Democrat's Da Vinci Code - Time to re- read this

[OKNancy]

Here is an older article that needs to be pulled up again, especially in this time of Democratic in-fighting.

The author sets forth goals for the Democratic party and advises on how to win again.


Hightlighted points

Fight the Class War
Champion Small Business Over Big Business
Protect Tom Joad
Turn the Hunters and the Exurbs Green
Become a Teddy Roosevelt Clone
Clean Up Government
Use the Values Prism

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http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1207-25.htm

The Democrat's Da Vinci Code
How the path to nirvana is painted right on the 2004 electoral map

by David Sirota

As the Democratic Party goes through its quadrennial self-flagellation process, the same tired old consultants and insiders are once again complaining that Democratic elected officials have no national agenda and no message.

Yet encrypted within the 2004 election map is a clear national economic platform to build a lasting majority. You don’t need Fibonacci’s sequence, a decoder ring, or 3-D glasses to see it. You just need to start asking the right questions.

Where, for instance, does a Democrat get off using a progressive message to become governor of Montana? How does an economic populist Democrat keep winning a congressional seat in what is arguably America’s most Republican district? Why do culturally conservative rural Wisconsin voters keep sending a Vietnam-era anti-war Democrat back to Congress? What does a self-described socialist do to win support from conservative working-class voters in northern New England?

The answers to these and other questions are the Democrats' very own Da Vinci Code—a road map to political divinity. It is the path Karl Rove fears. He knows his GOP is vulnerable to Democrats who finally follow leaders who have translated a populist economic agenda into powerful cultural and values messages. It also threatens groups like the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), which has pushed the Democratic Party to give up on its working-class roots and embrace big business' agenda. These New Democrats, backed by huge corporate contributions, say that the party must reduce corporate regulation and embrace a free-trade policy that is wiping out local economies throughout the heartland. They have the nerve to call this agenda “centrist” even though poll after poll shows it is far out of the mainstream. Yet these centrists get slaughtered at the ballot box, and their counterparts—the progressive economic populists—are racking up wins and relegating the DLC argument to the scrap heap.

[kliljedahl]

1. Hadn't seen it before

There's so damn much out there. Copied & saved, thanks.

Keith’s Barbeque Central

[kayleybeth]

2. Great article

Thanks for posting this, Nancy. I'd not seen it before.

[jean]

3. thanks Nancy - Sirota hits it right on the mark

[ReadTomPaine]

4. Right on the mark. Excellent read.