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I posted something about this a couple of weeks ago...
1967313, The light bulb has come on for me
Posted by corkhead on Fri Jul-29-05 02:46 PM I apologize in advance for being relatively underdeveloped politically and as a DU newbie, I am sure some of what I have to say will come off as trite, but maybe I can serve as a medium between the advanced erudite political scholars of DU :-) and the stick-your-head-in-the-sand “American Idol” crowd.
I was never able to put my finger on why I had been less than enthusiastic about the Democratic Party over the years, which was why I called myself an independent until only within the last year when I was forced to declare a party affiliation in order to run for a township office. I live in a predominantly Republican area and was politically adrift, but one thing was certain for me; out of principle I could not possibly bring myself to declaring myself a Republican. I held my nose and chose to become a Democrat, not because the principles it supposedly espouses, but because it was the less objectionable of the two. I didn’t feel either party was representing my interests.
I became very engaged in the last election cycle, did all I could to help get Kerry elected, even though deep in the back of my mind, I didn’t think he was as much of an alternative as I would have liked to have seen compared to the Corporate cabal of Bushco. I think it is safe to say that the discovery of DU and other Internet sites, the advent of Air America, and Fahrenheit 911, really lit a fire for me. I soon became perplexed as to why there were so many people I knew who were politically disinterested, including my girlfriend, when there was so much at stake. When I would strike up conversations about politics with people I encountered, I would often hear that “it doesn’t matter; the candidates are both the same anyway.” Having become more politically aware, I certainly didn’t believe that, but it put me at a loss; until now.
The recent flap about the DLC vs. real Democrats has opened my eyes as to what I see as being our biggest problem. While the Corporatist DLC follows the Repubs rightward and separates themselves from the core principles of democracy, they have made themselves look very similar to them, thus disaffecting a vast majority of people in this country. I believe this is why voting in recent years has consistently been an exercise in holding one’s nose. This problem needs to be fixed because at the risk of sounding melodramatic, THE FUTURE OF THE WORLD IS AT STAKE.
We don’t need to kick the DLC out of the party. We don’t need to form a third party. We, The People, need to regain control of OUR party.
Individuals who have been voting Republican are not our enemy. The enemies of democracy are the corporatists who calling themselves Democrats and Republicans. Let the corporatists choose for themselves what party they want to be in, lets not let them continue to destroy ours. While the DLC continues to work on making the party look like Corporate Repug Lite, they successfully keep a lot of people believing that at best there is no difference between the two parties and that “at least the Republicans stand for something”, while the Democrats look weak trying to be a cheap copy.
Most certainly the deck is stacked against us in many ways; the corporatists have most of the media on their side and they have created a very successful red herring attack machine that has distracted, discouraged, and divided a large number of those not as engaged as you and I are. Many Americans who actually bother to vote have become one issue voters, often sacrificing self interest for ideology, while others throw up their hands and stick their heads in the sand while all of Rome burns.
We do have something on our side that should be able to trump all of what the corporatists use against us, SHEER NUMBERS. We can be the party of the people, not the party of a bunch of simpering corporate apologists. To regain control of the Democratic Party, we need to draft a clear agenda that simply serves the best interests of the VAST MAJORITY of Americans. I would think that would be easy. How about universal healthcare, fiscal responsibility, a free and fair election system, workers rights, environmental protection, individual freedom, corporate accountability, and something the corporatists are truly incapable of, adherence to the ultimate core value, THE GOLDEN RULE. We must develop a clear and concise platform that measures up to these principles before we can work on the strategy to win with them. If we can change the divide in this country from being along silly red herring social issue lines to being “The People” vs. “The Corporatists”, we WILL win easily.
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