Earlier today I wrote this diary about the failure of large environmental lobbyist groups and Democrats to speak out about the dangers of climate change because they were told (by Frank “Fricking” Luntz for gawdsake) it wouldn’t poll well.
Because the folks who took Luntz’s advice looked at polls that said Americans’ number one priority was jobs they stopped talking about the reality of the danger we all face from man made climate change. Instead, they talked about “green tech” and how many jobs it would create, and allowed the Republicans and the Kochs and “conservative think tanks” and Fox News to dominate of the debate over the reality of how climate change is devastating our world.
Since adopting that approach in 2009, the number of Americans concerned about climate change has dropped from a high of 2/3 of the population in 2008 to just a smidgen over 51% today.
By the way, that diary of mine at Dkos got 4 comments (three at BT). Four comments, for an issue that represents one of the most serious dangers to our future. But then again, who is talking much about climate among progressives at Dkos, or in Congress today. It’s become another issue that has been essentially taken off the table and marginalized, like other issues such as increasing taxes on the wealthy, prosecuting the people who made America the land of torturers, infrastructure spending, etc.
I appreciate the few diaries on climate change or other neglected progressive issues that make the rec list at Dkos all the more because so few do these days. Instead we get constant and redundant diaries about whatever the topic of the day is. We are becoming not much better than old media in that respect.
You don’t change the conversation if all you do is respond to the agenda of the other side. We need to start talking about our own agenda.
- Jobs, not deficit cutting.
- Ending our wasteful foreign wars not continuing them into the indefinite future.
- Income equality not income inequality.
- Taxes on the rich, not eliminating the social safety net.
- Climate Change and investment in renewable energy not an Energy policy that calls for more drilling for oil and gas in America and the mining of coal (which btw will never make us free from foreign oil, because we don’t have enough reserves no matter how much we drill or where.)
- Regulating the Banks, not letting them off the hook for the experiment in disaster capitalism they foisted on us over the past decade that ended up making them even more powerful and funneling even more government dollars to keep them in business while we wait for the next shoe to drop.
- Promoting the right of privacy instead of government intrusion in all aspects of our lives.
- Defending Public Schools for all not backing hucksters who want to privatize our school systems.
- Making affordable health care a right not a privilege for the few.
- Creating new infrastructure for the 21st century rather than allowing our old infrastructure to crumble around us.
Are these things we can accomplish in this Congress right now? Hell no. But we should be talking about them loudly and consistently every day.
When Democrats did have control of Congress and the Republicans were in the minority they didn’t stop pushing their crazed simplistic and divisive agenda. They didn’t stop talking about their “issues.”
Yet that has what the Democrats have done: given in and given up by reacting to polls and fearing to offend their big money contributors Fox News and the Beltway “opinion makers/pundits.” The Dems have degenerated into a party of Hollow Men and Women (and no the few who are not do not make up for the majority who are). They have forgotten that no change comes without hard work. They have forgotten how to lead.
Everyday someone in or outside of the Democratic party should be going on a news show tor holding events or protests to push the progressive agenda and push our issues. Not respond to what the Republicans say. We know what their agenda is, and so does the public. We need instead to be pounding away at what our plan for America is, not reacting to the demeaning and ridiculous and failed vision of the GOP/Tea Party/Big Business/Fundies who now control our political discourse.
It may take years. It may be create frustration and anger, and even despair when the polls don’t change immediately in our favor. However, by fighting our battles on a field chosen by the Republicans we will always lose. We can only win if we fight on our turf, for our ideals.
Look what happened in Wisconsin. A true grass roots movement arose to effect change, to say we’re not going to take it anymore.
In America there our millions of people out there, many unemployed and in desperate straits, many without health care, many just scraping by, who have been waiting for the national leaders in the Democratic party to arise and fight as hard as the people who protested against Scott Walker. Waiting for someone like the Sheriff of Pima County (Tucson), Clarence Dupnik , who spoke the truth about what has happened in his state and standing up for liberal values. Waiting but not finding them, or not enough of them.
