Let's take a big step back...

[txaslftist]

...back to about 1930.

What are you talking about, Txaslftist?

I'm talking about how to make the Democratic party viable in places like West Texas, where the Republicans have a lock on every office, seemingly, from dog catcher to congress.

I know this is anathema to most folks here, but we need to forget about national issues and remember Tip O'Neill's dictum about all politics being local. Instead of telling folks how badly they are getting screwed by the Republicans, lets focus on what the Democrats can do for them.

I'm talking about concrete things, like when you have a problem with your landlord, you call the local Democratic HQ, and SOMEONE IS THERE TO PICK UP THE PHONE. Someone who says, "This is Jane. How can I help you?" That someone takes the time to call the landlord and see if a payment plan can be worked out or if the landlord will allow the dog to live there so long as it is kept in a certain room, or whatever.

I'm talking about finding someone a job with a Democratic contractor who needs a spot welder. I'm talking about finding someone who speaks Spanish to go to the Parent/teacher conference.

Our motto needs to stop being "The elections were stolen" and "The war was a big mistake" and "It's all Bush's fault".

We need to reinstate the old Democratic motto of "What can I do to help you?"

Just my opinion, but I'm taking steps here in Lubbock-friggin-Texas to implement it. What are you doing wherever you are?

I just want folks to remember that back in '05, when they needed help dealing with "That bitch in the County Clerk's Office" it was at Democratic Party HQ that they found a volunteer willing to help out.

[Captain Hilts]

1. FDR caved with isolationists and racists to get elected.

He denounced the League of Nations and Eleanor and a large portion of his staff didn't speak to him for days. He did it to get Hearst's backing.

In the 1930s he wouldn't say anything in favor of the anti-lynching bill so as not to alienated southern senators.

[txaslftist]

2. And the price of tea in China was 15 yuan per ton. So?

[Captain Hilts]

12. At the national level the party has to spread itself very thin.

You're right. At the local level is where they need to build.

[AlGore-08.com]

6. And when Truman desegregated the Army & the Federal work force

And supported civil rights, the Dixiecrats fled the Dem party, running Strom Thurmond as the "State's Rights Party" candidate.

And the Dem's support of the various civil rights measures in the 1960s led to George Wallace running a pro-segregation campaign in 1968, and "allowed" Nixon to run a stealth racist campaign which won the election. Wallace was trying to win enough electoral votes to throw the election to the House of Representatives, and allow the Congressfolk from the Southern states to negotiate an end to federal efforts to end desegregation.

[DemBones DemBones]

3. Good ideas, all. It seems to me that if the party --

and the country -- are to survive, it will be up to us local folks, not to the national Democratic pols.

[Burma Jones]

4. No Kidding Compadre

This works incredibly well here in Montgomery County Maryland - Great services, Moderate Taxes (well, compared to NY and NJ), and we're solid blue.....

You are exactly right my friend.....

[Captain Hilts]

5. Montgomery County MD is Ontario without the healthcare. (nt)

[Village Idiot]

7. Oh you poor, poor people!!!

I have the misfortune of living in Ontario...

And after living here 10 years, I STILL pine for la Belle Province!!!

[Captain Hilts]

11. I LOVED my four years in Toronto.

Yes, Monty County is becoming undriveable.

[Village Idiot]

15. If you loved Toronto...

you would think you had died and gone to Heaven to live in Montreal!!!

[LiberalEsto]

10. And with far more traffic

and the traffic gets worse day by day.

I'm not so sure the MoCo Dems are that responsive to people's needs either. They seem to favor the big developers and give them carte blanche.

[flamin lib]

8. Recommended. nt

[welshTerrier2]

9. no, we don't "need to forget about national issues"

focussing on local issues is very important ... but doing so in the manner you suggest is absurd ...

we cannot cede power to corporate America and expect to make people's lives better ... that's a fantasy ...

what we need to do is educate Americans that the national issues they hear about on the news really do affect their daily lives ... we need to help them see that our democracy is failing and that changes are needed to give them a greater voice in how the government operates ...

you got half of the equation right; we need to strengthen the Party's visibility in local communities ... doing so by abandoning national issues that so directly impact life on the local level is a very dangerous idea ...

