What happened to our Party?

[SHRED]

The party that fought for, established, and protected Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc?
The party that didn't just pay lip service to these defenses when the cameras were rolling?
The party that understood that when you we put more money in the hands of the middle and lower classes of our society then more money exchange happens and our economy rebounds.
The party that understood that if the private sector won't create jobs then massive public works improvements are in order.
The party that understood that austerity during a recession/depression removes and slows monetary flow in our society thus exacerbating our troubles.
The party that use to scoff at supply-side "trickle-down" economics.
The party that understood what unfair trade and tariffs looked like and what a job killer they are.
The party that didn't view "protectionism" as a dirty word.


Where did the Democratic Party go?

:shrug:

[rfranklin]

1. They're all attending a corporate fund raiser with the K Street lobbyists...

They have sold their souls for a few shekels.

[LiberalEsto]

2. We're still here

but the corporatocracy, in the form of the DLC, pretty much took over the party leadership over the past couple of decades.

[Octafish]

3. Our party's new leaders followed the money...

...instead of remembering who they are.

[HereSince1628]

6. And we are caught in a votex of cognitive dissonance that has lasted over 25 years

We don't have an alternative, but we can't push for an alternative, because an alternative couldn't win, so we must vote to support a non-alternative that looks a lot like what is supposed to be the alternative that we are told to reject in order to be who we are supposed to be.

[nenagh]

11. Really like your phrase..'Vortex of Cognitive Dissonance'..

And most of the sheeple would tell you that they are rugged individualists.

[Chan790]

30. You know who else is a rugged individualist?

This guy:



(Seriously, can we make this a rebuttal meme every time someone wants to talk about "rugged individualism"?)

[awoke_in_2003]

33. difficult sentence to read...

but spot on

[woo me with science]

16. This "deal" is a moral crime.

It is a theft, a rape of the most vulnerable among us, and a betrayal.

It did not have to happen this way, and the resulting pain will be immeasurable.

We are "human resources" to Wall Street and the politicians they bought, nothing more.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

4. We wuz had.

Media buyouts turned the media into a corporate tool. They coddle and protect tea baggers and conservatives.
And the biggest con job? Selling Obama as a liberal inspiration, based on hope and audacity.

[no_hypocrisy]

5. Seems like the System is gamed.

Republicans as a minority frustrated the legislative will of the democratic majority (filibuster).

Democrats as a minority can't even compromise one or two positions into legislation.

[awoke_in_2003]

34. and when dems had a majority...

they couldn't get anything done because they didn't have a super-majority. The party is impotent.

[Le Taz Hot]

7. It was sacrificed on the alter of fundraising.

By the 1990's, the Republicans were out-fundraising the Democrats by a 3:1 ratio. To compensate, there were certain factions within the Democrat Party who advocated making nice with corporations and less nice with social concerns. This became "The Third Way" represented by the "New Democrats." Clinton represented this faction and was elected in 1992. Enter "triangulation" and stealing the Republicans' thunder by endorsing Republican legislation (NAFTA, Welfare Reform, and a whole lot more) and the fundraising coffers were even. The only way to keep the coffers even is to continue felating Big Business. All we are is a a minor inconvenience every two years and they have the game rigged to ensure that Corporate Whore (D/R) is elected.

[JHB]

31. And the factors that raised that altar...

..things that had begun in the 50s and 60s, but had built up to major factors by the 70s:

Demographic shifts to the suburbs. Postwar population shifts to the suburbs (including the outright "white flight" factor) and away from cities (many with Democratic-controlled political machines) likewise shifted representation from Democratic leaning- (or controlled-)urban districts to Republican leaning- (or controlled-)suburban ones. Also, the loss of tax base put many cities in financial trouble, which strengthened drives to clean up the corruption of political machines. (not to imply there wasn't a lot that needed cleaning up, but it undercut one of the methods that had worked in the past for getting funds to candidates and getting out the vote, at a time when their political clout was being reduced relative to Republican-leaning areas)

Television advertising. Politics has always been a money-game, but the shift to TV ads as the primary way of "getting the message out" put rocket-boosters on it, as well as concentrating power in the hands of those who controlled it. TV ads rose to the fore partly due to televisions becoming pretty much a standard household item by 1970, combined with the larger area needed to cover due to demographic shifts. TV ads were expensive, so more funds needed to be raised to support them and little of that cost could be defrayed by other means (e.g., getting volunteers to hang signs and "paying" them with a party in a Democratic Club or union meeting hall. Same job done, but cheaper than paying people to hang the signs, and acts a a recruiting tool to boot). Then there's the gatekeeper factor. In the past, the party might have had a "friendly relationship" with some printers and newspapers who could rely on party advertising money. But the number of newspapers were dropping (thanks to TV), and printers were going out of business due to new technologies (photocopies, early word processors, eventually home computers), so there was another old mechanism cracked and replaced with something else. That shifted a lot of campaign power to the political consultants who made the ads and bought the TV time for them. And when these consultants were paid on a percentage of their Tv ad sales rather than something based on the candidate actually winning, it naturally goosed pressure to concentrate on TV ads and to buy as many as possible. Thus more funds were needed, thus more fundraising.

[Skidmore]

8. WE don't stick together... period. WE boycott elections. WE

kneecap one another and bicker between elections. WE chose not to find common cause even amongst ourselves. And WE forget that WE choose those people holding office in local, state, and national elections. When they don't perform accordingly WE keep them anyway. WE are the Party.

[October]

27. You're right. WE are the party.

If nothing else, look to those filthy teabaggers. THEY control their party now... why can't we do the same?

[TheKentuckian]

36. Our common cause is an illusion and we only chose among the selected alternatives

I won't argue we keep failures but that is directly tied to the illusion of common cause which is apparently opposition to the other party which in too many circles has nothing to do with actual policy so we keep turds deemed electable and viable.

