How do we rebuild the Democratic Party?

[JDPriestly]

Here is what I believe.

I've stood on street corners and handed out information for organizations like the ACLU and the Democratic Party. Find someone with a really friendly smile who is a dedicated Democrat, and you will reach many voters. Little old ladies like me are really good at this because we are obviously not a threat.

It's hard work but it is rewarding when your candidate wins or you gain friends for a worthy cause.

Unfortunately, I'm involved in family issues right now and cannot do it.

I really believe that we need to have a loving, kind society that upholds our families, that embraces our children and grandchildren, that is not too busy or too greedy or too needing all kinds of superfluous things to take a moment to listen to someone who has a story to tell or something to say from their heart.

If you want the kind of society that I want -- and it isn't so much about money as about respecting each person for who they are -- then you are a real Democrat and you have a lot to learn from and to teach and to share and to gain from other people who want what you want.

I do sincerely believe that most Americans want to live in a supportive, kind, helpful society. I do believe tha most Americans are loving and creative. I do believe that most Americans deserve a better life than they now have.

And we can build the big tent and the society we want, but we cannot do it if we are driven by people who think that huge salaries make them more worthwhile than the man or woman who cleans their offices at night.

So that's my blueprint for Democrats winning future elections. It's pretty touchy-feely and very big and broad. It isn't a matter of capitalism v. socialism or Christianity v. some other religion or red states v. blue states. It is a matter of valuing the gifts that each of us has. It's a matter of being able to smile at a person, look into their eyes and learn what there is in that person that is loving, that aspires to be better, to share more, to help more, to be more in society than that person thinks he is.

As Democrats we have moved a long way from my view of what we should be.

I think I read everything that I could get my hands on that was written or spoken by Eleanor Roosevelt. I suppose she was my super-hero when I was young. We need to return to her concept of the Democratic Party. And the first step is to validate the union movement which, when healthy, brings all the people that I have described above up and encourages them to want to do something to improve their lives. If they believe that voting Democratic will improve their lives, they will go to the polls. If we who are active Democrats do not persuade them that they will be part of something bigger than themselves, that they will be able to share their ideas and aspirations when they vote for Democrats, then we have failed.

And when I say that I am talking to the Blue Dog, Third Way, corporate Democrats. If you don't respect and love and want to help those who clean your floors and serve your food in restaurants and babysit your kids and cross the border for a better life, then get out of our party. You are not Democrats.

[Sherman A1]

1. I agree with You

I believe that in order to win future elections, we must have candidates that believe in and run on a progressive platform. The Democratic Party must be the party of the people and not simply GOP-Lite.

[JDPriestly]

2. It sounds goofy, but it is a question of the heart and of the soul, not of numbers and policies.

If your heart and soul are in the right place, you will attract people.
You will attract voters, and you will be able to move others toward positive, constructive, inclusive programs. That's the only way to build a healthy society.

I recently read a statement from a Montessori school that said, and I paraphrase, that children's "behavioral problems" arise from feeling that they are not accepted and included in their social group.

More serious even than the financial toll that the recession took on American families (and families in other countries) was the sense of failure and loss that the recession caused. Even now, getting and keeping a job, the job that feeds your family and provides you security, is very difficult. Our working population, that is nearly all people of working age, is scared. Unemployment, financial loss are just a small mistake often a mistake at the corporate level or a corporate decision over which the working person has no control away.

And losing a job or having to take a pay cut for a working person places their entire family's life style, security, dreams, hopes, future -- their diet, the family car, the gas to go to work, medical care, everything on the line.

Yet in our capitalist society, the wealthy are oblivious to the terror and pain that the loss of a job, lack of a pay raise, living on minimum wage cause to the psyche, the families, and the societies that we all live in.

The role of the Democratic Party is to bring awareness of the contribution that labor (and that includes professional people, small business owners and all who work for a living, not just manual laborers) makes to our prosperity and our society and to defend labor from the greed of those who think that only capital matters.