[JNelson6563]

13. Good idea where applicable

We need to look at the situation realistically. There are more counties across this country with weak and feeble Democratic parties than healthy ones.

What a beautiful thought that many county parties have the organization and fundraising capabilities to afford and staff a year 'round office. IMO we should set our sites on achieving a stable foundation from which to launch a such a project as you suggest.

That's not to say your idea cannot be applied in some areas now. There are three counties within our 14 county Congressional District that have offices who could try your suggestion.

BTW, Michael Moore spoke at one of our recent events here and suggested the same thing as you.

Great minds, eh? :toast:

Julie

[LeftyElvis]

14. Honesty

and money is the best answer. Money talks and bullshit walks holds true in Texas. You want to stimulate voting for Democrats in Texas? Show them how it puts money in poor and middle class people's pockets. You might have to cave on the illegal immigration issue also. It looks to me like the bush regime is encouraging illegals to come here.

[txaslftist]

20. What is the illegal immigration issue to cave on?

I mean, really, I don't know. What is the "official" Democratic position on immigration?

My view is that we should support legal immigration while discouraging the illegal variety, but beyond that, where do we really stand as a party on this?

[LeftyElvis]

26. I sense

that we support more of an open border policy.

[txaslftist]

28. Hmmmm. I don't.

Not if an "open border" means large, unpatrolled portions of border that folks can routinely cross without any scrutiny (our current open border).

If "open border" means you can cross into the US to work with minimal hassle, an ID and criminal background check and readily available work VISA, I do favor that.

I don't like the porous nature of either our northern or southern borders.

[Nederland]

16. One problem

The problem with treating all politics as local is that many people here at DU don't want that. They want all Democrats to follow some national party vision of what the Democratic party stands for regardless of what voters at the local level feel. If an elected official fails to meet their purity test s/he gets labeled a DINO and crucified mercilessly here, even if they were merely acting in accordance with their constituents.

[kenny blankenship]

17. Uhhh define 'help'?

See, I had the impression that the same people in the Democratic Party who were the most pissed off about election fraud, and the most pissed off about Bush's parallel destruction of both Iraq and the formerly peaceable Republic of the USA, tended to be more or less the same people. And to complete this impression I had rounded it off with the idea that these people ALSO tend to be the people in the Democratic Party who're generally the most insistent that this party intervene in various contexts--legal, social and economic--to HELP other people. They're known collectively as the Left-Liberal wing of the Democratic Party. They want to do things like establish universal healthcare for all Americans, to eliminate poverty by bringing more jobs to communities, to eliminate vestiges of discrimination, to establish access to higher education as the birthright of every citizen, and to assist unions to bring up the wages of working Americans so that working Americans live in the same America that the rest of us do and so their kids will have every chance to pursue the full realization of their potentials.

[txaslftist]

18. You just made my point.

When some guy has lost his job because the local plant downsized and he can't get health care and his kid is sick, these are all the results of national problems in policy.

So what? He doesn't want to hear that he voted wrong or that he should vote differently. He wants to hear that you can help him fill out a job application or you can put him in touch with someone who can get him a new job or you know the name of someone at the free clinic who can help with his kid.

If he hears that YOU can help him PERSONALLY, he will remember who it was that helped him next time he votes.

I am not advocating the abandonment of any principle that binds us together as democrats on the national level. What I'm talking about is simple community outreach (if you will), like that undertaken by any other useful civic organization.

We are the party that cares about the poor and middle classes, and we need to demonstrate that in a concrete way that specifically affects the individual needs of, well, individuals.

For you history nit-pickers, I mentioned 1930 because that was when the democratic party was more local and more powerful. I recognize that prominent democrats had and have flaws. I also recognize that "ward politics" can be abused.

