Why Democrats Are Trying to Commit Electoral Suicide

[kpete]

Why Democrats Are Trying to Commit Electoral Suicide
by: Ian Welsh
Sun Jan 03, 2010 at 22:00

Forty-five percent of the Democratic base now says they aren't going to vote in 2010 or are thinking of not voting. This is a direct result of Democrats in Congress and the Presidency doing things the base disagrees with or not doing things the base wants to see done. It appears politically stupid to act as they have, and yet, they did. So why?

Elected Democrats at the Federal level are members of the national elite. If they weren't a member when they were elected, they are quickly brought into the fold. They are surrounded by lobbyists, other members and staffers who were lobbyists, as a rule. They learn they need to raise immense amounts of money in the off years when normal people aren't giving, and that the only way to raise that money is for corporate interests and rich people to write them. They also receive the benefits of elite status, very quickly. It's not an accident that the every Senator except Bernie Sanders is wealthy.

...............................

They have no intention of engaging in radical change which threatens elite, which is to say, their, prosperity and power. The financial industry must be saved, the medical industry must be saved. Social Security and Medicare, which they don't need and don't benefit from, not so much. The military, which funnels huge amounts of money to them, must continue to expand (in real terms military spending is now twice what it was in 2000.)

As long as elected Democrats at the Federal level are members of this elite, or identify with the elite they are not going to make fundamental changes against the interests of that elite.

....................

more:
http://www.openleft.com/diary/16774/why-democrats-are-trying-to-commit-electoral-suicide

[Skink]

1. The republicans are so much better

:yoiks:

[Fumesucker]

5. They are part of the elite too..

And close to half of the damn country likes them better than Democrats.

For a lot of us it seems there is becoming less and less difference between the two parties, much of the reason for this is that our elected representatives belong to another class than do we, the elite class.

[obliviously]

8. I have been saying this for 8 months now

And have been called every name in the books for saying it!

[tan guera]

18. I've been saying it too

and been called horrible names. I also suggest a primary challenge in 2012 and take a beating for that too. And maybe this post will be deleted. :-)

[al bupp]

37. Some of us have been saying it for a lot longer than that...

Two wings of the same business party, one more socially liberal than the other, but both essentially the same in terms of protecting the interests of capital.

We have to face that we get the best government that money can buy, and it turns out to be not that good (for most of us).

[icee]

58. There are a lot of demagogues on this board. This happened from

being out of power for so long. I shudder to imagine how big the Party loss will be this year.

[bertman]

12. The Republicans are much worse than the Democrats, but having two parties that vary only

in degree is not exactly what we need. The Democrats aren't as crass and self-righteously small-minded as the Republicans (except for a few who expose their contempt for the regular people on occasion), but their failure to protect the working class ultimately delivers the same result that the Republicans hope to deliver. What's particularly galling about the Democrats' refusal to stand up for the working class is that they try to camouflage it with rhetoric about serving the people while they are busy maintaining the status quo that has been steadily pushed to the right for four decades.

This article hits the nail squarely on the head. Once even the most idealistic and committed populist is elected to national office, the forces of the status quo engulf him/her and begin the process of transforming her/him into a pliable, D.C. insider. Only the most committed are able to stand against that kind of constant pressure.

Perhaps this will be the election cycle where the disgruntled, angry, fed-up Left wing of the Democratic party finally says ENOUGH and starts pushing out the Blue Dawgs and rallying behind Progressive candidates.

Thanks for posting this, kpete. Rec.

[glinda]

23. Three Parties will get you "worse than Bush" as President. The answer is to have

Progressive "Dems". They should be out front and center as to their positions. They should probably call themselves Progressive Dems too.I mean, we have the Blue Dogs right? (Who need to be replaced.)

[bertman]

24. If I were in charge and wanted to keep the corporate-controlled Congress in place, I would

sure as hell be telling everyone that a third party (or fourth) would ruin the country by bringing the "other" party into power. Which is exactly what we are constantly being told.