Jesus spoke of the lilies of the field, how they toil not nor sow, yet are so well clad and cared for. But as my very Christian mother reminds me, the lilies of the field do not grow out of rocks. They do not thrive without at least a little water. And so with people, we all need to be nurtured. And the only way to provide that nurture is to nurture each other. That's what being a Democrat is about. It is about nurture. Republicans can have their survival of the fittest, their exclusive view about how only the best and brightest deserve a really good life, about how wealth is the result of having made "the right choices," whatever that means.

We Democrats value all lives. And we recognize that if you are pro-life in the sense that I am talking about, you have to be pro-environment, pro-fairness, pro encouraging your brothers and sisters who are, just like you, struggling to lead good lives.

Anyway, being a Democrat is not about a specific policy other than being for all working people and their interests rather than about the corporate bottom line. Being a Democrat is about building a good society that is loving and nurturing and supportive -- and doing it together. It is not a socialist view. It is a view that values what humans are and that we are all human.

[Brewinblue]

13. People vote based on emotions, not policy!

The Dems ran mostly on policy, the GOP ran almost 100% on hate and fear. Who won?

[meow2u3]

18. If the GOP wants to instill fear as a motivator, two can play that game

Someone on DU posted that a little kid blurted out "Republicans kill people, so we have to vote." That should be a starter for us. In other words, stop appealing to reason (you can't reason with someone who's scared) and start sending the message that Republicans are trying to kill us slowly and torturously. It may sound far-fetched, but to frightened people, it makes perfect sense.

Question is, how do we counter the right-wing fear machine with a lefty fear machine of our own? I think we should start with economic populism at our core. Attacking the GOP on their authoritarianism might also be an option: I believe that that's their essence.

Any more suggestions?

[djean111]

3. As I have posted elsewhere, the concept of "common good" no longer applies to people in the US,

it now only applies to business and the MIC.
Amerika Inc.
A few bones thrown, but nothing that costs much to do.
They will come around and collect the bones later.

[TreasonousBastard]

4. I suppose you realize that...

all over the country people voted for Democratic policies and programs, but still voted for republican officeholders.

Amazing, isn't it? They agree with us, but still don't vote for us.

So, the fundamental problem is fairly simple-- how do we address this disconnect? How do we deal with the guy who famously said "Don't let the Government touch my Social Security."

How do we reach the person who says "I want clean water, but I just can't vote for a Democrat."

I don't know how long it will take, but it's a process of re-education.

We don't need candidates who "lean more to the left". We need candidates who will own popular programs that the people believe in.

[JDPriestly]

6. Yes. It is reaching out to acknowledge the needs of the individuals who are struggling in our

country, learning from them and representing them that will attract the voters you are talking about.

Americans are terrified. Our jobs, our careers, our retirements are all, constantly, in jeopardy.

People respond by either becoming very self-centered or dissipated and confused or by deciding to work together.

It's those fears that Republicans appeal to. They tell voters, "someone out there wants to take what you worked hard to get. We won't let them." That is why the talk about lowering taxes and welfare queens and charter (almost private) schools, etc. attracts voters.

Republicans respond to the anxiety that the temp job/part-time job/at-will employment/no union/low minimum wage/make it if you can but your boss is going to take a big salary and lay you off if business slumps reality creates with a "We're going to help you protect yourself and get rich" sort of promise. Republicans don't really help working people. They don't really make working people (and again, I include small business owners as well as doctors and lawyers and other professionals). But they validate the fears that people have and build up dreams of grandeur that will never be realized. When the votes have been cast for the Republicans, the Republican Party walks away and tells voters: "You are on your own now. Society is just a loose association of selfish individuals." The Republican come-on draws voters only to let them down. And then when voters are let down, they vote Democratic. That has to change. Democrats have to change that by reaching to voters in a new ay.

Now, Democrats answer with "programs" and "policies." These ideas would actually create a safety net, a very thin, very fragile one, under Americans. The ideas aren't bad. But Democrats nowadays do not speak to the underlying anxiety. And it is that anxiety that the Republicans at least acknowledge that is drawing voters to the Republican fold -- (which then turns on the voters and leaves the voters to their own helplessness.)

