Can anyone get a Dem to discuss the future? Where are the visionaries?

[Dover]

And where do they stand on privatization and globalization? Where are they intending to take this country? Do they also plan on dismantling the present form of government, as the neocons have?

So many questions, so few answers.

[Canuckistanian]

1. I'll never understand your system

In between elections, the losing party has no central figure, no leader. Just many "future candidates".
And the primaries are too close to the election for a leader to formulate policy, decide strategy, etc...

Yes, I know, there's Howard Dean and the DNC, but you can't call him a true leader because no one is answerable to him and he doesn't actually formulate official policy.

Here in Canada, there is ALWAYS ONE leader of a party, usually chosen in a convention in an off-election year. So, when the press goes looking for say, the official Conservative opinion on some issue, they know where to go to ask questions. Even when the Conservatives are not in power.

In America, when the country wants to know the Democratic position on Iraq, who do they go to? Dean will say one thing, Kucinich another and Boxer yet another opinion.

It's really like herding cats, but it's built into a system with no clear discernable leader.

[BadgerKid]

6. Well, the House/Senate majority leader

might be viewed as having this position. Obviously it doesn't apply when one party controls legislative and executive branches.

[lastknowngood]

2. there is no future unless we win. We will relegated to heap of history

as a noble experiment that went terrible wrong.

[Dover]

7. That tells me that you assume there are major, fundamental differences

and yet I haven't seen any significant policy papers or heard any views that suggests what these differences are. This 'election' is more about what the Dems are NOT (apparently) rather than what they ARE. But again, this goes with many assumptions which have yet to be revealed in either policy or actions (even before Bushco's reign).

For instance, did the Dems that signed on for the Iraq invasion do so because their views on foreign policy are not radically different than the GOP? And where do they stand on privatization?
These are not small things....and the assumptions seem to be that the Dems are somehow saviors who will clean up Washington. Based on what track record?

Maybe we should be making out a list of what our expectations are vs. what we get from Dems.

[Totally Committed]

3. I often ask that, myself....

but, in my quieter moments, I realize it's sort of like trying to decide what to wear next Saturday while your house is on fire. If we don't put out the fire, no one will have to worry what to wear next Saturday. Trust me. It'll all be over but the declaration of Marshall Law.

So, let's win this one first, and then see if any visionaries come out to be seen.

TC

[Doremus]

4. They're taking it one day at a time.

Day One: Put new rules in place to "break the link between lobbyists and legislation."

Day Two: Enact all the recommendations made by the commission that investigated the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Time remaining until 100 hours: Raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, maybe in one step. Cut the interest rate on student loans in half. Allow the government to negotiate directly with the pharmaceutical companies for lower drug prices for Medicare patients.

Broaden the types of stem cell research allowed with federal funds _ "I hope with a veto-proof majority," she added in an Associated Press interview Thursday.

All the days after that: "Pay as you go," meaning no increasing the deficit, whether the issue is middle class tax relief, health care or some other priority. (more at link)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/06/AR2006100600056.html


So much to do, so little time.

[lumberjack_jeff]

5. I have a dream...

Of a country in which torture is illegal.
In which being poor and sick is not a death sentence.
In which, when thrown in jail, people have an opportunity to ask "why"?
Where the elected officials can't say "I don't use email because I wouldn't want it to be a part of some disclosure request" and have it pass unmentioned.
Where "unreasonable search and siezure" and "backed by the full faith and credit of the United States of America" are meaningful phrases.

[THUNDER HANDS]

8. the future sucks

we'll be at war, in debt and our jobs will be overseas. Hope is hype. I don't blame anyone for not promising a better future. The GOP destroyed it.

[Dover]

10. Much of this was in motion before Bushco's reign.

They only accelerated it. That's why I'd like to see a vision of the future as laid out by the Dems. We should look back on legislation passed during Clinton's watch (especially since he still seems to wield so much power for the Party's direction), and see if a pattern emerges. Currently, if there is a roadmap, they aren't sharing it.

I think they have similar aspirations for our future as the GOP/PNAC, but simply differed in the methods. If that's the case, then I don't expect a huge reversal on many of the questionable and basic changes made by the GOP, such as the Patriot Act or foreign policy. We'll still be in Iraq years from now (some reason will develop to keep us there even if the troops are given a short hiatus). And the deregulation of corporations will likely remain as well.

Doesn't it strike anyone as odd that the Rove machine has been all but shutdown for this election?
Why so quiet? Why has the media suddenly shifted? I feel quite certain that corporate America DOES have future plan, and it's being implemented by whatever party is in office.

[Mr_Spock]

9. I don't really care at this point

Until we get the House and Senate and Presidency back, it makes no fucking difference.

I trust Dems to do the right thing.

[CarolNYC]

11. Wes Clark's 100 Year Vision

I don't think this will answer all of your questions, but Wes Clark's "100 year Vision" is here: http://securingamerica.com/vision

A short excerpt:

"Looking ahead 100 years, the United States will be defined by our environment, both our physical environment and our legal, Constitutional environment. America needs to remain the most desirable country in the world, attracting talent and investment with the best physical and institutional environment in the world. But achieving our goals in these areas means we need to begin now. Environmentally, it means that we must do more to protect our natural resources, enabling us to extend their economic value indefinitely through wise natural resource extraction policies that protect the beauty and diversity of our American ecosystems -- our seacoasts, mountains, wetlands, rain forests, alpine meadows, original timberlands and open prairies. We must balance carefully the short-term needs for commercial exploitation with longer-term respect for the natural gifts our country has received. We may also have to assist market-driven adjustments in urban and rural populations, as we did in the 19th Century with the Homestead Act.

Institutionally, our Constitution remains the wellspring of American freedom and prosperity. We must retain a pluralistic democracy, with institutional checks and balances that reflect the will of the majority while safeguarding the rights of the minority. We must seek to maximize the opportunities for private gain, consistent with concern for the public good. And we must institute a culture of transparency and accountability, in which we set the world standard for good government. As new areas of concern arise -- in the areas of intellectual property, bioethics, and other civil areas -- we will assure continued access to the courts, as well as to the other branches of government, and a vibrant competitive media that informs our people and enables their effective participation in civic life. And even more importantly, we will assure in meeting the near term challenges of the day -- whether they be terrorism or something else -- that, we don't compromise the freedoms and rights which are the very essence of the America we are protecting."

[seabeyond]

12. our elected dems have made statements and have addressed

all this stuff. it is out there. i have heard them