It seems to me that the DLC acts as a shill for wealthy special interests and multi-national corporations to convince Democrats that unrestricted free trade is beneficial to the people of America and the world,and to promote Democratic candidates that support these destructive policies.
The DLC talks a good game about what they believe. They purvey a Democratic Party agenda and some time honored Jeffersonian Principles while insidiously promoting what appear to me to be republican (Federalist) economic and imperialist policies. The bottom line is that they support basically unrestrained global free trade policies which have led to polarization of wealth, economic imperialism, outsourcing of jobs, worker exploitation, loss of US manufacturing jobs, etc. ad infinitum.
Here are a few articles from the DLC website. Read between the lines to find the corporate Snake Oil:
We believe that economic growth generated in the private sector is the prerequisite for opportunity, and that government's role is to promote growth and to equip Americans with the tools they need to prosper in the New Economy.
We believe America has a responsibility to lead the world toward greater political and economic freedom.
http://www.ndol.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=128&subid=174&contentid=3775Some evidence of DLC globalist economic philosophy:
What legacy do they leave?
One that is a bit heartening for supporters of open trade: The American system proved able to both reject a misguided assault on basic principles, and accept specific and better-founded criticism of particular policies.
On the one hand, anti-globalization activists could not block initiatives of genuine historic import.
All their principal legislative targets -- Nafta, the Africa trade programme, the granting of permanent normal trade relations for China, and the creation of the WTO -- passed comfortably.
Less noticed but equally significant, Congress (which in the 1980s voted regularly to protect American textile mills and car factories) broke with such legislation in the 1990s.
Activists could claim some successes -- notably a four-year interruption in 'fast-track' legislative procedures and a two-year hiatus in full-scale WTO negotiations after Seattle.
But the success of the Doha Summit and House passage of 'Trade Promotion Authority' make these seem temporary and phemeral.
And that is why it is, in the end, a relief to see the anti-globalization movement fade.
http://www.ndol.org/ndol_ci.cfm?cp=2&kaid=108&subid=206&contentid=250139Thomas Jefferson, founder of the Democratic Party:
"I hope we shall... crush in its birth the aristocracy of our
moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our
government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of
our country." --Thomas Jefferson to George Logan, 1816.
"The selfish spirit of commerce knows no country, and feels no
passion or principle but that of gain." --Thomas Jefferson to
Larkin Smith, 1809.
Some comment on the beliefs of Thomas Jefferson and a quote by Noam Chomsky:
Jefferson was as motivated to prevent economic tyranny as he was to prevent political oppression. Even prior to the industrialization, he saw in embryo the monstrosity of the impending corporate control of America as early as 1816.
The United States is moving towards a single and splendid government of an aristocracy founded on banking institutions and moneyed incorporations. If that tendency continues, it would be the end of democracy and freedom. The few would be riding and ruling over the plundered plowman and the beggared yeomanry. (Chomsky, 1994)
Sadly enough, the worst fears of Jefferson have come true.
http://democracyunbound.com/jeffersonbridge.htmlHere is a compendium of quotes on the dangers of corporate power:
http://www.pushhamburger.com/oct_pearl.htmCorporations and other wealthy special interests control government policy in America. While the DLC, on the surface, promotes many Democratic platforms, they differ from real Democrats through their support of the unrestrained corporate free trade policies which have destroyed our economy and led to increased monopolization and worker exploitation through consolidation of corporate wealth and power, and the subsequent ever increasing control of the government and the people by the these corporations.
If we are to regain our Democracy, we need to elect leaders who will rework trade agreements in such a way as to benefit Democracy and the people of America and the world, and not just the corporations and the wealthy. The DLC's apparent belief that unrestricted global free trade is going to benefit America and the world is BS. It hasn't, it doesn't, and it won't. Corporations will make more money, further monopolize, and increase their power over our lives.
I am not anti-commerce. But I am against everything that subverts Democracy. And promoting policies which will further consolidate corporate power and wealth into oligopolies helps destroy Democracy. It is, simply, the essential nature of the beast.
Once again, Jefferson:
"The selfish spirit of commerce knows no country, and feels no
passion or principle but that of gain." --Thomas Jefferson to
Larkin Smith, 1809.
:dem:Kucinich