[cantbeserious]

9. Greed Outstripped Morality And Principle - Witness The DLC And Their Candidate: Obama

eom

[woo me with science]

17. +1

[1776Forever]

10. There are still good Dems that need our vote and support! Example: Sen. Sherrod Brown, OH!

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, R.I.
Senator Charles E. Schumer, N.Y.
GA Rep. John Lewis
SC Rep. James Clyburn
MI Rep. John Conyers, Jr

And more! We most not stop voting! That is what happen in 2010 and everyone can see what happen then!

:hurts:

[Greywing]

23. :applause: :applause:

[MadHound]

12. It became a bought and paid for extension of Corporate America.

Thus, we now have a two party/same corporate master system of government.

[NorthCarolina]

13. The DLC, and now the New Dems. nt

[NC_Nurse]

24. exactly. destroyed from within.

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

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

[chill_wind]

15. They became millionaires that went to work for billionaires.

Sixty-six percent of senators are millionaires, as are 41 percent of House members, but they aren't billionaires. They just work for them.

http://davidswanson.org/content/balance-budget-backs-billionaires

[Middle finga]

18. I know propaganda plays a big role but,

but citizens can take the party and the country back if they stayed engaged and voted. It should be a duty, most politicians are only concerned about winning those "likely" voters which is about 40 or 50 percent of the country. Conservative voters are more engaged and more likely to vote than constituents that the traditional democratic party represented. If 70 to 80 percent of the voting population voted in every election and voted their interest, the GOP would be a permanent minority party.

[raouldukelives]

19. The right became so nuts it forced the moderate cons

to defect to the Dems. They've been hard at work shaping us in their image since.

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

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

[OHdem10]

21. I am not saying any of this to create dissension or to flame bail.

Rather to better understand our Party. When DLC
was formed and ACCEPTED, this automatically Democrats
had made a shift to the more Conservative Democratic
Position. I think Reality bears this out. Bill Clinton
will honestly tell you, he has done it on C-Span.
I am a Conservative Democrat. Now let me come to his
defense. He is a Conservative with a heart.

The DLC was formed to move the party from a Liberal Party
to a Democratic Pro-Business Party. There was a feeling
among the Parties ruling class that our party should challengg
the Republican Party for Upscale Voters and Business Votes.
(Business campaign contributions?? sarcastic). When you shift
from a working class party to a party challenging the Republicans
at every step you change the very nature of the Democratic Party. The Republicans is and has always been the Party of the Rich and Big Business.
I am certain most of you noticed that FROM Late 80s we do not
see real Liberals on Television. You would think Now, Naral
Unions and other more Liberal Groups had gone out of existence.
The Message was loud and Clear. Conservatives Rule

The Party is a Moderate Republican Party relying on
Liberal Activists for support because they have no where
else to go.

I offer this in good faith. We must understand where we are
and what we are dealing with.

Many people supported Obama for President because they thought
he was not the same as Clinton. Obama did not try to dissuade
anyone of that notion. Some can never understand that someone
can like President Clinton and admire his political skills
but in the same breath say he has contributed to the Conservative
Dominance in this country.

Here is the Major Problem with DLC, THIRD WAY CENTRIST Democrats.
INSTEAD OF HOLDING THE CENTER and keeping Policies really
Centrist. (Middle between GOP and Democrat), they moved over
AND PLAY ON THE REPUBLICAN TURF. This sets it up for a Republican
Win every time. This has gone on so long that Obama is
in CENTER RIGHT of the REPUBLICAN PARTY trying to hold
against Far Right policies. The Republicans are secretly
laughing all the way to the elections.

[Edweird]

22. Must be the "checkmate" somebody was talking about recently.

[dameocrat67]

25. The sunpac decision

everything has been downhill from that time. http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Political_Reform/Follow_Money_DAV.html

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[lunatica]

28. The billionaires and corporations bought the media, the Supreme Court,

the Chamber of Commerce, the voting machines and the teabaggers and stole everything else.

[Chan790]

29. Collective schizophrenic amnesia or we stopped fighting for our soul?

Have you ever looked at the origins and classical definitions of "Liberal" and "Progressive"? They in no way reflect us or what we're about...we really need an identity that doesn't tie back to Cold War and pre-Cold-War connotations that we're beyond ambivalent about. Something forward-looking and reflective of our current mindset and objectives. It would help immensely.

Some questions I don't think we really have answers for that we need to answer for ourselves (and shouldn't be answered for us by the current office-holders or leadership) before we can answer "What happened to our party?"

What are the unimpeachable collectively-held characteristics of a modern Democrat?

What can't you believe and still be allowed in the tent?

What does our core coalesce around?

Who are we anymore? Who aren't we is just as important.

(Conservatism has the answers to these questions at-hand for them, but it took them decades of being marginalized to formulate and to purge the baggage of the history of their label...and I'd rather skip the 40 years in the desert. 20 interrupted years of Reagan/Bush governance was plenty thanks.)

[Jack Sprat]

32. Gone to graveyards; everyone. nt

[LWolf]

35. Democratic voters

repeatedly supported and elected neoliberals.

[moondust]

37. Big money.

As long as U.S. politics is all about BIG MONEY the trend over time will be for politicians to adapt/sell out if only to be able to compete financially with their sold-out opponents.

[nadinbrzezinski]

38. It changed, they all do

[swilton]

39. K&R

[WillyT]

40. Clinton... Then Obama...

:shrug:

Third way, my ass!!!

:puke:

:kick:

[Kablooie]

41. It's my party and I'll cry if I want to, cry if I want to, cry if I want to,

you would cry too if it happened to you.

Dooba dooba dooba dooba doo