I am a Liberal First and Then a Democrat After That.

David Zephyr

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Thu Jan-21-10 01:43 PM
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I am a Liberal First and Then a Democrat After That.

As a young, naive idealist in the 1960's. I quickly learned about the struggle within the Democratic Party between its progressive base and those that controlled it. Naive no more, I quickly learned that this struggle had long preceded me by decades and decades. And here we are in 2010 and it seems little has changed in that regard. And that's OK as long as we are aware of it and continue to deal with it.

It's as simple as the people versus corrosive big money, street activists versus cozy career politicians, and yes, passionate radicals versus an entrenched establishment within the Democratic Party.

It's an important struggle because the uber-rich and leisure class in America, the transnational corporations, the energy cartels already have a private and powerful national political party in America. They proudly own the Republican Party and are not ashamed to say so. They have their purchased and loyal "lawmakers" in Congress and their well-greased political machine fueled with unlimited cash from a very tiny slice of the population. And their purpose? To make sure that the people who own the country control the country.

That leaves the Democratic Party, which in this screwed up two party system that America is saddled with, is really the only viable hope to be the agent of change, the voice of the people. And that is why this battle for who controls our Party is as important as any fighting we may do with Republicans. That's why I believe that the Primary Process is more important now than ever before, even more important than the General Elections. For if our nominees to Congress, Senate and the Presidency are only Democrats in Name Only, then what, pray tell, do we "win" should they defeat their Republican counterparts.

And, it is in that pivotal American Primary Process where we proud Leftists, so disenfranchised within the Party currently, can make our numbers and voices really count. It's where we can choose who will represent us in those November elections every two years. It's where our numbers really count, it's where our activism trumps money.

It is in the Primary Process where we can rebuke those and take out of office those who have betrayed us and replace them with either a woman or a man who will stand up for children, for the poor, for the jobless, for the sick, for the homeless, for the environmentally sabotaged, for our American wage slaves, for women and women's reproductive rights, for racial equality, for the ending of American military imperialism abroad, for ending the economic military draft that "recruits" jobless poor kids into war-making, for the redistribution of the national budget from war to taking care of our own people, for universal and free health-care, for free university education, for the millions of undocumented workers who are living in the shadows in our nation in fear and in exploitation, for the full citizenry for gay and lesbian American women, girls, men and boys, for reforming the tax code and yes, redistributing the concentrated wealth in our country, and for liberating the millions of non-violent citizens from the prison cartel who languish there for petty drug use and petty crimes.

That's what I want the Democratic Party, not to stand for or to write into their "platform", but to fight for, and by God, to deliver when we elect them to power!

If we elect them, we should expect them to follow through. And betrayal should be rewarded by removing them in the Primary process.

I am a Progressive and a Liberal long, long before I am a Democrat. I always will be.

I am a Liberal First and Then a Democrat After That.

"I'm mad as Hell and I'm not going to take it anymore."