There's a Message (If Anyone is Listening)
Via Crooks and Liars, I am reminded of this 2005 article by David Sirota. I have never understood why the Democratic party shrinks back whenever the GOP and their media operatives charge them with Populism. What's wrong with Populism? And along the same line, what's wrong with fighting the class war?
The most common complaint I hear about the Democratic Party is that "they don't stand for anything." This criticism inevitably comes from people who like to think they're above partisan politics, the so-called "Independents". Somehow the Independents fail to recognize that a party's "message" doesn't just magically evolve. Not only does it require a quality platform, it also requires party unity, loyalty, and discipline to stay consistent with the message. The Republicans mastered this concept brilliantly in 1994 and have managed to hold together pretty well even through their recent immigration infighting. Democrats? Not so much. Ironically, if the "Independents" were really that interested in political purity you'd think they'd embrace the Democrats, who seem to be all over the place on any given day. I blame the ancient, current leadership of the Dems for this... they are weak and ineffective and it's time for them to go. Somehow they decided to become Republican-lite on most every issue with the lone, lonely point of differentiation being abortion -- the most legislatively impotent issue of all since the Supreme's decision on Roe v. Wade. When they turned their back on labor, there was really no place to go but right.
I say, if the old wing of the Democratic Party want to behave like Republicans, let them go be Republicans. It does not break my heart to think of Lieberman making a shift to the GOP, for example. I have no personal animosity toward Lieberman but his position on almost every economic issue from the Bankruptcy Bill to Social Security to the Enron investigation have placed him squarely in Republican territory. I want something else from the Democrats.
The constant media pounding of GOP talking points about the liberal netroots being a bad thing for this country is absolutely ridiculous. We are not a bunch of wild-eyed radicals, and quite frankly it's about time that the Democratic party embraced its inner populist and reshaped itself from the ground up. After years of ideological stagnation it's about the only way I can see it ever changing. Grassroots Democrats have been working for several years now to build a platform that means something again... the only ones not getting the message are its current leadership.
The most common complaint I hear about the Democratic Party is that "they don't stand for anything." This criticism inevitably comes from people who like to think they're above partisan politics, the so-called "Independents". Somehow the Independents fail to recognize that a party's "message" doesn't just magically evolve. Not only does it require a quality platform, it also requires party unity, loyalty, and discipline to stay consistent with the message. The Republicans mastered this concept brilliantly in 1994 and have managed to hold together pretty well even through their recent immigration infighting. Democrats? Not so much. Ironically, if the "Independents" were really that interested in political purity you'd think they'd embrace the Democrats, who seem to be all over the place on any given day. I blame the ancient, current leadership of the Dems for this... they are weak and ineffective and it's time for them to go. Somehow they decided to become Republican-lite on most every issue with the lone, lonely point of differentiation being abortion -- the most legislatively impotent issue of all since the Supreme's decision on Roe v. Wade. When they turned their back on labor, there was really no place to go but right.
I say, if the old wing of the Democratic Party want to behave like Republicans, let them go be Republicans. It does not break my heart to think of Lieberman making a shift to the GOP, for example. I have no personal animosity toward Lieberman but his position on almost every economic issue from the Bankruptcy Bill to Social Security to the Enron investigation have placed him squarely in Republican territory. I want something else from the Democrats.
The constant media pounding of GOP talking points about the liberal netroots being a bad thing for this country is absolutely ridiculous. We are not a bunch of wild-eyed radicals, and quite frankly it's about time that the Democratic party embraced its inner populist and reshaped itself from the ground up. After years of ideological stagnation it's about the only way I can see it ever changing. Grassroots Democrats have been working for several years now to build a platform that means something again... the only ones not getting the message are its current leadership.
posted by Logic101 at 9/25/2006 10:10:00 AM
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