If you want a more progressive government we need to win over the hearts and minds of the people

[NJmaverick]

not punish the politicians that try and follow the will of the people. The sad fact is that people with progressive views are a distinct minority. Until we expand on those numbers, I just don't see politicians sacrificing their careers to aid liberal causes.

[acsmith]

1. holy shit...

...what an original thought.

[spanone]

2. and you added so much to the discussion.

[Overseas]

44. Here's language that brought people together the last time

our society was so tightly controlled by its corporations.

* It was natural and perhaps human that the privileged princes of these new economic dynasties, thirsting for power, reached out for control over government itself. They created a new despotism and wrapped it in the robes of legal sanction. In its service new mercenaries sought to regiment the people, their labor, and their property. And as a result the average man once more confronts the problem that faced the Minute Man.

* The hours men and women worked, the wages they received, the conditions of their labor — these had passed beyond the control of the people, and were imposed by this new industrial dictatorship. The savings of the average family, the capital of the small-businessmen, the investments set aside for old age — other people's money — these were tools which the new economic royalty used to dig itself in. Those who tilled the soil no longer reaped the rewards which were their right. The small measure of their gains was decreed by men in distant cities. Throughout the nation, opportunity was limited by monopoly. Individual initiative was crushed in the cogs of a great machine. The field open for free business was more and more restricted. Private enterprise, indeed, became too private. It became privileged enterprise, not free enterprise.

* For too many of us the political equality we once had won was meaningless in the face of economic inequality. A small group had concentrated into their own hands an almost complete control over other people's property, other people's money, other people's labor — other people's lives. For too many of us life was no longer free; liberty no longer real; men could no longer follow the pursuit of happiness.
Against economic tyranny such as this, the American citizen could appeal only to the organized power of government. The collapse of 1929 showed up the despotism for what it was. The election of 1932 was the people's mandate to end it. Under that mandate it is being ended.

* These economic royalists complain that we seek to overthrow the institutions of America. What they really complain of is that we seek to take away their power. Our allegiance to American institutions requires the overthrow of this kind of power. In vain they seek to hide behind the flag and the Constitution. In their blindness they forget what the flag and the Constitution stand for. Now, as always, they stand for democracy, not tyranny; for freedom, not subjection; and against a dictatorship by mob rule and the over-privileged alike.

* The brave and clear platform adopted by this convention, to which I heartily subscribe, sets forth that government in a modern civilization has certain inescapable obligations to its citizens, among which are protection of the family and the home, the establishment of a democracy of opportunity, and aid to those overtaken by disaster.

* We do not see faith, hope, and charity as unattainable ideals, but we use them as stout supports of a nation fighting the fight for freedom in a modern civilization.
Faith — in the soundness of democracy in the midst of dictatorships.
Hope — renewed because we know so well the progress we have made.
Charity — in the true spirit of that grand old word. For charity literally translated from the original means love, the love that understands, that does not merely share the wealth of the giver, but in true sympathy and wisdom helps men to help themselves.

* Governments can err, presidents do make mistakes, but the immortal Dante tells us that Divine justice weighs the sins of the cold-blooded and the sins of the warm-hearted on different scales. Better the occasional faults of a government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.

* There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny.

Speech to the Democratic National Convention (1936) FDR

[acsmith]

3. you should take a look at this thread...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4179086&mesg_id=4179086

the hearts, minds and lungs of the people have already been won but still the polititians do not listen.

[NJmaverick]

8. How does that break out by region? I am afraid we live in a Republic not a straight Democracy

as such the distribution of support can be a major factor in how workable a majority is.

[PDJane]

4. There are more progressives than you think........

They just think they're Republicans. It's the weirdest thing.....I finally convinced a friend there that she's a Democrat at least and a progressive at heart, and that she's really not a religious type. I kept telling her so, she finally sat down with a list and thought about it, and decided I was right.....that's quite a world view change when you're sixty!

[NJmaverick]

14. It's not as wierd as you think. The right wingers have been very effective in demonizing the term

liberal. So much so that many liberals don't even realize their affiliations.

[DJ13]

5. The voters are more progressive than the politicians

Thats why the "change" message worked so well last year.

[NJmaverick]

7. The GOP left the country in a terrible mess, that is why "change" worked so well

most favor changing from a bad situation.

[treestar]

37. Disagree. Change worked because Bushco was a disaster

And the major thing that made them a disaster has been changed - our national attitude to the world and diplomacy.

[anonymous171]

6. They won't sacrifice anything if we keep on voting for their shitty pro-corporate policies

We need to make them work for our votes.

[NJmaverick]

9. If we are a minority, why should they?

as for pro-corporate... support and fight for campaign finance reform

[C_Lawyer09]

41. You hit the nail on the head

All the mobilizing in the world, majorities, disenfranchised citizins that want change, are irrelevant if the system promotes the status quo. People act amazed when change moves at a snails pace. A two party system, which in actuality is very similar, can only dissapoint. Third party candidates have problems just getting on the primary ballots, to say nothing of media coverage. As long as candidates within our system are beholden to big money for election, change will be small.

