Democratic Party - move to the left or to the right?

[LeftCoast]

Poll question: Democratic Party - move to the left or to the right?

Just wondering which direction DUers would like to see the party moving toward. Please keep kicked if you're interested in this poll.

[ClassWarrior]

1. Remember, when you move to the right...

...you reinforce the Radical Rightwing's arguement.

We're Progressives, and we're proud of it.

NGU.

[Feathered Fish]

2. Good god,

to the right? Is that even possible without sacrificing some of the core moderate values?

[Cobalt Violet]

15. No it isn't.

Imho.

[whalerider55]

3. any move

would be welcomed. beats the deer in the headlights freezeframe we're in

whalerider55

[Eric J in MN]

4. Move to the left on economic issues.

Bar companies which layoff good workers to replace them with outsourced labor from govt. contracts.

Regarding social issues, perhaps we should try to find middle-ground on abortion, like saying the federal govt. shouldn't pay for abortions.

At LEAST, our candidates should stress that they want to reduce the number of abortions, by expanding health care and jobs so fewer women feel forced to get one.

[ClassWarrior]

9. I hear what you're saying, Eric, but we shouldn't be thinking of...

...moving to the right or left on specific issues. We should be moving to the left on our all-encompassing core values. We are Progressives, so we believe in responsibility, opportunity, caring, and hope. I think both your points, on corporate responsibility and reproductive responsibility, fit nicely into these core values.

NGU.

[OneBlueSky]

5. neither . . . move the party forward . . .

as a champion of the people against corporate governance . . .

[Eric J in MN]

6. I'd call that moving left on economic issues. And I agree. (NT)

NT

[Tace]

13. Absolutely, Questions Of Left Or Right Debase Any Argument

This issue of corporate governance could be considered even more crucial than the issue of a fair vote, as a fair vote will never be possible until we subordinate the corporate dragon.

[Warpy]

7. Uh, moving to the right aint working for us

The farther to the right the DNC goes, the fewer congressmen they manage to get elected and the more ground they lose with working people who realize they don't count.

Concentrating on wooing conservative suburban yuppies has been a losing strategy from the beginning. Since the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, I'd strongly suggest the DLC is ready for the same loony bin as the far right fringe.

[BlueCollar]

8. i believe

that if we don't stand for something we stand for nothing.

In that respect I think the party needs to lock itself away in a room and come out with a clear message as to where it stands on all the issues rather than cater to perception of what "swing voters' want. If we clearly define our principles, and I repeat, clearly define our principles, the "swing voters" will come.

If we continue to allow people like Lieberman to be spokesmen for the party we will lose further ground.

Perhaps our newly elected Senator from Illinois will be a good spokesman. I like what I see and hear from him so far.

[ClassWarrior]

11. We also need to stop thinking that "the party" needs to do...

...thus-and-such, or that certain politicians need to do so-and-so. WE're the party. BE the change you want to see. When the people lead, the leaders follow. GET INVOLVED in your local party and SHOVE it to the left!

NGU.

[LeftCoast]

12. I was thinking of this poll more as

a "if I were king" sorta thing...also, just to get a snap-shot of opinion on DU. I agree with you about putting ideals into action though!
:hi:

[ClassWarrior]

19. My point is that we can ALL be "king" -- we just need to take the crown.

We REALLY need to take the crown.

NGU.

[Wapsie B]

10. Put Howard Dean in the DNC chair

or someone with the same fire in the belly. If we put another milquetoast Dem in there all bets are off in '06 & '08 IMHO. I just have to wonder what would've happened if Gore or Kerry would've won under suspicious means, besides blood in the streets. We need someone at the top who'll outline to every American what it means to be a Democrat in clear bold terms and not back away from that. Something people can identify with. Something that will put an end to legions of people in this country voting against their own best interests. We need a DNC who'll say enough of this shit. Let's get back to having a government and a society that's for the betterment of all people, not just the 1% 'ers.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

17. I think if the Dems don't do something

a lot of people will be leaving the party to go to the Greens or to create another third party. The only reason some folks I talk to voted Dem rather than Green in the last election is because they felt the Dems had a chance to oust Bush. If the Dems are deemed to be a party that won't win, they will go back to the Greens, whose idealogy fits them better. They are seeing this as a time to build up a winning party to counter the fascism we see now, and they aren't seeing the Democratic party as the one to build up.