Because the Democratic party’s national leadership (with rare exceptions) so often fails fail to try to push for the most rather than accepting the least, Democrats have become the party of “We kept your losses to a minimum (this time)” instead of the party of the working classes, the poor, the oppressed, and progress in the best sense of the word. Right now the Democratic party as a whole is only a vessel to propagate the careers of politicians who have no message other than “We’re not as crazy as those guys over there.”
Winning elections means nothing is nothing changes. We don’t need a party that helps the banks while giving away the rights of the rest of us. We don’t need a party that is afraid to stand up for progressive, liberal ideals. We don’t need a party whose idea is to compromise before the bargaining even begins. And we sure don;t need a party that refuses to tell the truth about jobs, taxes, climate change, the need for government and so forth because it doesn’t poll well.
Once upon a time the Whig Party fell apart because it had no consistent message, because it tried to be all things to all people and ended up being nothing to anyone. That is the path the the current Democrats are following. If the Dems want to be only a center right party doling out slightly less benefits to corporations than the far more extreme right-wing party that is now the Republican Party, what value do they provide? What reason is there for us to vote for them?
If they refuse to speak for the issues we as liberals and progressives care about, what benefit are they to the vast majority of Americans, people who the Republicans are trying to turn into wage slaves and a permanent underclass to be exploited by the Disaster Capitalists on Wall Street, in Big Oil, and in the Defense Industry (among others)?
No benefit. None.
The Democratic Party is at a crossroads. They can fight for us or submit to the power of multinational corporations and accept their place as the least favored child of corporate America. If they choose the latter, their future as a viable political force is doomed. If they choose the former, well, isn’t that better than selling out the country you supposedly love? Isn’t that why Democratic politicians got into politics in the first place: to make America a better place?
Let’s all hope they choose wisely.
Someone go to Dkos and rec my diary (same as my post here)
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/01/962478/-A-Rant-Regarding-the-Failure-of-Democrats-to-Stand-
up-for-Liberal-ideals
so someone actually sees it. Over there your diary doesn’t even show up on the recent diary list unless it receives one rec.
Thanks.
Steven D
Done. And it’s got orange recs now.
Nonetheless, this will only sink in if a lot of people are repeating it, day after day. And it’s a lot easier to cluck over What Sarah Palin Just Tweeted than to confront something as seemingly intractable as Democratic Party spinelessness.
About all we can do is emulate the old Mother Jones saying (the person, not the magazine): Don’t mourn. Organize.
The EPA, Obama’s EPA, is moving towards regulating carbon and the Congress is trying to forbid it – both Republicans and conservative coal democrats. And the environmental movement and “progressives” have really shown that they can support the President when he does right. They (a) ignore it or (b) have started wailing that Obama’s going to betray them. This is an easy issue. The public supports it. The administration supports it. Congress has an uphill road. But the goal of “the left” is to continue to rally the public to the platform that “Obama sux”. If Frank Luntz were running American “progressives” it couldn’t do more harm – oh wait!
Steven:
Lets face it. It starts at the top(I don’t want to talk about the President as this problem existed before he became a national figure). By the top, I mean the party apparatus as a whole. Meaning the DNC, DSCC and DCCC. Look at who runs those organizations. The most conservative, soulless people imaginable. Look at the awful candidates they recruit. When was the last time they pushed the envelope? The GOP does it all the time. Why is there only one Bernie Sanders in the Senate? But instead, the most conservative candidates possible are recruited. Look at what Rahmbo did as head of the DCCC. He recruited a bunch of ex-GOPers(like Heath Shuler .. and that clown that replaced Mark Foley .. only to be caught in his own sex scandal). The only thing most of them were committed to was eventually voting for Rahm as Speaker at some point. So the answer to your question in the last paragraph is no. That’s not why they are there. Look at the policy that has resulted. You listed it in your righteous rant. Most of the stuff is just rehashed from the 1990’s, or worse. Hardly anyone has the balls of straight talk like Jesse Unruh or Sam Rayburn.