[glinda]

40. Don't have to be "told". Witnessed it!

[MessiahRp]

38. The trick is Four Parties.

While we on the left work towards a primary challenge or just another viable party/option... we should be planting the same seeds of discontent with the teabaggers on the right, convincing them that Republicans don't care enough about their issues so that they take a nutcase like Palin or Cheney and run to the right with one of them.

Political wargames.

Rp

[truedelphi]

43. Perhaps initially we will get back to the "Bush" style people.

But we simply cannot continue on the course we are on.

Are you aware that in their initial days, the Abolitionists were only a handful of people?

And fifty years later slavery was outlawed.

Since the Reagan years, The Two Party system in this nation has done the following -

1)Destroyed the Unions.
2) Destroyed the ability of families to have one wage earner supplying the roof over the families head, and the food and the prospects of a better life for the kids.
Destroyed the prospects of having progressive rather than regressive tax rates on said families.
Shipped our manufacturing jobs overseas. And thus the following have become real concerns:

a) Safety of needed goods. Buy a garden hose from China and it will crack apart with so many holes that by end of summer, it is no longer useful. Do we want our polymers and other connective tubing for nuke reactors to come from China? We need things produced here, not only for the sake of having jobs to re-create a healthy economy, but for our safety. On same note - remember what happened to our pets when we all bought food from China laced with melamine?
b) Without decent wages coming to the parents, one quarter of American children now grow up in poverty. This was unheard of in the sixties and early seventies.

3) Overseen the dismantling of a health care system that provides health for people

a) while the cost for everything related to health has sky rocketed, the quality of health care offered to 85% of all Americans is of much poorer quality than it was before 1995. People are denied care, are stalled on what care they need, they have inappropriate but much recommended treatments offered (For instance, women with fibroids are told that "ablution" will help fibroids, even though if hot water could destroy tumors, why would people die from cancer? They are offered hysterectomies and ablution rather than embolization.) The new health care "reform" bill does nothing about any of this -except to insist that we purchase insurance policies from same bastards who did the above. With penalties to apply to those who don't do so.

b) FDA is in the hands of the Big Corporate interests. Drugs that are not safe are given FDA stamp of approval, and ditto the above for medical equipment,. So what if 40,000 people have their heart conditions made worse, as long as company X can make a serious profit.

4) Last but not least - created an economy that relies on low interest rates, incestuous relationships between oversight bodies and rating agencies, and the sales of derivatives such that the stock market relied/relies on bubbles that encourage ordinary Americans to live on credit (hard to live on a salary when jobs are not prevalent.) Wall Street promoted/promotes the "dot com bubble" and collapse, followed by the "housing market, stock market Credit Default Bubble" and collapse.

Important Great Depression reforms have been done away with, Glass Steagall among them. But hey, as long as both parties feel it is okay to tax Main Street in order to again "bubble up" Wall Street, it's all okey dokey!! Meanwhile experts stated last week that the current "recovery" could be collapsed overnight just as the previous stock market bubble crashed and burned. After all, the same strategies are fueling this recovery!

So I don't care how long it takes - we simply cannot rely on the Same Old Same Old. Insanity is defined by doing what we did before but expecting it to turn out differently!!

[Hannah Bell]

17. nope, they disappointed their base too. for much the same underlying reasons.

i know several wingers who voted for obama, & almost every winger i know was disgusted with bush by the end of his term:

1. the economy & perception of favoritism to rich
2. civil liberties threats combined with no action on getting OBL as promised
3. hurricane katrina - dramatic failure to help people ("made us look like a third world country", "not christian," "racist", "abandoned the people")
4. bogging down of the war
5. no progress re abortion

= some of the reasons expressed

[NorthCarolina]

22. From my perspective there is a hair-width's difference between DLC Dems and the GOP (nt)

[Better Believe It]

30. The article didn't suggest that, so what do you disagree with in the article if anything?

[anonymous171]

45. They must be, since our elected democrats are always adopting their ideas. nt

[fascisthunter]

56. way to warp the point being made

no way in hell does this OP say such a thing, but what it does say is our government and yes that includes the democratic party is corrupt.

