If the party takes the approach he recommends, we will be in a much better position in a decade. On other notes, we MUST have outlets to get OUR word out that are not corporate-owned and can genuinely challenge the right wing noise machine. We're also going to have to filibuster all Trump Supreme Court picks for the next four years. Otherwise we WILL be set back more than we already have been.
And, there's one other thing - a major, major thing. The party needs to get rid of the fear of corporate donors, and begin forwarding policies and legislation THAT ACTUALLY HELP THE AMERICAN PEOPLE instead of merely paying lip service to public goods like national health care, Medicare, Social Security and public (not private EVER) prisons. Bernie aside, if the Democratic members of Congress weren't so afraid of being defeated in the next election and began vocally and forcefully touting these policies, OUR PARTY WOULD BECOME A JUGGERNAUT AND WIN BY LANDSLIDES.
Hear that Dem party bigwigs (who might read this, hopefully!)? I"m so very sorry to say it, but in my 58 years, I have seen most rank and file (D) and (R) elected officials become altogether too beholden to corporate donors and this cannot continue in OUR party. We have a few statesmen and stateswomen, but just a few. We need more. We must get rid of the so-called hacks and empty suits and fill those seats with people who actually want to govern in the name, and in the interest, of the American people. New Deal Democrats, that's what I'm talking about.
So...that's my 2 cents. I've been a registered Democrat since I was about 25. I've read lots of things, and seen lots of things, and I know what I know. I'm not trying to cut down the party with these words, but to make it better, more representative of what it COULD BE rather than what it IS. Call me an idealist, if you will, but I would rather be known as a New Deal Democrat. Or perhaps a New Deal Social Democrat. Yes, that's it.
And, please don't tell me these things are 'pie in the sky.' As a well known newspaper columnist once said, "There are about 800 people in Washington, DC that actually call the shots. If they wanted social and economic justice, we would have it...NOW." (yes, that's a paraphrase - I don't remember the exact quotation). But the fellow was right. We could have a government that makes this country a much, much better place to live in - for EVERYONE, not just the rich. We could have a foreign policy that doesn't make horrible mistakes leading to tragedies like the current world refugee crisis. Yes, I'm speaking of the American overthrow of Qaddafi that released all controls on human trafficking up from Africa. Now, we have capitalist criminals making massive profits on the refugees, soaking them of all their wealth every step of the way.
You know, if we wanted to make this earth into a desert, we've been going in that direction for some time.
Not to mention global warming which is the elephant in the room because it affects all of us.
Social Security, Medicare.
We have 'boots on the ground' in 147 different countries right now, did you know?
We spend 52 cents out of every $1 collected in tax revenue for 'defense' and this takes away money for our children. God dammit, don't just pay lip service to that. Get it fixed.
Well, it has become a rant, but then I am every bit as frustrated with what has happened as you all are. Somehow, though, we are going to have to move the party to the so-called left (the direction that most benefits the average American) in order to start winning elections. Because why in the hell should people vote for the establishment candidates of either party? Tell me that. Because that hasn't done us much good for some time now.
I mean, I have less real purchasing power NOW than I did back in the 90s when I was MUCH younger. That's because 'our' government has allowed the military industrial complex and other corporate interests to rape our treasury.
Tell me...do you think we will be able to climb out of this hole into which we've dug ourselves? Or will we be buried?
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