One of the problems about the messaging of the progressive democratic (Democratic?) left is that there is no overarching theme but a laundry list of agenda items. Important agenda items that get the response from the Republicans of their overarching theme: government is the problem, not the solution. This Republican messaging is so insidious that Obama bows toward it before pivoting in many cases.
A second problem is that the “L” word is scary to liberals because the “S” word (thanks John Nichols for a great book), one of several forces that shaped the 20th century progressive movement is still scary because of the blowback of propaganda from the Cold War.
So what is the overarching theme of progressive democrats? My suggestion is that it be the same as a century ago: Reform
That is, an end to the influence of money and patronage at the federal, state, and local levels. In short, an end to legally sanctioned corruption. Here are some agenda items out of that.
A truly independent media, committed to public service and guardian of honesty in discourse.
A truly independent judiciary, without philosophical or political prejudices and without the taint of corruption.
One person, one vote instead of one dollar one vote.
Civil service instead of patronage positions; reduce the number of appointed positions in government.
Rolling back the executive powers seized during the Cold War and post-9/11; no one, not even Barack Obama needs that sort of power above the Constitution.
Restoration of the Bill of Rights – an end to secret courts, military tribunals, warrantless investigation.
Reform and reorganization of the national security institutions with a view toward downsizing them and eliminating the “jobs” justification for military spending.
Reform and reorganization of the factory model of education into something that serves students, not administrators. Commitment of resources into pre-school education and child care.
Reform of labor standards. Lowering of the maximum workweek to 30 hours, with time-and-a-half for everyone who works more than 6 hours in one day and double-time for everyone who works more than 8 hours in one day. (That’s how the New Deal created jobs.)
Restoration of the government’s commitment to direct provision of infrastructure or a regulated infrastructure, including energy, transportation, communication, healthcare, education. Alternative energy sources, building technologies, industrial technologies, and transportation technologies that deal with global climate change are a key element of that process. Replacing the automobiles in the federal fleet with electric automobiles within in five years would dramatically accelerate the deployment of non-internal-combustion technology and ramp up auto production. It would also more than pay for itself in economic stimulation, something the annual budget bean counters don’t recognize.
Reform of the legal basis of corporations. Corporations get a grant of limited liability from governments. If they don’t want to be subject to government regulation, that grant can be taken away. It has to do with personal accountability of the executives making decisions on behalf of the corporation.
Reform of all of America’s institutions to provide equal rights under the law.
Reform of the global economic system to guarantee common labor standards, starting with (1) a prohibition of forced labor and corresponding enforcement resources, (2) prohibition of child labor, (3) global minimum wage, (4) global maximum hours, (5) global minimum standards for collective bargaining. The appropriate venue for the creation and implementation of these standards in a UN agency, the International Labor Organization.
Reform of the US system of providing funds for basic research in the sciences, for agricultural research, for industrial extension activities of universities, and for the ability of professors to create consultancies. And standards of scientific ethics that prevent the bending of scientific information to the wishes of funding sources.
The problem, however, is not exclusively Democratic politicians. It is a political system dominated by money that has trapped Democratic politicians in a money chase in order to by media in order to influence voters. Media, by the way, exclusively owned by Republicans. That is the tactical problem progressive democrats have to solve. How to have citizens make informed choices when there is a media barrage driving them crazy.
I think the absence of conversation about climate change is related to (1) it fairly clear scientifically that it’s a problem and talk among progressives tends to take that for granted; (2) given the current Congress, just making sure the EPA still can regulate greenhouse gases is the bottom line; (3) there is a sense of Democrats being owned by K Street instead of being responsive to their constituents. And once you say that, what more is there to say?
