General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Why have Democrats embraced neoliberalism, anyway? [View all]OrwellwasRight
(5,170 posts)Too many Ds defend the outlandish tax ideas of the corporations (e.g., these folks voted against taking carried interest as regular income: Bean, Homes, Klein (FL), Maffei, Mitchell, Taylor, Wexler, Schrader, Polis and Ron Kind has introduced a number of bills to make S-Corporations -- which IMO are really just people who have enough money to hire tax attorneys -- pay even lower taxes). Too many Ds voted to free telecoms from legal liability for wrong doing (e.g., Baucus, Bayh, Obama, Mikulski, Case, Whitehouse). Too many voted Ds to make it easier for companies to go bankrupt and harder for people to do so (e.g., Biden, Bayh, Baucus, Bingaman, Reid, Conrad, Carper). Too many Ds worked with the minority Republican Party to make sure that Dodd-Frank didn't go hard enough (e.g., Dodd himself).
the majority of elected Dems do the right thing. However, IMO, it is hard for Democrats as a party to stand for the right thing when so many of it leading members are wishy-washy on what the 99% need. Some Ds do not take bold action to uphold their stated values and move to undo the special benefits that the economic elites enjoy. Listen, Liberal is a great book that explains this idea cogently.
So, yes of course, we must hold Republicans accountable but it is also true that many voters do not know what the Democratic Party really stands for. People on DU think we do know what the party stands for, but most voters are not on DU.