What are the best ideas about how we move the Democratic Party back to a firmly

[Atticus]

left of center organization?

Could we consider something BESIDES "throw out all the corporate tools"? That's not much better than "start over with a clean sheet of paper".

Seriously.

[Arctic Dave]

1. Does it matter what you call it. The fix is the same. nt

[Happy Hippy]

12. ..............

This is what we have to work together to change. One mind at a time.

[Sebastian Doyle]

2. throwing out the corporate tools is exactly what's necessary

Take those useless DINO's down in the primary.

Do not give a dime to the DNC/DSCC/DCCC which are all DLC client agencies. DO give money to local candidates if they are worthy, and to organizations like DFA and PDA which you know will support actual Democrats.

Contradict the lies of the whore media by any means possible, and speak the truth to whomever you can.

[optimator]

3. bribe them

thats what our government is about.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

6. LOL. Too true.

:thumbsup:

[lob1]

4. Public financed elections. Take out the corporate money spewing billions to

finance propaganda, and I believe most people might be surprised how left the country actually is.

[begin_within]

5. Publicly financed elections.

[branders seine]

7. All politics is local...

until it's not.


the former seems like a place to start, but at some point up the food chain, the latter takes over.

I think until we remove money from politics (which won't happen), we are doomed to having two parties that represent the wealthy and corporations and no party that represents human beings.

[Happy Hippy]

8. Here are a few...

Liberal Democrats need to become more inviting to everyday Americans. I think our side has a lot to offer the working men and women of this great nation. We need to control the dialogue, which I believe we are capable of doing. But we don't need to waste time bashing the right or infighting amongst ourselves.

There will be a great amount of internal debate within the Democratic Party over the coming months, but we need to do everything we can to keep it civil. There is a strong populist sentiment brewing within this nation, and it would be foolish of us to allow the Right to capitalize on it with crocodile tears.

Here's a brief laundry list of things WE can do:

*Always kindly respond to the Right with facts (the facts support us 99% of the time). Kill 'em with kindness.

*Realize most of us on the left are working for the same goal - prosperity and equality for the middle class and other underrepresented groups. Learn to work together.

*Don't bash the American military men and women who bravely serve our country. I've seen this happen at other online forums and IRL with younger liberals. It is a big mistake, and simply gives piercing ammo to the Right.

*Keep the crazies in the social dungeon (MIHOP/LIHOP/Alex Jones/etc), these people are our own version of the Tea Party. Their reputation kills us at the polls.

*Admit to our political failures - honesty and transparency are what voters want.

*Don't bash America. She has her short comings as every country does, but it seems that some , typically younger liberals, take every opportunity to whack our beautiful nation over the head with insults. Don't do it. If you're not out there spreading the progressive word, then your part of the problem. Remember it's easy to complain and insult. This won't help us with regular Janes and Joes who love their country.

*Support left of center democrats (duh) - with your time and money

*Patience, and logic - This combination applied to all things we do will pay hefty dividends in future

*Don't be afraid to point out the Right's historical failures - just don't yell.

*Don't neglect state and local politics

*Believe in what you're doing - simply by sharing our feelings with our friends, family members, and neighbors we have the ability to shape our nations political and economic future. Remember why you are a Democrat. Remind yourself every day.

*Don't go bat silly trying to accomplish the impossible, realize where we are at politically as a nation and work to move ourselves incrementally to the left.

Goodluck and best wishes to all of my fellow Democrats.

-Happy Hippy

[kctim]

20. Alex Jones?

He was the Tea Party type before it was "cool." Hardly a leftist crazy.

[zipplewrath]

9. Take primaries seriously

Vote for the progressives. Give them money, early. Don't go "lazy" and give to the DSCC or other types of bundling organizations. Don't vote for candidates because you "think they have a better chance of winning the general election". The candidate that ultimately wins the primary notices how many votes their competition gets. Even when a progressive candidate doesn't win in a primary, the winners do notice which of their issues were "winners".

[Happy Hippy]

11. :-)

BINGO

[upi402]

10. CASH! to primary challegers

that are really Democrats.

[damyank913]

13. Make available the following organ transplants to all candidates and incumbants...

stuff like spinal cords, brains, guts, heart and, most important, cojones grande (brass ones preferably)

[kentuck]

14. Whatever the Repubs suggest...

do the opposite. Do not agree with them on anything. Make a distinction between the Parties.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

15. Make them earn our votes. Quit buying the "not as bad" sell-out.

[Individualist]

18. +1

[Cleita]

16. I've been thinking that we need a new government altogether. I still

believe in our Constitution. I don't want to overthrow the present government and start over again. That seldom works. I watched revolutions play out over and over again in South America throughout my lifetime and the same old crowd seem to be able to get back into power time and time again. But those people who are in Washington today have no respect for our Constitution and I believe the worst of them are treasonous. We aren't going to change the system until we change the power brokers. We used to do that through elections, but the corruption in our election process has made this almost impossible. We are going to have to vote with our wallets, first by identifying and running liberal candidates. Then we are going to have to send them all the support we can directly to their campaigns. It's the only way we will get a majority who actually can go in and change the campaign finance laws and pass laws that make elections tamper proof. Also, we should seriously look at identifying treasonous officials and getting the court system to put them on trial.

[Marr]

17. There is no quick fix, and "throw out the corporate tools" is the essential step.

The only way to move the party leftward is to let corporate shills fail-- every one of them, and get involved on a local level. Don't pay any mind to the Congressional scorecard. It's meaningless. Just a tally of characters in a phony WWF match.

[leftstreet]

19. Make them follow us

Organize.

Labor, healthcare, human rights.

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

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

[JHB]

22. "Sunday School" on liberalism

Simply educating people (starting with ourselves and our kids) as to just what being "liberal", "progressive", or "left of center" means these days (and what it doesn't mean), and why we advocate for the policies that we do. And about its history and connection to the successes of this country.

It seems to me that too many people pick up their liberalism "by osmosis" from (or in reaction to) family and friends or (in some times and places) because it's fashionable. That rootlessness and lack of grounding leaves people vulnerable to blaming liberalism for things that aren't particularly part of it, undergoing "a conservative is a liberal who's been mugged"-type conversions, or even "logical" arguments from conservatives that they've never heard a counter to.