“I think it’s time that we seriously considered the possibility that American politics are irrevocably broken. How will we, the progressives, the lefties, the liberals, the activists, the anti-war radicals, and all the other energized souls of America reshape this country in order to advance the progressive agenda from outside the body politic?” Shamaniac, blogging on Sister Shakespeare
This quote from yesterday’s Madman in the Marketplace diary, Bowing to the Inevitable: Why the Democratic Party Fails Its Base, stirred a lot of discussion. The general consensus seems to be that we have reached (passed?) a point of political bankruptcy in this country with both parties answering to the same corporate masters and not to the people they are supposed to represent. Short of giving up, the question is: what can we do about it now?
There’s more….
I suggested creating a Roundtable at BooMan to discuss the problem, brainstorm ideas and come up with possible actions. Some structural questions we should consider before we attempt to put this together:
—-How many of us would actively participate in such a group?
—-Would someone volunteer to be its moderator?
—-How often would the group meet online?
—-Should we extend invitations to people from the “other side” of the political spectrum who are frustrated with so-called conservatism to join us at the outset, or later on, or not at all?
The goal, as I see it, would be to determine how we can best use our time, energy and money toward moving a progressive agenda forward given the current political realities. Many of us are completely frustrated by the Dems’ consistent capitulation on matters of principle – think: Patriot Act; Iraq War Resolution; “Count Every Vote”; Gonzales; and now Roberts and Miers, to name just a few. I for one believe that their actions and inactions deserve a lot of the blame for where we are today. I agree with Meteor Blades – the Democratic Party has let us down. However, I’m not ready to give up entirely… yet. Some questions to ponder:
—-Is it time to move forward without the Democratic Party in general?
—-Are there current democratic members of Congress in whom we still have faith? If so, who are they and can we work with them in some way?
—-Given the structural obstacles for third parties in this country, do we think a separate party organization is a logical alternative? If not, what is?
—-What about the Progressive Democrats of America approach of trying to change the party from within and from the bottom up?
—-What grassroots, non-party activities might be effective agents for change?
—-Can we create a cohesive movement out of the many splintered netroots groups that have sprung up over the past few years? Is the blogosphere part of the problem or part of the solution?
There are so many questions. I could go on and on. What questions would you like to see addressed? Do you think this would be a worthwhile endeavor or just more spinning our wheels?
Are you willing to participate?
[NOTE: I’ll be back later tonight to read and respond to any comments/suggestions]
PS I would be grateful if someone would be willing to give me a brief tutorial in using HTML for diary creation, or point me toward something I can look at for directions.
I wonder if those of us who complain the loudest about the Democratic Party have ever been to a local Democratic Party meeting or caucus. I have been told that there are many precincts and even larger areas that could be taken over by ten or twelve organized people. This is probably not the case in the more densely populated areas of the country, but for those among us who live in sparsely populated areas, the possibility is real. Even if we could not take control of our local party offices, we could make ourselves and our opinions known within the party structure.
Roundtabling the problems is always a good idea, but it must lead to action afterwards. I would gladly participate and even moderate from time to time. However, I’ve lately had my fill of people who will sit around and talk and complain endlessly and then resolve to wait for someone else to act. The result of such an exercise must be action, by everyone who participates.
btw, I think your diary is fine without a bunch of frilly HTML. I’m certainly no expert in it, and I find that it just gets in the way sometimes… Straight out text is sufficient for most of what goes around here.
However, I have found a pretty good EZ and free tutorial on the web. (Just click the green words in the previous sentence and it will take you right there.)
I would start with minichapter 1 if I were you, as the first chapters deal with setting up a web site. You just wanna learn the basic tags and be able to figure out how to make quoteboxes and change the font-size to start off with.
Once you’ve gotten the hang of it, you’ll be able to use the reminder list of tags that appears beneath the box that you type your diary or a comment into.
Hope this helps….
Anything getting done ’round there? How are people feeling? taken care of? Left behind?
Here’s hoping you and yours are well!
Count me in — I don’t know how much I will be able to add from an actively political side (I have never done it) but I can provide a point of view from the “have never been a democrat, so I don’t really feel disappointed” side of things and from my own particular brand of actions, which generally comes in the form of help where I can in my own immediate surroundings….and I will second blueneck’s call to make our discussions have ACTION as their goal, first and foremost.
I’ll third the call for action. We can let the democrats do all the talking.
I’m not sure what changes we can affect nationally from a group like this. The party is so far gone from the top to bottom that the task seems pretty overwhelming. There are still some obvious choices for people within the party who deserve credit for not folding like the party at large. The Congressional Black Caucus and so on. But unless we lived in the state that the particular member hails from, I don’t know what can be done to support them.
I’m already a Green and I vote that way locally , and regionally when I can, but I’ve been inclined to vote for democrats nationally as well because of Bush. Howard Dean was very sucessfull last year with his meetup strategy I think. The town I live in is still semi-rural but is largely conservative. However we were able to elect a democrat to be town supervisor in the last two elections with the next being on Nov. 8th. I think the best way to go at this is from the local and county level but that approach takes a long term commitment obviously and won’t do anything to change our national problem for the short term, as desperately as those changes are needed. The only way I see the democrats being challenged realistically by a third party on the national level would be if we found a superstar candidate with national recognition. But that’s just a dream at this point.
So for a first comment, I guess I’ll end it there for now. Not much help huh? What would be great would be if we can find some people with actual political; experience who could join in the group or at least advise from the outside. Maybe we can find and reach out to some larger groups who have the same goals. Maybe this should be a networking effort. Maybe, maybe, maybe :o)
I’ll leave it there for now.
Peace
when what we have left of a constitution is dependent upon men like Roberts. No offense, but political expediency is the word that comes to mind with him. I think that is all he knows.
The dems are, in some areas, just as corrupt as the repubs. It isn’t power that has corrupted these folks, but money to keep them in power.
There is no such thing as an integrity litmus test. We can only see them in action to determine the integrity they have. However, words like “center”, “radical” when applied to either left or right wing don’t really describe much. Our current “center” is so much to the right of what common sense would dictate that it is a useless term. By that I mean supporting no-bid contracts isn’t common sense. Supporting cronyism isn’t common sense. Supporting a war that has nothing to do with terrorism isn’t common sense. Supporting people who are unable to do their jobs isn’t common sense. Supporting tax cuts for the wealthiest when overspending on wars isn’t common sense.
So what we need from ANY candidate is a pledge to govern and govern from common sense principles. Corruption is to be weeded out and that means some kind of campaign finance true reform. And a true ethics board – perhaps separate from congress and senate that oversees ethical behavior in both bodies. And any time the word “reform” is mentioned we need to be wary of who the reform benefits. So far, everytime the repubs mention reform it means we bend over and grab our ankles…….
Election reform has to be the foremost concern but what we got was the sham Carter-Baker commision which only serves to make it more difficult for people (minorities, poor, i.e. democrats) to vote and also moves us a big step closer to a national ID card. Couple this with Bush’s push for military intervention in domestic crises’s and we have a fascist state.
leaving congress to watch itself is not working whether it is in ethics or campaign financing. The FEC is nothing much and if it every now and then slaps hands it is long after the deed is done. So how best to impose reform from the outside? The states campaign reform is one way, although we have yet to define it in such a way that the voters can understand it.