Reply #114: Tell me about it! [View All]

[Lydia Leftcoast]

I was frozen out of my county Dem association in Oregon in the 1980s because I introduced and argued for a resolution condemning aid to the Contras. Turns out that the association was full of Scoop Jackson Democrats who were dead set on fighting Communism in all its forms, even if it meant arming thugs to burn down schools and wreck irrigation systems.

After two years of activity, I suddenly stopped getting invitations to party events. I didn't get back into political campaign work until 2002.

The Kucinich campaign in 2004 was another eye-opener. I've told about it several times.

The obstacles to reforming the Democratic Party from the inside are formidable. Party regulars try hard to herd the masses in the direction of conventional wisdom, and Minnesota is even one of the more democratically structured states in this regard. Our representatives to the DNC are elected by people who have themselves moved up through the ranks starting at the precinct caucus level. In some states, however, the representatives to the DNC come exclusively from the list of major donors.