[scentopine]

61. False choice -nt

[Ken Burch]

69. Which totally misses the point,since nobody is arguing for a vote for the GOP

as you know very well.

[Just-plain-Kathy]

74. What a crazy reaction. ...We can allow democrats to suck,

as long as they don't suck as much as repukes.

[marcmanv007]

80. But The Dems Are Better At Restoring the Economy and Jobs.

If we get the lowly repukes back in there there may be even be another recession..OR WORSE!

[pundaint]

81. That's just about locked in now by the waste of every available dollar on bankers and wars

[midnight]

2. Very good points......

[inna]

3. KR+7

I don't think they're "trying to commit electoral suicide though" - they simply don't care about the regular people and don't represent their interests.

But... How, oh how, can we take money out of politics?? Meaningful campaign finance reform is all but impossible while the legislators are benefiting from institutionalized corruption/crony capitalism. It's a vicious circle that perpetuates itself.

The "people's representatives" as they like to be called, no longer represent the people at all but instead solely represent and pledge allegiance to the special interests and corporate lobbyists who have bought and paid for their votes, along with the media oligarchs who control who sits in the seats.
...
What we are headed towards in the US if we are not there already, is a Straussian society of ultra rich, ultra powerful oligarchs and a serfish powerless population with no middle class to speak of. ... This is not compatible whatsoever with prosperity, democracy or anything else the US still holds itself out as. Here at the end of 2009, the United States has morphed into a bankrupt fascist oligarchy which owns the military machine as a policy enforcement tool, the entire political body and the media. It isn't going to fix itself because the fraud, corruption and malfeasance is systemic. It meets every definition of organized crime and it's all happening right out in the open.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7387970

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[inna]

29. Geez, what happened there!

Two deleted comments at 2:40am in the morning, I wonder what the heck that was all about. :shrug:

[fascisthunter]

57. you spoke a truth, that's what happened

shame on you.... :P

[scentopine]

62. It is time to use the F word. -nt

[Warpy]

4. Well, not until the rabble are at the gates and they are frightened

We got changes in the 1930s because they really did fear a socialist/Communist revolution. That's what the McCarthy hearings were all about, too, making sure that the organization that had started in the 20s and grown during the 30s was completely crushed.

I'm afraid we're still a bit too comfortable for that, so timid, incremental change is all we're likely to see, no matter how we need courageous and sweeping change. Yes, I'm talking about health care.

Trying to lead a reform movement while people are largely comfortable is doomed to failure, as we enthusiastically found out in the 60s. It was absolutely remarkable that we got what little we did, and some of that was a fluke.

Only when fear and desperation have taken hold and people no longer care about losing what little they have left do we start to see real change.

[earthside]

6. "Gone Washington."

It seems to happen to a lot of Congress members, Democrats and Republicans.

What is especially depressing though is that the Democrats, "party of the people" and "voice of the working stiff," has lost the populist message -- and the so-called 'teabaggers' are filling the vacuum.

It's like many of the Congressional Democrats have lost their soul and passion for the middle, working and poor classes. They need to rediscover their roots and their purpose ... or they will take a beating this November.

[Land Shark]

7. What's happening is Dem Party is shedding members quickly, keeps % support up (& total votes down)

One poll has the change in identification down six points. But it's a Repub poll (rasmussen). I think there's been a shift but not 6 points.

[guruoo]

9. A propagandist's strategy: 'I can make it 45% if I claim it has already happened'

"Democratic base" my :kick:!

[LoZoccolo]

16. No kidding; how big is this "base" lol.

And if it's that small why are we calling it a base?

[natrat]

63. your a week and a half out of date on your talking point, they have moved on without you

[Romulox]

10. New Dems = Old Repubs. That's what's happened here.

The "new" Democratic Party has been taken over by the NE Republicans and SW "individualists" who were chased from the Republican Party by the religious whackos. :fuck:

[laughingliberal]

49. Right on the money! Hell, I'd take a 1960's Republican now over most of our Dems nt

[mmonk]

53. Eisenhower was more liberal than today's Democrats.

Your point is taken though.