[Davis_X_Machina]

10. Fine. Now can we go back to reading each other out of the Party, please?

This is DU, after all.

[kenny blankenship]

11. The people were FOR progressive reform of healthcare, the crooks in Congress and Obama

were not.

[NJmaverick]

25. Where were those people? Only ones out there were the tea baggers

[kenny blankenship]

26. We were waiting for the plan. As instructed by a-holes who said Wait! it's only been x mos.!!

We turned out in overwhelming numbers to get these jokers elected to ACT on their platform. We elected a President who SAID he had a Plan. We elected the man, but he had no commitment to his own plan.

We may as well have elected Aetna, Goldman-Sachs, Xe and General Dynamics.

[NJmaverick]

29. No one said there should have been protests showing support for health care reform

no one said there should have been strong letter writing and phone call campaigns pushing for good reform.

[kenny blankenship]

32. Well now you've just retreated into your own private world

Send us a postcard, I guess.

[NJmaverick]

36. There was a mistake on my part. It should read no one said NOT to

[spanone]

12. l i n k

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/11/AR2009121102754.html?hpid=topnews

[NJmaverick]

13. Thanks for the link. I posted the article in LBN

as this is certainly important and good news.

[LaydeeBug]

15. bullshit.

the politicians are NOT following the will of the people, rather the banks accounts of corporate interests, andyouknowit

[NJmaverick]

16. Who do they follow on social issues? Wouldn't your position be more relevant

if we were discussing finance reform?

[LaydeeBug]

39. No. It's relevant because the liberals are in the majority

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

17. Which is exactly the reason why liberals/progressives won't support them.

The politicians will protect their seats/careers to the detriment of liberal causes.

And, it is the politician's responsibility to win over the hearts and minds of the left if they want their votes.

[OHdem10]

18. Example: What might have happened had the Left had rank and

file American Citizens as roiled up as the Teabaggers
out in force contradicting the Teabaggers???

Intensity counts.

[NJmaverick]

23. It would certainly make a huge difference. RIght now the tea baggers have the monopoly

on the national microphone.

[Hatchling]

19. I am so very tired of your bullying,

*plonk*

[NJmaverick]

24. So expressing opinions you don't like or agree with = "bullying"

how intellectually dishonest. You should be ashamed of yourself.

[StarfarerBill]

20. As far as most pols are concerned, the will of the people stops at the voting booth;

from then on, it's the corporations' ballgame.

I agree that citizens need to realize what's truly in their best interests and act accordingly, voting-wise and otherwise...but that doesn't give the corporate shills a free ride in the meantime. Tell me, if we don't do what we can to keep hammering at them, who will?

[Major Hogwash]

21. That's kind of "mavericky" of ya, isn't it?

Blame the people who didn't send the right politician to Congress, not the people who tried.

[NJmaverick]

22. Yeah, it's a bit "mavericky" to suggest the less pleasent but more effective things

rather than the popular feel good items that do far more harm than good

[begin_within]

27. I don't believe the current politicians are following "the will of the people."

I believe they are following the will of their campaign donors, not the people who voted for them. And there's an enormous difference.

[Echo In Light]

28. They lie for a living. Shocking, eh?

[begin_within]

33. Politics is the art of lying.

[Echo In Light]

35. "Politics is the shadow cast on society by big business." - John Dewey

[NJmaverick]

30. I think they try to do both as much as possible

until we get campaign finance reform, they really don't have a choice (because no money= no reelection) Just look what happened in NYC, where the Mayor's office was bought and paid for.

[begin_within]

31. I think they try to APPEAR to do the will of the voters,

but if you sit down and analyze what they do, they are really working for the campaign donors and lobbyists, not the voters.

[NJmaverick]

34. I have sat down, I have also talked to politicians and I read their writings

I am sure there are a few like you describe, but I think many try to give an honest effort in a system that doesn't allow one to be their best.

[treestar]

38. We need to quit whining about corporations

having so much say and try to get around them. The internet opens up that possibility. It's not just whoever gets on teevee anymore. And people don't swallow what the ads and newscasters tell them whole. They talk about it on the internet and get other perspectives.

[NJmaverick]

40. that's not a bad idea

[C_Lawyer09]

43. Answer this question, and you'll answer the others

Why did John Anderson, Independent from IL. gain 15% of the popular primary vote in the 1980 election? Why did he also get media coverage and debate time?

[howard112211]

42. Yeah. But you don't win hearts and minds by adopting their wrong stances on issues.

If I meet a person who doesn't believe in evolution, I may or may not try to educate them about it. But I will certainly not pretend that I don't either.