How can Democrats speak to that anxiety? That is what we as a Party need to talk about. That is the fundamental issue. We cannot change and should not change the rapid pace at which technology is developing. We cannot do away with the social and economic displacement technology brings.

But what Democrats can do is to bring to the table inclusiveness and acceptance for all Americans and involve all Americans in solving the problem of the anxiety and displacement that technology is bringing.

One of the very understandable traps that our Party has fallen into since the late 1950s is to emphasize "equal rights" for distinct groups like women (I'm one) and children and various racial groups, age groups, gender identification groups, etc.

Don't get me wrong. The struggle for fairness and equal rights is utterly necessary. It needs to be at the core of our Party's work. But it needs to be in a context of including people who vary with regard to traits like race, gender, etc., not in a context of fighting to increase rights for one group to the falsely perceived "loss" of rights for another group.

We all gain when the other person gets a fair chance. When your wife has equal rights in her workplace, you win. When racial equality is a reality, everybody wins.

I could not claim that in Southern California we have really achieved racial equality, but we are a lot closer to it than people are in some other parts of America, and it is making winners of us all. But the idea of equal opportunity and equal rights serves the interests of everyone.

Think of an exam in school. 80% of the students answer the questions with their books open. The other 20% have to struggle to remember the answers. We consider the use of open books if unapproved to be cheating. Not only do those who aren't cheating lose out,, but society ends up in a situation in which it tells itself that the best students got the best grades although that may not be true at all. That is what gender, racial and other similar inequalities achieve: The false appearance of betterness of certain groups. It's a big lie. That's the problem with it. It does not permit those who really are the best or most suited to be even recognized.

That's why we should be for equal rights. Not just because certain groups demand those rights. Equality of opportunity is really good for all of society and not just for the minorities who appear to gain the most from it. Equality of opportunity is inclusive, not exclusive. Republicans have managed to sell the idea that equality of opportunity means unfairness. Absurd, but the Republicans have sold that idea to a lot of Americans.

In other words, from another slant, Republicans have successfully cast Democratic support for equal rights as something divisive. That view is wrong. But Democrats have not successfully demonstrated why or how they are wrong. Maybe because we don't totally believe that view is wrong ourselves. Do you suppose that might be so?

So, our Party needs to focus more on respecting all people. Ridicule and divisiveness needs to take second place to inclusiveness. (I'm not talking about humor which points out the discrepancy between reality and what we pretend is real. That's what John Stewart excels in as did Moliere. That is the core of comedy, and it is great.) We need to exalt the average, working person. We haven't been doing that. FDR did that. Eleanor Roosevelt did too. We need to return to that.

We are all equal because we are all valid and have something to contribute. We therefore need to create an environment in which all of us and each of us can thrive. I don't think the Democratic Party has been focusing on these rather emotional, rather idealistic goals. And when we don't communicate on that emotional, idealistic level that prioritizes placing value on each human's existence and life, then of course we lose to the crass, materialistic, whose got what and nobody better take mine mentality of the Republicans.

So it isn't really a matter of left or right though my approach is more consistent with the lefties but less policy-oriented. It is a matter of valuing the human and not just the bottom line. The bottom line increases when human beings feel their worth and are motivated to create a better world for themselves and others. That's what creates real wealth. I think that Democrats have been thrown off track a bit, but we can get back on it.

Obama in his soul knows which way to go. But he needs to be supported more in going that way. The DLCers. The Third-Wayers are not on the right track. They can be brought to the right perspective, but they aren't there. That is why so many of them lost.

That Al Franken won, that Jerry Brown won, that the Democrats who won did what they did in a very difficult year and in spite of all the Republican money thrown against them, proves my theory. Because each of them, Franken, Brown, etc., although they may have different approaches to specific issues, values the human qualities and understands the needs and fears and aspirations of their voters and based their campaign on responding to those needs and fears.

The change has to be heart-felt and real, but it is the change we have to make. It's very deep within us and we face quite a challenge.