[47of74]

11. In recent days I have thought more and more of the early 5th century

And I think of how our nation seems to be on a course very similar to that of the Western Roman Empire during that time period. People born in the year 410 - when Rome was sacked - could conceivably have lived long enough to see the Empire finally whither and die in 476. I was hoping that Obama and the Democrats could stop our nation from the sharing the fate of the Roman Empire, but now I'm no longer sure that they even have the will to stop that from happening. And I sure wouldn't want to bring children into the world only to have our nation fall in upon itself - which is what I fear will happen.

[amborin]

13. KNR

[Donnachaidh]

14. from the piece --

"To the elites, ordinary Americans are pretty much parasites. It's not the bankers, with their multi-million dollar bailouts who are the problem, it's old people with their Social Security and Medicare. The elites made it. They are rich and powerful. They believe that their success is due entirely to themselves (even if they inherited the money or position). If you didn't, then that means you don't deserve it."


Parasites. That's what WE are to them. :grr:

[NoUsername]

15. Yep. It's not about "D vs. R" and hasn't been for quite some time.

It's about the rich (e.g., the top .01%) vs. everyone else. If you look at the population, the elites are most definitely out-numbered. But when you look at the dollars, well, that's where the elites have us all beat and history has shown that politicians are only too happy to sell us out to the highest bidder. After all, that's the main thing that attracted them to politics. To them, it's about power and money. To the elite, it's all about money. For the average American, it's all about being able to buy cheap plastic trinkets from China and who will win the next 'America Idol.' Aside from that, most of them don't give a rat's ass about politics and would have difficulty naming their Rep. and Senators. At least, that was true until recently.

Thankfully, some of them are starting to wake up. The Wall Street bailouts pissed them off and caused them to sit up and take notice. The government tells them there is no money for domestic programs due to the economic crisis yet the DOD budget continues to grow and the wars march on. In the meantime, Americans are losing jobs left and right and people are losing their jobs, losing their houses, and paying more and more for taxes, fees, and health care coverage, to name just a few. The government is AWOL in providing assistance to the average Joe but can't bend over fast enough when it comes to handing over taxpayer money to their fat-cat buddies on Wall Street. The facade is wearing thin and people are finally starting to wake up and realize they've been lied to all along.

In the end, it's not about D vs R. It's about the top .01% vs all the rest of us. People are finally opening their eyes and starting to realize that the"two-party" system is a actually a one-party system put in place to maintain the status quo. And we have Obama to thank for that.

[Raster]

21. There may be the illusion of two political parties in Washington...

but they feed from the same hand and from the same trough and answer to the same masters. And it is NOT the American public.

[snot]

33. "It's class warfare, [and] my class is winning, but they shouldn't be." --

Warren Buffet, CNN Interview, May 25 2005

[rudy23]

35. This is why I think the Message Discipline team freaked out over the Hamsher/Norquist alliance.

I am turned-off by it, too, but Jane found the magic formula for dealing with Obama's brand of "bipartisanship." So the Message Discipline team is in overdrive now making an example of her. I think she's got the right idea, but doesn't know how to execute it.

[dysfunctional press]

25. there is no way that i will EVER be able to cast another vote for obama.

it just isn't going to happen.

[natrat]

64. tell me about it or the rest of the hyenas

[mochajava666]

26. The evidence seems pretty clear that a single hand

feeds both parties. With Dems in control in 2006, Bush still had little to no accountability.

With the audacity to hope in a cynical world, I supported and campaigned for Obama.

Now I'm cynically told to accept the reality of a fatally flawed health care bill. I understand cynicism, it's a major pillar of my world view. That's why it took audacity in the first place to believe in him.

At 18, I voted for Carter in 1980, and haven't missed an election no matter how small. As of now, I'm not sure if I'm voting this year, since I'm feeling like my vote does nothing but endorse and legitimize a thoroughly corrupt process.

[dysfunctional press]

67. i was 19 in 1980, when i voted for john anderson...

it was pretty much required of all illinois leftists at the time.

