Have we made any progress since November?

[Goldeneye]

Sure the republicans suck more, and are screwing up more and are being exposed more, but have the democrats improved? There's all this talk about framing and giving up issues and adopting some new issues and changing positions and planning ahead like Rove supposedly does and the DLC and litmus tests and moving to the left and moving to the center and on and on. Really, I'm so confused about what we need to do right now and what we are actually doing. There have been some things that give me hope like the christian alliance and Dean being DNC chairman and the Hackett race in Ohio. But there are other things like the labor unions splitting up and democratic infighting that just scare the crap out of me. So have we improved? Are we going to improve? What does it take to get some damn improvement around here?

[SteppingRazor]

1. I see the labor split as a good thing.

The four major unions left the AFL-CIO because it was ineffectual, which is true. The state of workers in this country is simply ghastly. Not when compared to the Third World, of course, but certainly when compared to most other industrialized nations.
By splitting from the AFL-CIO, these unions hope to be able to effect more positive changes. I hope they can.

[Goldeneye]

2. I was thinking about this poll

http://people-press.org/commentary/display.php3?AnalysisID=114

which I found at Daily Kos. It shows errosion in union support for democrats over the last few decades. The unions have to do what they have to do to get favorable legislation passed, even if that means voting republican. Somehow I don't see corporatist republicans helping them, so I assume they will vote for democrats, but maybe they will vote for third parties. I admit to knowing little about labor unions, but it seems like there effectiveness might be reduced by having multiple factions working seperately rather than as one big group. That could be a misinterpretation on my part.

[SteppingRazor]

3. Yes and no...

Yes, they would work better as one big group -- but only if that big group actually DOES something.