But you are right. It isn't just a matter of left and right. It is what is behind the left and right that matters.

[bravenak]

5. We need to push good policy backed by people who genuinely care about that policy.

The people voted for liberal policy all over the nation. My state passed three liberal resolutions; marijuana legalization, minimum wage ( a great bill btw), and Bristol Bay protections for our environment. But, our candidates did not win. Our candidates ran away from the great legislation they supported instead of crowing about it as an accomplishment. We decided to play defense instead of going head to head and saying boom! Look at what I did it was awesome, and putting out evidence supporting our claims, we said, Who me?

It seemed like they were just after trying to keep their seats and donors. They weren't fighting FOR the little guy or FOR the people, they were fighting for themselves.

[JDPriestly]

7. Very perceptive. The problems are on a feelings level.

We each need to look into our own attitudes critically. It isn't just the candidates' problem. It is all of us.

[corkhead]

8. give the 3rd-wayers back to the republicons?

[JDPriestly]

23. Yes. And focus on bringing people who haven't been voting because they don't believe

our candidates care about them back into the voting booth. The reason we lose elections is because we do not reach the voters I am talking about. Those who work and don't see themselves making a lot of money, succeeding or being cared about. Those who are going to barely have enough Social Security to survive when they retire, those who borrow money to go to school and don't make enough to pay it back.

We need to tailor our message to their needs and to reach out to them.

The Third Way corporate crowd is already represented by the Republican Party.

We have lost voters to the Republicans, all those voters who voted for liberal propositions but who then voted for the Republican candidates -- those are Democratic voters that our Democratic campaigning has not reached. We need to reach them. We need to find them and talk like we discuss on DU about the issue.

"Hi. How are you? (You have a table in front of you with some Democratic Party materials.) The election is ________. Are you planning to vote? (Hand the person a brochure. Smile big.) Are you registered to vote? The voter may just take the brochure and go on or may say something. If the something is negative, smile and ask, "What are your issues?" And then gently, kindly respond. NEVER ARGUE. If someone is a diehard conservative on the issues, let them vote Republican. Everybody votes their conscience.

But I and you presumably have the consciences of liberals. Read a lot of books and DU about what the issues are. Talk with your friends about eh Issues. Why should we raise the minimum wage? What would it mean for prices? What would it mean for demand on the supply and demand curve? What would it mean to the person you are talking to? What would it mean to you?

So when you talk to voters you must be prepared to engage them on issues. I have campaigned with people who were dumbfounded and silenced simply because a voter asked questions about basic issues like what does candidate X think about???

This is how the union movement was built. People talked to each other. This is how the Progressive movement that brought the country out of the Gilded Age was built. People talked to each other. And this is how we have to awaken America today. Talking to each other. (But first we have to inform ourselves well enough to be able to represent our side.)(

Give the 3rd wayers back to the Republicans. That's where they belong. One party that represents Walmart, Adelson's casinos, the Koch brothers, etc. is enough. No one is speaking up for the people I talk about in the OP. That's our job.

It's righteous work. Let's do it.

[Martin Eden]

9. From the Bottum Up

Only a grassroots movement of the people can rebuild the Democratic Party into a political entity that truly represents the interests of the common people, because the organization at the top is increasingly co-opted into the plutocracy.

[Proud Public Servant]

11. ^^^^THIS!^^^^

[Eleanors38]

19. At a minimum.^^^

[Orsino]

21. Yes. Trickle-down is for chumps. n/t

[Brewinblue]

10. Start a Party based on Principles, not comprimise

I, for one, will now register as a Socialist. A Bernie Sanders Socialist, a party committed to massive change from the bottom up (a Revolution?). Although, to be honest, I'd prefer a change in party name to the Populist party. That pisses everyone off.