[ClassWarrior]

39. Huh?? We ARE the Dems!! What I don't get is people who say...

...if THOSE PEOPLE don't do some thing to fix MY party, I'm joining another party. Dammit, we ARE the party. BE the change you want to see. When the people lead, the leaders follow! Join your local party and start making the changes YOURSELF. That's what a democracy's all about.

NGU.

[Cobalt Violet]

14. If this party moves any further to the right I'm OUT!

I won't give another inch. And if that means losing for another 20 yrs. so be it.

NAFTA and Welfare Reform and all the other rightwing quackery that THIS party has supported and gone along with is already too far for me.

[Smarmie Doofus]

16. None of the above because...

the party really can't move further "right" or "left" without sacrificing a portion of its 48% to the other side. Or to Nader.

Kerry pretty much kept both wings together, no easy feat. I think you have to look to other areas to make changes. New blood at the braintrust level is a MUST. They may be nice guys, but Shrum, Lockhart, Sasso, et al.... I mean how many times are we gonna run the basically identical national campaign before someone realizes that this doesn't get us to 51%??!!

New *forms* of campaigning are needed also. Can we finally, PLEASE,I beg of you, trash the pom-poms, cheerleaders, placard waving, sound-bite designed, photo-ops that served Kerry so poorly. It is friggin' passe, and getting more embarrassing at this point than trite and boring... which is all they had been before.

And lets reconsider the idea of repeating, ad nauseum, simple quasi-catchy slogans. They wear thin... I don't care what the focus-group data that the gentlemen above rely on says. If heard K say one more time that B. had "failed to win the peace",
I was going to vote Nader... and I cannot *stand* Nader and the simplistic, adolescent thinking he represents.

[Perky]

18. mODERATE ARE CRYINOUT FOR

A PARTY of the AMerican Dream

[Old and In the Way]

20. How about staying put and focusing on making sure the votes are

counted properly?

Rearranging deckchairs port or starboard on the SOS Titantic while we're taking on water is not particularly helpful at this point.

[Lefty48197]

21. To the left please.

$8 per hour miniumum "training" wage for those under 18. $10 per hour miniumum wage for those 18 and over.
$20,000 personal exemption from federal and state income taxes for each adult. $5000 for each child.
A complete refund of all sales taxes paid (above 5%) for an individual earning $20,000 or less, or a couple earning $40,000 or less.
Guaranteed basic minimum health care for every single American, regardless of income, or ability to pay.
Guaranteed premium health care for the elderly, expectant mothers, and other vulnerable citizens.
A Constitutional right to privacy for all Americans.
Full civil rights for all Americans regardless of race, religion, age, gender, sexual preference, or economic standing.

[ClassWarrior]

22. Don't talk issues, talk values.

Corporate responsibility... a caring healthcare system... opportunities for every American who works hard... respect for the rights of all Americans... hope for all.

NGU.

[LeftCoast]

23. Please keep kicked!

I'm off to study for 5 or 6 hours. Oh joy. :)

[69KV]

24. These shouldn't be the only choices

If the only choices are move to the left or move to the right, that's a false dichotomy.

How about adding these to the choices:

1. Keep the Democratic Party exactly where it is.
2. Move the party back to the left on economic issues, and back to the center or center-right on social issues.
3. Big tent approach. Don't "move" the party anywhere but allow room for all points of view.
4. Forget both the "progressive" and "conservative" labels and reposition the party entirely. The label to adopt is "populism." We're populists who represent working people.
5. Forget the left and right labels entirely and don't "move" the party anywhere. The Repigs are the party of extremism, we're the party of pragmatism and the broad middle.
6. Rebuild the old FDR-Truman era coalition. This means an open invitation for working class whites to come back to the party, and it means dropping all the social issues that the party took on in the 1970s and 1990s and getting back to our roots. This does not mean moving right since it would require a move to the left on economic issues.
7. Don't "move" the party either direction, but broaden the tent. Invite current and former third party members such as Greens to join, and to form a caucus within the party. Also do the same for former Perot and Reform Party supporters, and for Libertarians.

Those come to mind. I'm sure there are others too.