The problem isn’t what we say, it’s how often we say it. Laundry lists aren’t effective; neither is lurching from one issue-du-jour to the next. But the biggest problem is that progressives in particular tend to present the facts, assume that that’s won them the argument, and move on.
Republicans opposing action on climate change have only one thing to say: “It’s a fraud!” But it’s simple, and they say it over, and over, and over, and over, and it sticks with enough people to be effective. Similarly, they’ve kept up the same simple refrain about the role of gov’t for 30+ years.
What do Democrats stand for? I couldn’t tell you what the answer is this week, much less over time.
That is correct, but the deeper issue is that progressives think that the argument is at the basis of facts instead of purposes. The argument is about the purpose of government. Full stop.
The conservative (and Republican) advantage is not that they say it over and over but that they can say it over and over because they own the corporate (and most watched) media.
What do progressives stand for that they think Democrats should stand for. I couldn’t tell you that either; I know everything they stand against, but not what they stand for.
Progressives used to stand for government as an instrument of progress. Progress in democracy, progress in equality, progress in well-being, progress in preserving the environment, progress in healthcare, progress in science. If that tradition continues to exist, it now includes civil society as a parallel institutions supporting progress.
Hey, I for one appreciate all your posts, especially those about Climate Change. ClimateProgress and RealClimate are two of my most frequently visited sites.
But I agree, something weird is happening in that even though most of the left understands the serious threat most of us don’t pay much attention do it. We are talking a real end-of-times scenario in less than 100 years, and not the biblical variety. And if CO2 production magically stopped today we are still talking about several decades of very harsh conditions before things start cooling down.
Maybe the people who understand have largely given up.
Steven – I agree with your agenda here, but the way you’ve talked about it isn’t convincing anyone who doesn’t already agree with you. First, IMHO, I think that the Democratic Party of 2011 is MUCH better than the Democratic Party of 2003 or 1995. It’s not even close. The Democratic Party is MUCH more progressive and cohesive today that it has been in my lifetime. That doesn’t mean that it’s perfect. I have several big complaints including Obama’s stances on Afghanistan, the banks, and civil liberties, to name a few. But, we have accomplished so much more than any Administration since LBJ, and it’s important to remember that.
Also, the stimulus package was HUGE environmental legislation – the most important environmental legislation since the Clean Air Amendments of 1990. There is $88 billion in clean energy and environmental spending in the stimulus, which is equivalent to a decade of funding for the EPA. No, we didn’t get the cap-and-trade package, but we made important progress.
If you want the Democratic Party to be a more progressive party, then you need to go out and convince more people to be progressive. Only about 20% (or less!) of this country is liberal like we are. That’s not enough to control the Democratic Party, unlike the way that conservatives completely control the Republican Party.
Next, almost no one remembers a laundry list of agenda items. After you get past three items, people stop listening. Ask yourself what connects all of the items you’ve listed above. You haven’t said what connects all of your items above. Until you figure out what connects all of those “agenda items”, you’re not going to convince anyone.
Not only a failure to TALK about Democratic issues, but a failure to do anything.
One example: the disaster that is the financial system meltdown. This was caused by a complex set of things, but the Democrats have simply failed to pin the blame on the Repukeliscum, and that is a disaster in and of itself. Plus they have failed to arrest and try a single bank thief. Plus they now have the thief that is the CEO of GE in as a Jobs Czar, the asshole who has been outsourcing and offshoring hundreds of thousands of jobs. This is not going to help.
If we had arrested and tried some of these hedge fund terrorists, and they were on trial during the Nov 2010 elections, we would not have had the disaster we did. As it was, the TeaBagger traitors were able to say things like “Obama gave the banks a huge bailout, and I got nothing”. It simply was a disaster for the Democrats, and it should have been a disaster for the Repukeliscum.
A failure of messaging, a failure of vision, and a failure of partisanship. What this country needs is MORE partisan democrats who are willing to STAND UP for Democratic ideas, and who are not beholden to banker thieves.