Regardless of that, we need to be reaching out to potential democrats and letting know that we are the party that says, "How can I help YOU."

[WilliamCash]

19. Issues the resonate

Maybe it's time for four parties in this country: Conservatives, Progressives, Republicans, and Democrats. I read an article this morning about how Repubs are at odds with conservatives. True enough. You look at Bush's spending and it makes any fiscal conservative cringe. This is not limited government, and Bush is not a conservative (except in the born-again old-time religion fervor). And I see a similar split with Progs and Dems. Cindy is protesting Bush, but she could just as easily be camped out on Kerry's doorstep, or Hillary's. They both voted for this war too. So do Progs and Dems have common ground? I don't see much difference in the national Repubs and Dems; they both spend too much damned money and have too much power. The real fight is between conservatives and progressives on the social issues that motivate voters. Progs need to find a way to cut into the mainstream, kind of what Ross Perot did to the Repubs -- a straight talking no-nonsense person of common sense and persuasion to explain (dare I say teach) to the public about how established politicians are in it for the power and prestige. I believe most people have a good nature and would be willing to learn from someone they respect.

[txaslftist]

21. A populist, in other words.

While I don't disagree that Eugene Debs might find a fruitful harvest among the disaffected poor these days, I think it is Democrats who should be reaching out, not forming new parties.

As for the dems who voted for the war, they didn't START the war. In some sense they were dupes, which is embarrassing, and in some ways they were standing by their constituents (who overwhelmingly seemed to support the invasion of Iraq at the time). Now they are stuck with having voted the way they did and cannot figure out how to get out of it.

It is, in my mind, time for some honorable "waffling". The kind where you say, "I was wrong. The war was a bad idea. It was based on lies that I fell for. I am sorry. I should have voted against the war with Russ Feingold."

Bottom line is that we will not profit by splitting the party into the purist progressives and the pragmatic Democrats. I guarantee you that the Republican party won't split, and you hand them victory by default.

[WilliamCash]

22. good point

It just dawned on me this morning when I was thinking about Cindy and her protests. I realized that when the Vietnam War got really hot in the late 60's, a Repub got elected president. And in '72 when it was still going hot and there were millions of protestors, Nixon won again -- this time in a major electoral college landslide. How is that possible? I've seen some posts on here about how the tide is turning, but it made me think that we need to be cautious before assuming the tide has turned. And Nixon's victories made me think -- maybe strong antiwar populist sentiment can't win national elections. So maybe you're right about progs not being able to mount a successful party and still stay pure.

2006 will be really interesting in terms of what Dems will voice continued support for the war, and which ones will try to go the other way. I wish I could believe that they would all be voicing their conscience, but I'm too skeptical to believe that fully.

[WilliamCash]

24. West Virgina working man

Populist is a good choice of words. My grandfather, now deceased, lived most of his life in West Virginia. He was uneducated, blue-collar, and a devout Christian. He worked most of his life in the coal mines, the railroad, and took a stab at farming too. Plus he served three years in WWII. He was a die-hard Democrat his entire life. Why? Because he believed in his bones that the Democratic party was the party of the working man. He did not want to be given anything; he was too proud for that. He wanted to be able to work a full day and get fair pay in return. Nowadays, the typical voter who fits my grandfather's demographic would be seen as a die-hard Bush voter. Why is that? When did the Democratic party stop being seen as the party of the working man? We need to find a way to get these voters back. I can honestly say that my grandfather never cared a day in his life about gay marriage, abortion rights (he was one of 12 kids), driver's licenses for illegal immigrants, affirmative action, or diversity. And yet these are the stated issues for a lot of our public spokespersons today. Does anyone else on here remember the days when "good simple Christian folk" were Democrats?

[txaslftist]

30. My Grandfather was the same.

WWII veteran, battlefield commission, purple hearts, Pacific Theatre, etc. He went on to fight in the Korean War (as a spy, believe it or not, taking money behind enemy lines to bribe Korean farmers to help our downed pilots make it back to the DMZ).