[mochajava666]

71. I also voted for John Anderson

in Wisconsin's open primary and then Carter in the general election. I think I still have a John Anderson campaign button somewhere.

[uponit7771]

27. We should have NEVER voted democrat!!!

[leeroysphitz]

32. You should have voted for better democrats.

:eyes:

[Greyhound]

28. K&R

[bvar22]

31. Trying?

Wait until the REALITY of this Health Care "Reform" hits Low Information Middle America.
THEY WILL BLAME The Democrats...
And rightly so.

[Echo In Light]

47. Bingo

[rudy23]

34. Yes, having a gridlocked Congress is the perfect excuse for Democrats to push elitist agendas

They can say they were "forced" to do it, and had no other choice.

Believe me, the Dems don't want to have to put on the kabuki theater required to water down the healthcare bill with no real opposition. They'd rather just say they don't have the votes. Hence this false 60 vote ceiling they had to impose on themselves.

[laughingliberal]

50. Agree 100%. I will go one step further and say I think losing the majority would be just fine with

this White House. How much embarrassment would it have saved them if they had not had 60 Dems in the Senate? They would already have this right wing piece of crap HCR bill passed and be blowing smoke up our butts about how they had to work with the Republicans to get anything passed. Instead, Rahm had to call his Blue Dogs into service to oppose the progressive measures most of us wanted and let them take the heat for it. I'll go another step and say I believe the Rahm message discipline teams are behind the bashing of the liberals in the party and it is a concerted effort to suppress Democratic voter turnout in 2010. I believe a Republican majority in the House and Senate is exactly what they want. They can go on playing footsies with the corporate interests and blame the Republicans if the base doesn't like it.

[tbyg52]

54. Bingo. nt

[leftstreet]

36. K&R

[Faryn Balyncd]

39. K and R. We need a few good Representatives and ONE good Senator to avert CATASTROPHY in November..

The Senate no-public-option rape of the middle class threatens to return RW demagogues to power.

The consensus among elected Democrats is not only wrong, it will destroy the country and the party.

The Senate HC "reform" must be stopped or changed.

[DemReadingDU]

41. I think the economy will be a lot worse by election

More Republicans likely will win seats. However, it's been mostly Republican's agenda that has caused most of our problems, and if elected the Repubs will make worse messes (as they do). And with peoples' short-term memories, they will remember Republicans for making their lives worse.

[pundaint]

83. Don't call what the Democrats vote for the Republican agenda.

It is misleading, and it gives bad Democrats cover they do not deserve. Democrats vote for what they wish to approve based on their political calculations, and Republicans do the same. The fact that they end up doing virtually the same thing, only tells us that the American Electorate doesn't demand enough. It's about time we started demanding enough.

[Maat]

42. Perhaps what is needed ...

is a mass disenrollment from both parties.

Maybe if people re-registered as independents, or went third-party, then both parties would get the message that they need to tend to the American people's needs, even if it is at the expense of the Empire (as in closing bases and ending needless military and intelligence operations around the world).

[pundaint]

85. Yes the American Peoples Party. Talk about a killer APP

[anonymous171]

44. Pretty much. nt

[Divine Discontent]

46. ty for posting this - it needs said... we must push true liberals into power, there are so very few.

[Echo In Light]

48. This explains why the establishment approved "electable" meme is so necessary

Translation: will play ball, and not threaten long standing systems

[Uncle Joe]

51. Kicked and recommended for an outstanding column.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.:thumbsup:

[rateyes]

52. I'm in that 45%. nt

[Kltpzyxm]

55. and even if they are not "wealthy"

while in the Senate, they know that they will get there when their Senate term is done through speaking engagements, consulting, becoming a lobbyist, etc...

[ramapo]

59. Real military spending is 2x 2000 amount?

That is truly mind boggling. And not a little bit sickening.

[THUNDER HANDS]

60. i don't care what election it is, get out and vote EVERY TIME

if you don't, some Republican assclown will.

