Republicans win, the People lose "compromise" is just one more reminder that defending the status quo and waiting for the wholly-owned politicans of the oligarchy to save us is not going to lead to a happy ending. If a Democrat can't bring himself or herself to represent the working people of this country and stand up to the oligarchs and fight fight fight for job programs when millions are out of work and out of money and out of hope, we shouldn't vote for them. If a Democrat can't bring himself or herself to vote against ruinous wars of empire (except, of course, when their vote has no real impact), we shouldn't vote for them. If a Democrat can't bring himself or herself to put the welfare of a child in need before the welfare of a bankster in greed, we shouldn't vote for them. If a Democrat can't bring himself or herself to work like their life depended on it to prevent the environmental nightmare bearing down upon us, we shouldn't vote for them.

We face truly crushing problems in the near future. We can either continue the status quo of Survivor and watch as most of us are voted off the island, or we can demand that real solutions be implemented on behalf of the People now or else. There's no real choice here. The rich, as the rich have done throughout history, are more than willing to ignore us or enslave us or kill us as circumstances demand. We can use our rights to fight them and build a political party genuinely committed to the welfare of the many, not the few, or we can do nothing and eat whatever shit we are served and simply cower in shame when our children ask what the fuck was wrong with us.

Again, Wellstone: "The future will not belong to those who sit on the sidelines. The future will not belong to the cynics. The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." What are your dreams? Compromise and chess stratagems that always, mysteriously play into the hands of the rich? Or something better? Some dream that the current Democratic leadership doesn't share. Something that can take shape in the real world only if you commit to creating a Democratic Party willing to fight the Power, not the People.

[Sportsguy]

1. *Sigh*

I miss Paul. :(

[Karmadillo]

9. +1

nt

[roguevalley]

32. I do too. :(

[gateley]

33. I wasn't politically aware when he was in office, but getting

to "know" him through DUers, I'm so sorry we lost him. :(

[OHdem10]

2. Have you considered Bernie Sanders Group mentioned briefly

on the Ed Show the Other Night. Unions and Progressives.

[swilton]

15. Please tell us more - I don't do television

Is there a link through the internet? Sounds like something I would be interested in whether or not there is a group on this blog that supports it.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

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

[d_b]

4. ^ this

[Chan790]

6. An unviable idea from the outset.

Establishing a new party would take 30x the effort it would take to just take back this party. (And yield an inferior result. It's an idea best murdered in its' infancy.)

You know, since we already started that push...the Blue Dog/3rd-way faction is frosted-cold dead, 2010 was a mortal-blow but recent events have been a coup d'grace to a lingering near-corpse. (The mainstream is disgusted.) There is no chance that any moderate or centrist or pragmatic will be viable for the Democratic nom in 2016 if Obama wins in 2012 and that's doubly-true if he loses...he's poisoned the well. There is a clarion call for a Democrat that is in no way like this President. The next faction fight will be not be 3rd-way vs. left...it'll be between factions of the moderate-left, well to the left of this President.

[SharksBreath]

12. Americans are stupid. The well won't be poisoned.

The Republicans got the house two years after Obama.

After the Bush years you would have thought the GOP would be dead for at least 10.

Looking at this chart we just need to find true progressives who support progressive policies.

Which America is screaming for.

[swilton]

19. Our Democratic Party

'take impeachment off the table' - we're moving forward not backward - let the Republican Party rebrand itself for 2010.

[tomp]

22. hogwash!

historically, there seems to be NO amount of effort that can even budge the democratic party to the left. they move inexorably to the right, period. check your history.

this is because, as chris hedges so ably demonstrated in "The Death of the Liberal Class," "liberals" have been selling out for a hundred years.

logic dictates clearly that it would be easier to form a third party than it would to move the democratic party to the left. ironically, this is the only thing that MIGHT move them left....but i doubt it.

also, the actual creation of this third (read:staunchly left/progressive) in no way guarantees a win. both parties will fight it tooth and nail.

[Jim_Shorts]

28. Chris Hedges is one of the few people willing to face the tiger

Progressives are no different than a pebble in a newly paved driveway. What is left for the republidems to take, SS and Medicare? The pieces are being put in place with the super committee to dismantle those and they might not even have to vote for the cuts to happen.

[tomp]

42. absolutely.

"the death of the liberal class" was so validating to read, so close to my take on political history.

[swilton]

17. With you there

Even if they lose, I'm supporting moral truth as Belafonte says - tired of this manufactured candidates with good sound-bites/crafting demons a la Palin and Bachman and using scare tactics in order to elect essentially a Manchurian Candidate.

[Raksha]

5. K & R - beautiful post...thank you!

[Karmadillo]

11. Thank you.

nt

[Waiting For Everyman]

7. Dems let the 'Thugs takeover populism after 2008. Big mistake.

Dems need to incorporate the good elements of populism again, as they once did. Dare I say it? The Everyman thing.

The Dem party reminds me of that line from "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever"... "wouldn't I be the late, great me if I knew how? Oh what did I have I don't have now?"

