The most discouraging aspect of being a Democrat at this time....

[kentuck]

..is knowing that no matter what they do, what they build up, what they accomplish, the Republicans will be back to tear it down. Like building a house of cards and have someone blow it down as they nonchalantly walk by.

For example, when Clinton left office, we had the largest surplus in my lifetime and were paying down the national debt. Now, only 6 years later, we have lost everything. What the Republicans did not spend, they gave away to their wealthy benefactors. So now, we are back to square one - just like when Clinton took over from Bush and Reagan.

There will be nothing to benefit the needs of the people. We do not have the resources. The main preoccupation will be to clean after Bush and the Republican big spenders. By the time things reach some normalcy, the Republicans will regain power and tear it down once again. I have seen this happen over and over and over. It is discouraging...

[demnan]

1. I refuse to be a defeatist

:rant:

Now that Congress is changed, I've gone back to actively protesting the war. I'm involved in my local community in an effort to remind people that this war is wrong and to be out there in the streets.

I don't believe we will pull out of Iraq until people do this on a grand scale. That's why we pulled out of Vietnam, it was the people protesting peacefully against the war. I intend to be involved in every war protest I can. I will work for the Democrats, but I'm also aware of what politics entails, and the people in power are naturally cautious to challenge the President.

I know I sound like a broken record but I've lived through this before, at a very young age. I observed how it was done and I did some protesting myself back then. People pushed the government to withdraw from Vietnam. We'll have to do it this time to.

So please people, don't wring your hands in dispair, you need to get out there and make sure we hold the politians responsible. If we sit in front of our computers it will never be done. We must hit the streets. There's a big protest January 27 in DC and I hope that those who can participate will, but if you can't afford to come to DC, please have a local protest. Even if its just you and a few other people out there, and it might feel a little foolish at first, do it. It's catching on.

:rant:

[sui generis]

2. I think that being a realist is critical

For instance, the push to put 20,000 new troops into Iraq is really a push to force Democrats to call for a draft, which would be played off of us in an act of political homicide.

There are republican strategists who believe they have nothing to lose by make us look worse and if we fail to anticipate those gambits, we're doomed to be victims of them.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

3. For me the most discouraging thing is that the legislative Dems are

still playing "better not offend the Republicans." They need to put forth their boldest possible initiatives, let Bush veto them, and then run in 2008 on the fact that Bush vetoed all those measures and that the Congressional Republicanites supported him.

They should propose not only an increased minimum wage but also single-payer health care, an accelerated research program to find alternatives for petroleum products, support for affordable housing, and U.S. troops out of Iraq, among other things. Let them propose things they KNOW they won't get from the Republicanites instead of trying to find something that the Republicanites will accept.

If they act as if they have to appease the Republicanites, the Republicanites will run with it and keep moving the goal posts until the Dems are forced to make Republicanite Lite proposals.

The voters voted for the Dems because they wanted something different. If the Dems just dither around, the swing voters will go back to the Republicans, and those who are feeling disenfranchised may stop voting at all.

Oh...and the Democrats should open investigations heading for impeachment. If that war criminal and his whole Cabinet don't deserve impeachment, then nobody does.