[mmonk]

25. Left. There is already a party on the right.

Extreme right like America never has seen before except in war (against an extreme right nation). I currently consider America unoperational and thus currently dead (note the dsregard of the Bill of Rights and its international rogue status). The effort must to re-establish it based on its NOW ABANDONED principles

[Lorien]

26. Non-political junkies can't see a difference anymore

My fundie mom is a registered Dem who voted for * because she saw no difference between * and Kerry on Iraq (despite my best efforts to educate her), or many other issues. She figured that since * had been "saved", he'd do the right thing. Had Kerry been strongly opposed to the war, or clearly socially liberal (compared to * he certainly was, but my mom just couldn't see that) she would have voted for him. We are no longer the OPPOSITION PARTY, were just a muddled mess of uncertainty. It seems like our party leadership has bought into the "there's shame in liberalism" Rovian crap and now just seeks to portray us all as better,"compassionate" republicans.

[chaska]

27. I want to go back left, but shouldn't there be an option for stasis?

[ClassWarrior]

28. Hmmmm... I wonder why the disruptors aren't keeping this thread kicked?

NGU.

[jmowreader]

29. We have to move to the left

Our national party has become Republican Lite. Why vote for Lite when you can have the real thing?

[okasha]

30. To the left, rapidly.

The "Center" is now plunk in the middle of what used to be "the right."

Okasha

[6th Borough]

31. Left...with the exception of federal gun control. /EOM

[Lone_Wolf_Moderate]

32. Is there a neither option?

The Party doesn't need to move per se, it needs to unite, and re-focus. I've always believed that the Democratic Party, on its best days, is a center-Left party. The two wings need to unite under a common thread (a set of principles (progressive, mainstream principles, as opposed to simply copying the Republicans)), and rebuild from the grassroots on up.

One thing we need to really do, in order to have any shot at a sustained political victory, is to change the culture. In vital red state America, we're Democrats in a Republican culture. The REpublicans figured out a way, 20 years or so ago, to change the political culture to suit their ends, and demonize their opponents. We need to shift the markers our way again.

[Hamlette]

33. No moving necessary

we just need to articulate our views in a way Americans can understand (dumb down...damn, there I said it)

We gotta find a way to compete with the Republican Noise Machine. One way is to get effective spokespersons on TV for us. Most of our guys are either combative lunatic sounding participants (Carville) or uninformed.

How many times during the election did you see a Dem pundit let the right get away with something you knew was a lie. The Dem didn't even challenge them. Idiots. Pissed me off.

Our party's values are right (correct) we just need to tell Americans about them.

[K-W]

35. Have you read the party platform?

The party needs to move. Right now it is dilluted liberalism mixed with streaks of straight conservatism.

The Democratic party can either become the party of the moderate republicans or the party of the left. It cant be both.

[DemBones DemBones]

34. Move to the left and simultaneously educate the voters

to realize that the fascist tendencies of the far right are to be feared far more than the socialistic tendencies of the far left.

Teach people what we support and do versus what our opponents support and do. They, for example, talk freedom while acting to curtail freedom.

[MGKrebs]

36. I don't know about "moving".

We just need to articulate our progressive principles, instead of diluting them in the hope of attracting "swing voters" to the point that nobody knows what we stand for.

Our values are good, and moral, and applicable to everybody. Care and responsibility, fairness and equality, freedom and courage, fulfillment in life, opportunity and community, cooperation and trust, honesty and openness.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1119-22.htm

[raysr]

37. The party will

move right again. I think the party is dead. Third party needs to rise, "Progrssive" or "Socialist", massaged a little.

[AgadorSparticus]

38. i will no longer buy into the bullshit of electibility. i compromised

to win and i'm sorry i did. i thought this election year would be different from elections in the past. i was terribly wrong. but i'm learning.

never again.

[Spirochete]

40. Move them to the right

that way they can split the conservative vote with the Repugs when we take Howard Dean, Michal Moore, Jesse Jackson etc. and make a new party and clean house on the liberal vote and win all the elections.

[KSAtheist]

41. Take off and nuke the entire site from orbit

It's the only way to be sure.

What we have isn't working very well...and with the growing rift between the DLC and the party's heart and soul, then there's no other way around it. So I say torch the barn, kill the rats, and build anew.

[jpgray]

42. Near-glacial move left, but work like the devil on framing the debate

Because we cannot move left the way it is framed right now.