[1StrongBlackMan]

12. Posted to for later.

[DCBob]

14. If this is the takeaway from Tuesday then the GOP has won even bigger.

[JDPriestly]

24. Why do you say that? What do you mean?

[DCBob]

30. We lose again when we start talking about rebuilding the party.

There is no need to rebuild the party.. the problem is with GOP lies, RW media, big money in politics and apathetic voters. We don't need to throw out our people.. but we do need to throw out our strategy. We need to focus on how they beat us and figure out how to counter it. Rebuilding the party will do more harm than good if we don't face the facts of how and why we lost.

[JDPriestly]

31. We need to focus on what we stand for and whose interests we serve.

People do not get out to vote for Democrats when they cannot tell the difference between what the Democrats stand for and do when in office and what Republicans stand for and do when in office.

Working people cannot afford to take time oof work and make the effort to vote unless they think that voting is important. When our party bails out the banks and gives no relief to homeowners on their mortgages or at least not enough to keep them in their homes, then we ar no different from Republicans. When Democrats protect the intellectual property rights of businesses but not the jobs of American working people, voters cannot tell the difference between the parties, Those who want a fair deal for American working people don't and won't take the time to vote for Democrats if the Democrats don't defend and serve ttheir interests.

We do need to reorganize the Democratic Party and strengthen it, and we need to be clear about what our message is and what we will do and stand up for if elected.

The Third Way is irrelevant to working America. It has utterly nothing to offer those of us who have modest means.

[baldguy]

15. You'll never get what you claim to want if you cast people who actually win elections as the enemy.

All Democratic candidates are The Next Bright Hope For A New Generation® - until they actually win & work to govern the country. (See Barack Obama, Bill & Hillary, John Kerry, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.) If they're successful, you try to paint them as "Blue Dog, Third Way, corporate Democrats".

Your problem is that you're happier when Democrats play the Suffering Martyr: whiny, ineffective & - most importantly - out of power. And as soon as they get involved with the messy business of govt, they become tainted in your eyes.

Sorry, but it doesn't work that way. You can't claim to be a liberal Democrat while you play the elitist & refuse to get your hands dirty & refuse to associate with those who do. The real liberal Democrats are the ones that work to get real liberal Democrats elected, and support them when they campaign real liberal Democratic policies.

Anyone who advocates for a third party, anyone cut & runs away from Democrats at the first sign of difficulty, anyone who looks at any Democratic candidate in a general election & says "well, I can't vote for her because *reasons*" - whether it's because that candidate had audacity to earn a living in the real world, or that she was a dedicated Republican for most of her adult life - are the people who are not real Democrats.

[FSogol]

17. +1 n/t

[Orsino]

22. You'll never get to what I claim to want...

...By enshrining the current electoral process as some sort of unquestionable default.

The Democratic Party must adapt or be replaced.

[JDPriestly]

25. How in the world did you ever get the impression that I advocate for a thrid party.

My reasons for not voting for Hillary are that she IS A REPUBLICAN and that she is a Third-Wayer and I do not believe she can get elected.

I'm the one who talks to real people when I work on campaigns. I know my Democratic representatives at various levels. I am concerned about whether the person who claims to be a candidate really understands the problems of ordinary people and is working to ameliorate the lives of ordinary people.
If someone is playing best buddies with those who are causing the lives of ordinary Americans to be utterly insecure, employed one day, out the next, unable to find decent child care or schools or even a choice of grocery stores in some areas, then I'm not for that person. Fortunately, I am in California, land of the at least for now sane voters and I can fully support all of the Democrats I vote for.

I realize it isn't so easy in some parts of the country. But here in California, some Democrats started a sort of grassroots revolution in the Democratic Party back in the 1960s that built local Democratic clubs and turned our Democratic Party around.

And that is where the answer is to winning elections -- active, local Democratic clubs. Do you belong to one? Have you been an officer in it? Are you active? Do you go to the meetings? Do you register voters and campaign at the grass roots? To me that is the test for an active Democrats in Califonria.

What would you say is the test for an active Democrat?