[howmad1]

66. So explain to me.......

....what the fuck difference it would make. At this point in time, I could not give a flying fuck who controls our government. It don't mean a rat's ass. Unless of course we can get some real progressives to run things, maybe in 2050.

[BlueJac]

65. I agree kpete.......

change is needed not just slogans and false promises of hope!

[Ken Burch]

68. The question is, how do we de-elitify the party?

It's a pressing question.

The last time a serious effort was made to do that, in 1972, the elite wing took the unprecedented step of deliberately cutting their party's own presidential ticket loose.

[ProSense]

70. This is such nonsense

"It's not an accident that the every Senator except Bernie Sanders is wealthy."

Biden wasn't wealthy. Kerry had one of the lowest net worths (less than $300,000) before he married Teresa.

Howard Dean's net worth in 2004 was nearly $4 million.

People who have high-profile jobs have the potential to make lots of money. It's not rocket science.

Focusing on a person's wealth instead of whether or not that person is doing a good jobs is bogus.

[Gman]

72. If anything, this means we don't need the far left to win.

This means nothing significant at all what's the big deal? There were 9% more democrats in the sample than republicans. So therefore 55% of Dems will vote versus approx 66% of Repubs that will vote. Independents will vote Democrat anyway which gives the advantage to Democrats. It's not like Independents will run back to the GOP anytime soon. Even if they do, Democrats only need about 10% of the 27% Independents. So we don't need the far left. Good enough for me.

Much ado about nothing.

[Lorien]

78. "Far Left"? Anyone who is left of center is rightly pissed right now

as are many reality based centrists. We all voted for CHANGE, not a continuation of GOP policies.

"Given a choice between a Republican and a Democrat who acts like one, the people will vote for the Republican every time."

[sabrina 1]

86. You haven't been looking at the polls. Democrats are actually

losing Independents faster than the base, who are still not willing to tell pollsters just how close they are to abandoning the party.

Independents are the most likely to turn to third parties as they have no loyalty to either party.

[RC]

89. The Far Left? Are you aware that the real political center is way over there

on the horizon to your left? This country is so far to the Right that people really think that Bill Clinton and Obama are left wing Liberals and not right of center.
The reality is what we are calling the Far Left is the main stream center in most of the rest of the industrialized world.

[zoff]

73. Class warfare it is.

If you're ever going to vote, pick the guy, preferably the independent, with the least amount of campaign money as it is a better sign that s/he has not been bought off. Hopefully not yet or ever. This way you are picking one from our own class.

[twitomy]

77. Well if I was "King"...

I would have the house turned into a true "peoples house"...Whomever wants to "run" for their district and can pass a civic test drop their
name in a hat. Draw a name. You are now drafted to serve a single three year term; thats it. Half the house "drafted" every three years. No "pension" and other cushy crap. True "service" to your country.

[JDPriestly]

75. Excellent article!

So, what do we do next. We thought we had voted for change, but we are getting same old, same old. What do we do?

[Jackpine Radical]

76. I wouldn't exactly call Russ Feingold rich either.

Net Worth: From $1,003 to $165,999
Rank: 94th in Senate
Assets: 4 totaling $101,003 to $216,000
Liabilities: 1 totaling $50,001 to $100,000

[inna]

79. 94th?? That speaks for itself, and just gave me an additional reason to

respect the guy! I'd vote for him in a split second, even in a primary! :go Russ!:

[WT Fuheck]

82. K&R

[avaistheone1]

84. Great thread.

It's a keeper.

[FrenchieCat]

87. If y'all keep working hard at it starting now,

you might get less than 40% of Democrats showing up.

Won't that make you feel good and vindicated and shit?
Won't that be a special feeling.
It will be priceless, except for those who end up paying the price....
but fuck them.....who gives a shit, when one is sooo right
about whatever. Hey...let's hope the country falls totally apart,
then we can pick up the pieces and build it just like we want....
and if we start fighting amongs ourselves, cause everyone wants something different,
we can tear it down again, and start from scratch.
One day, we'll get it just so. Won't that be so exciting! :sarcasm:

[Odin2005]

88. K&R