Don’t Vent, Organize—And “Primary” a Democrat Near You

[xchrom]

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/05/01

***SNIP


Progressive activists and organizations could launch similar primary challenges, but -- to the delight of the Democratic Party establishment -- they rarely do. Why not?

Here are some key reasons:

* Undue deference to elected Democrats.

Members of Congress and other elected officials deserve only the respect they earn. All too often, for example, plenty of Congressional Progressive Caucus members represent the interests of the establishment to progressives rather than the other way around.

* Treating election campaigns more like impulse items than work that requires long-term planning and grassroots follow-through.

The same progressives who’ve spent years planning, launching and sustaining a wide range of community projects are apt to jump into election campaigns with scant lead time. Progressives need to build electoral capacity for the long haul, implementing well-planned strategic campaigns with candidates who come out of social movements and have a plausible chance to win on behalf of those movements.

[marmar]

1. k/r

D'accord. Clean out the corporate detritus.

[Coyotl]

2. Yeah, and help the GOP take back Congress. Just what we need, follow Tea Party example

Maybe we can get that asshat Nader to run for President again too!

[sabrina 1]

3. Absolutely, I think people are organizing for this already. There was a huge coalition formed

before the last election as a reaction to the 'choices' we get. They collected a lot of money to launch the coalition, made up of Unions, Liberal Orgs etc, who normally end up just getting behind whoever the party nominates. People are realizing they can't just do that anymore.

[Buzz Clik]

4. +1