LET'S FOCUS - What would YOUR Democratic Priorities List look like?

[cyberpj]

While I agree that 2006 elections are WAY up there on the priorities list I wonder if Election Fraud should remain the top priority because I suspect that Republican forces will e-machine any close or important races and until we get VOTER VERIFIED PAPER BALLOTS, we may never be able to make changes no matter how many Dem voters we get out there.

Too paranoid?

My Democratic Party Priority List would read:
VVPB
2006 Elections
Iraq Exit Strategy
DSM and Impeachment!

[welshTerrier2]

1. Iraq and Democracy

it's pretty simple really ...

Democrats need to push the right foreign policy and the right domestic policy ... seem too simplistic? it's not ... right now, the Democratic Party has it wrong on these two issues ...

first, the long-term essence of American foreign policy has been imperialism ... we have, and this is a highly technical expression used mostly by foreign policy experts, "exploited the crap" out of virtually every other country in the world ... we pollute, we suck up more than our share of natural resources, we sell armaments to anybody with money to spend, we destroy local and regional cultures to benefit "our" corporations ...

Most establishment Democrats, if not all, refuse to acknowledge this point ... that's why they continue to push the "we must win" in Iraq propaganda ... all we would win is more exploitation of the Iraqis ... you really have to believe "we're the good guys" to believe we should stay in Iraq to "finish the job" ... the "job" we are really doing is not what America should be about ...

and it's not just Iraq either ... it's the same in every country in the world where the US sees potential markets ... the US is wrong and the Democrats are wrong ...

and domestically, again, the message is very simple ... corporations and big money have a stranglehold on our democracy ... Democrats rarely acknowledge this central truth ... fighting the many good battles that Democrats fight, e.g. social security, healthcare, fairer tax code, will go nowhere until we recognize the enemy's agenda and focus our weaponry on the right targets ... fighting all these skirmishes without educating the American people on what, and who, the real enemy is will leave us in a weak, minority status ...

any victories we might win in these skirmishes is illusory ... look at the colossal roll-backs we've seen on FDR's safety net ... the middle class is being systematically destroyed ... it is NOT wrong for the Democrats to engage on these issues as republicans raise one roll-back after another dismantling a hundred years of progress ... but this approach is reactive rather than proactive and it is doomed to failure ... until we raise the issue that big money has corrupted our democracy, things will continue to decline ... it is time for the Democratic Party to call for a new American revolution ... it is time to call America, and Americans, to fulfull the ideals on which this country was founded ...

[cyberpj]

2. Well said.

I may 'borrow' some of your thoughts for letters to my reps and local papers if that's okay.

We have to keep telling them, and telling them, and telling them..... until they get it.

[cyberpj]

16. kick

[rhett o rick]

9. I agree. But since most Demo leaders are part of the problem, how

are we going to change them out for those that agree with what you said? The real civil war isn't between the red's and blue's, or the Dem's and Repub's, but between the rich and the middle class. The gullible, of course, side with the rich. Whose side are the Demo leaders on? Of course they want to better the Country, but not at the loss of their gravy boats. How r we going to change out the Party leadership?? If we don't, we are lost.

[cyberpj]

11. I think it requires dynamic and charismatic leaders from the masses.

Back to the "I'm one of you" kind of candidates that can actually explain it all in simplest terms to all the people who need to know and should already be angry at what's happening.

But then, of course, they always kill that kind don't they?

[shance]

3. An important question. It's time to prioritize.

I went to a Moveon meeting a while back and I thought it was a really productive meeting. The thing that was disappointing about it was unfortunately the lack of a follow up meeting to structure some groups to work on the top three priorities.

In the group I met with, the top three priorities/issues were

1. Election reform/dealing with the electronic voting machine issue

2. War in Iraq

3. Media Reform

These are all huge issues and I think with regards to election reform and media reform, many agreed that if we dealt head on with those two issues, many if not most of the other issues would eventually fall into place through time, focus and commitment to both (and patience).

[Nikki Stone 1]

5. "Election reform/dealing with the electronic voting machine issue"

That's at the top of my list, along with Iraq.

It would also be nice to make Karl Rove a contestant on "America's Next Top Model". :)

[shance]

7. Have to say Nicki that one never crossed my mind....

;)

[Nikki Stone 1]

8. I would just like for Rove to get a nasty piece of "Tyra mail"

and be sent home because he couldn't smile wide enough with his legs spread over a pick-up truck. :)

[cyberpj]

12. I'd rather put him on Fear Factor

then watch him cry like a baby when he has to actually DO something. Anything.