[Poll_Blind]

8. Wellstone would have been one of the first, along with DeFazio, vilified by this administration.

PB

[Karmadillo]

21. True enough. It's a shame, given the way Obama's election came on the heels

of our enduring the worst presidency in history, that the Democrats did not push a progressive message that would have turned "hope and change" into concrete results that would have improved people's lives. Instead, we get a trojan horse neo-conservative administration that allows the Republican Party to revive and inflict more damage on the country at a time when we really do need to address serious problems. It's hard to be overly optimistic about what can be achieved, but I'd rather gamble on trying to restructure the Democratic Party around Wellstone's ideas rather than trying to maintain the dominance of the current leadership.

[McCamy Taylor]

10. Reform elections. Nothing will change if candidates have to spend $100 million to win.

[Zorra]

13. That's the bottom line, no pun intended. nt

[swilton]

20. We have to pick reformed candidates before

we can reform the elections - it can't be done in a vacuum - especially when you have corporate puppets in office

[ej510]

14. The democratic party has sold out to the upper class.

[tomp]

23. yes they did, in 1914. nt

[coalition_unwilling]

16. I don't think we can use our 'rights' to fight them, as 'rights' never

won any battles or wars. But we can use our 'numbers' to fight and handily defeat them, as the working class heavily outnumbers the ruling class, even when deluded teabaggers are included.

[SidDithers]

18. Lead on, brother!...

:rofl:

Sid

[Karmadillo]

25. Thanks for the encouragement, Sid.

:toast:

[Ken Burch]

35. You'd prefer that we stay with the status quo?

Given that it's the centrist hacks' fault that we lost the House in 2010, why on Earth would you want to stay with what doesn't work?

Why would you mock the idea of rebuilding the democratic wing of the Democratic Party? It's not like keeping that wing out in the cold ever works for us, Sid.

[Major Hogwash]

24. Wellstone's voice haunts us to this day, reminding us to stand up for ourselves.

And for those who aren't able to.

That's the real message Paul was sending to Washington, the difference between the GOP and the Democrats is that the GOP are greedy money-grabbing selfish scoundrels out to line their own pockets and "to hell with everyone else".
Whereas the Democrats have always cared about the poor, the sick, and the aged.

The Republicans sure as hell didn't want Social Security to get passed, they fought against it for years.
And the same for Medicare and Medicaid.

Wellstone was the best of us, and we need to remember what he stood for, and then maybe we'll find our friggin spines!!

[Karmadillo]

26. If Wellstone were still here, I wonder if we might be able to find a progressive willing to primary

Obama.

[tcaudilllg]

37. I don't hope to see Obama primaried.

I hope to see him defeated and a worthy Dem take the White House in Nov.

[russspeakeasy]

27. All democrats running for office must be seen by a doctor

and that doctor must determine if they have a spine...whether they have a spine or not, must be listed on their ballot.

[democrank]

29. K & R

Enough is enough.

[Veracious]

30. Or we can all just POUT! DAG NAB You President Obama!!

I'm this is the correct thinking. This is where its at ya'll! I'm down and ready to fight for my country. Democracy is not a spectator sport. Anyone who sits around pouting about how President Obama is not progressive enough, and not doing anything about it should just join the "Tea LOL Party" right now!

[Fuddnik]

39. Fighting for our survival is not pouting.

[Jakes Progress]

31. He should stop channeling reagan and start studying Wellstone.

[defendandprotect]

34. K/R -- We don't have a lot of time -- 2012 is coming quickly and so is Global Warming ... !!!

[tcaudilllg]

36. Kill the rich!

Burn their houses, destroy everything they have. Loot their savings, everything. Destroy them all.

[Fuddnik]

40. It would be a good start!

[nadinbrzezinski]

38. And this is what the inside baseball group fears

the party has moved rightwards... it was inevitable... they all do... it is time brother.

[Recursion]

41. Well, both parties move left and right in different ways

And what "left" and "right" mean now aren't what they meant 40 years ago (and we are neither entirely "more right" or "more left" now than we were then).

In fact, the whole notion of a single political spectrum named after where people sat in Louis XIV's court is probably not the best way to define our political situation as it is. We have a younger generation of Democrats who are more skeptical of centralized solutions to societal problems than the older generation is, and the older generation sees that as selling out. C'est la vie. Then again we have a Republican party who in practical terms has done as much to advance marriage equality as the Democratic party (NY, the Log Cabin DADT case, etc.)

[fascisthunter]

43. another kick! (nt)

[messiah]

44. Never will happen

This is boring, this type of anger against sellout Democrats happens every year but when push comes to shove fear takes over and people vote for the same sellout Democrats all over again :rofl: .
This country has no Left so it will fall no matter what.

[newspeak]

45. I just saw KO and I've never seen him so pissed

Watch KO tonight. The more the wealthy and corporations sit on the money and send it overseas, the more we should all be aware that they could give a damn about if we go down or not as long as they got our military to protect their interests. With the supreme court ruling in favor of allowing global corporations to influence our elections and the more money shoveled by the wealthy and corporations, the more the people in this country are losing. We're in a damn banana republic, with election fraud, bribery and corruption.

If the american people don't stand up, then we will lose not only our livelihoods, but this country will be up for sale to the highest bidder and it doesn't matter where they're from.