[LondonReign2]

27. Thank you for the Third Way lecture

[Le Taz Hot]

16. THIS is how the Democratic Party wins.

Unfortunately the corporate-friendly Third Way currently controls the party. Worse, one of the founders will be selected as the candidate by the same corporations that just bought this election. It's time for activism and not the "rah-rah" for the Democratic Party" because the Democratic Party, in it's current form, has nothing to "rah-rah" about. But action in taking back the Democratic Party. We need to get more involved in choosing progressive candidates, or better yet, some of us run ourselves. Running on fair wages, no cuts to Social Security or Medicare, no more war without end, re-establishing the safety nets are winner issues BUT YOU HAVE TO OFFER THEM. Make a clear delineation between the Republicans and the Democrats. Currently, there's a rat's ass bit of difference between the two of them.

ETA: We have two years to find candidates to run against Hillary Clinton. If we can get a progressive candidate as the Democratic nominee, we can win the presidency. If we get Third Way again, look for the Republicans to win the trifecta in 2016. We have two possibilities so far -- Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders (yes, I know he's not a Democrat) but it would be nice to have several more from which to choose. And if the Democratic Party won't cooperate (they won't) then WE have to do the recruiting.

[Orsino]

20. Bottom up.

The party leadership is focused on fifty begging emails a day to funnel money into a dysfunctional machine that doesn't motivate voters. NWe have to get more of us off our asses for face-to-face proselytizing about specific issues.

The vote suppression is only going to get worse. We can invite our so-called leaders to come along, but there must be no more of our blindly following them. At least jot in mid-terms.

[JDPriestly]

26. Yes. We are on Social Security living day to day in an old house we have had for a long time,

and we get several e-mails begging for money every day.

Then we get e-mails asking us to make phone calls. Of course, we are among the many Americans today who screen calls precisely to keep out nuisance calls that waste our time.

Personal contact is how we can win elections. We can never collect enough money to compete with Adelson, the Waltons and the Koch Brothers. That is unrealistic. We can't just copy Republican techniques. Those appeal to Republican voters and besides we cannot afford them. We have to use the person-to-person method. You will not find all that many Democratic voters at the country club. Some. But most of our voters are in shopping malls and food stores. And we need to be out on the sidewalk with a big banner reminding them that PEOPLE vote Democratic. Let the corporations vote Republican because they can't vote.

[LonePirate]

28. We need to refocus on people issues starting with education - from pre-school to college

We need to follow Seattle's lead with universal pre-school.

We need to follow Germany's lead with free college tuition.

We need to adopt a college loan overhaul including government administration of loans and a 2 for 1 government work loan repayment plan (1 hour of government work or volunteerism results in 2 hours worth of wages applied to loan balances).

We need to do something about Common Core. I don't know much about the issue except that many Americans hate it.

We need to repair the relationship between America and her teachers. Better pay and smaller class sizes are just the start. Restoring trust and respect for teachers is another task for us. Addressing the tenure and performance concerns that are at the heart of MO's new amendment is another issue.

Going after education locks us in with families, young Americans and everyone else concerned about our future.

[jeff47]

29. By solving people's problems.

People vote for the party that solves their problems. It's been a very long time since Democrats solved people's problems, and then ran on solving those problems.

For example, the economy's doing a hell of a lot better than 2008. We didn't run on that. We didn't point to what we got done. We didn't point to where the Republicans made it worse. We didn't run on Obamacare. We didn't run on decimating al-Qaeda. We ran on....not much.

We've also spent the last 20 years ignoring most of young GenX's problems. While older GenX tends to be teabaggers, younger GenX tend to be liberal, and would happily vote Democrat if Democrats actually addressed their problems. Instead, they're extremely apathetic. And it's easy to see why - their problems don't change regardless of the letter after their senator's name.

We're also repeating the same error with Millennials. Who are also turning out in very low numbers. And for the same reason - the party isn't solving their problems.

So how do we actually fix it? We have to get very involved with our local party and our local candidates. Not just handing out flyers, but actually work our way into running the party. So that we can get the party to actually solve people's problems and then run on those successes instead of running on what the high-priced consultants say is important.

[kentuck]

32. Not with money.

With ideas that stir the soul and spirit and challengs the status quo.