[Nikki Stone 1]

14. Not humiliating enough. Tyra can be really nasty when she wants to be

:)

[kodi]

4. full employment economy, national health, environmental pollution

wallets, bellies, and bowels.

those are the issues.

[LightningFlash]

6. You are dead on correct!

Lets get that corrupt skunkwad DeLay out of here and the DINOs, and push FULL electoral reform!!!!

http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=672335

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :patriot:

[cyberpj]

13. I will read the legislation listed on the commoncause site

you posted - but can you tell me now - do they include VOTER VERIFIED PAPER BALLOTS? Because I'm not settling for anything less.

[rhett o rick]

10. Number 1 is to change the Demo Party leadership to those that listen to

the rank and file. Hillary, for example, is bought and paid for by big money. That's exactly what we are fighting against in the Republicans. She will be beholding to her big money backers, not the rank and file. It won't do us any good to insure fair elections if we have to vote between two candidates that are both owned by big money. The current Demo leaders aren't fighting hard for ending the IWAR or saving democracy. They seem to be afraid to take a solid stand, for fear they will lose their parking spots or free haircuts.

[cyberpj]

15. You put it quite right - they're bought and paid for as well -

"The current Demo leaders aren't fighting hard for ending the IWAR or saving democracy. They seem to be afraid to take a solid stand, for fear they will lose their parking spots or free haircuts."

Bill Moyers said it happened to Dems once they got power and became "inside the beltway" politicians. He actually said we might as well forget about Washington D.C. - that's a lost cause - and that the Internet and grassroots movements were the only hope left.

Now all we need are a few good leaders, focus on the right priorities and a message that "the people" can't resist.

Unfortunately, the Internet may also defeat the entire purpose because we'll all be behind walls working on our on blogs, our own sites, our own ideas, our own rants... and that will just serve to keep us fractured and unfocused and off the streets.

(The last was my own opinion.)

[rhett o rick]

17. I agree, but first things first. We need a platform and strategy.

We need to get a coalition that agrees on these and then take control of the Party. There are a few decent Dem's and we need to stand behind them and give them support. But never support the others, those that have gone over to the Dark Side (i don't mean Repub, but the money side).

[Auntie Bush]

21. I think Wes Clark could fill our requirements. He's OUTSIDE the

beltway...knows what it's like to be poor and middle class.
We could have confidence in someone who knows how to run a war and get us the hell out of Iraq as soon and the best way possible. He GENUINELY cares about the lives of our military where Bush sees them merely as "Worker Bees" to do his bidding (make his friends and donors rich) so get the job done...if you get killed...or worse... wounded... well sorry, you are no longer of use to us. You're on your own now and our treasury is broke so we can't afford free medical care. Maybe your families can give you a hand. Sorry but I have "hard work" to do and I'm tired and need a lot of vacation time...to rest and relax and rejuvenate my worn out drug and alcohol damaged body/brain...so I don't have time for your funerals...besides I feel guilty when I see your limbless bodies and they disturb my sleep and make me want to cry in public. My poll numbers are dropping and some unpatriotic morons are spreading rumors saying I'm lying. How could they say that about their own Comander-In-Chief... a CHRISTIAN!?

SORRY FOR GETTING CARRIED AWAY BUT I'M LOSING ALL MY SELF CONTROL.

[JohnnyBoots]

18. Can you elaborate or give a link or two on the whole thing that

a senator used to own the company that made the voting machines or some such thing? I have heard comments about it, but alas don't know the whole story behind it. Sounds like something that could gain traction if it where forcefully shoved into the MSM spotlight. Thanks.

[Armstead]

19. Okay

Corporate Power -- They have too much. The rest of society has too little. That is a big problem that affects almost every issue.

Media Control -- We need to stop the monopolization of the media. Get back to the consept of more diverse media ownership, and some level of accountability.

No More Idiot Wars -- We don't need to be pacifists, but we need to get realistic about the "war on terror" and realize that it is not some global confrontation of civilizations. Terrorism is a tactic not an ideology.

Etc.

[enough already]

20. Impeachment

Followed by impeachment, then impeachment.

[realFedUp]

22. Bring back morals

Bring back American morals like truth, equality, civil rights
and clean elections.
Foreign policies built on less military, more global concerns
National health care system
American made jobs (and not in the Marianna Islands)
Environmental alternatives