He was a lifelong democrat, too. Curiously, my Dad, with a similar military background, is a conservative republican.

And yes, it was the perception that the Democratic Party was the party of the working man that I think most of all supported my grandfather's beliefs.

According to dialectical materialism (a philosophical position I take some issue with) the GOP is in a strange and unsustainable position, trying to be both the party of the working man and the party of big business. Their success can only be temporary, and can only be sustained during periods of marked prosperity.

Push comes to economic shove and they are going to have to choose sides.

[newyawker99]

25. Hi WilliamCash!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[xxqqqzme]

23. ever hear of Howard Dean?

what U R saying, Howard has been preaching since day one of his gaining the DNC chair.. He gets it! support him and more people will come to your way of thinking.

[Wizard777]

27. Sure! I think we need to take another look at that terrorist Anslinger.

Creating political change by terrorizing America with a harmless weed that grew everywhere. I think the Conservative Republicans are the only faction on earth to live in mortal terror of plant life and be defeated by it. These guy must have yard signs that say, Danger! Keep off the Grass. It could kill you.

Fret not Conservatives. We liberal hippies will save you from the grass. We'll light it's evil ass up! We'll smoke the enemy for ya! You go hide under your beds until we sound the all clear. ;)

[ieoeja]

29. Isn't that now illegal?

Serious question. Hasn't that sort of thing been made illegal now? Or is it okay for the party, just illegal for elected officials?

[txaslftist]

35. No, it is NOT illegal.

It's not even illegal for elected officials.

It's what we elect them for. I'm not talking about graft or fraud or anything that isn't above board. I'm talking about helping out your constituents.

[renie408]

31. Jesus?? What are you trying to do??

Are you trying to offer some kind of intelligent, proactive, local level suggestions?? My god....don't you have a conspiracy theory about how Bush and Co. superheated the waters of the Gulf of Mexico in an evil plot to strengthen Katrina to the point where she would be devestating enough to justify raising oil prices and take up all the attention of the media, allowing them to reap huge profits and continue their evil doings in a media vacuum??

Hey, man, you must be a GOP'er who has craftily racked up over a 1000 posts while you waited to write these ridiculous posts undermining the REAL Democratic agenda of finding conspiracies under every rock.

[txaslftist]

34. That's just silly.

They didn't superheat the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Everyone knows they use their Star Wars technology to generate a low pressure zone in the mid-Atlantic.

That way you get more than one hurricane, see...

think about it.

:tinfoilhat:

[RBInMaine]

32. Damn Straight!

Excellent post! We need to stop WHINING and start WINNING! That is, let's stop bitching about the R's and their tactics/strategies and start bucking up and doing what we need to do to start winning again, EVERYWHERE and in EVERY office. Your idea of ongoing local service through Democratic clubs, etc. is right on target. Here's what else we must do: 1) UNITE THE PARTY around commonalities instead of bickering and infighting (liberals vs. moderates, etc.). One commonality is just what you are saying: set up ongoing organization that can help ordinary people with their daily problems which is what our party is supposed to be all about in-the first place. Being beholden to people and not corporations is another!
2) HAVE A COMPELLING AFFIRMATIVE AGENDA of big, bold ideas that can capture peoples' imaginations. 3) GO ON THE OFFENSIVE AND STAY THERE. You don't win a passive, defensive battle. Dems need to get fired up again! 4) SHOW UP in every race and at every level and put up a hard fight no matter how long the odds may seem. Don't concede a damn thing! 5) BUILD A NEW MEDIA AND THINK-TANK INFRASTRUCTURE to counter the near right-wing monopoly on this. The Rockridge Institute and Air America Radio are good starts but we have a long way to go. 6) MAKE SURE ELECTIONS CAN'T BE STOLEN either with electronic vote fraud or through other means.
7) UNITE LEFT-CENTER/PROGRESSIVE-MODERATE organizations, 527's, etc. in common cause in an ongoing, united movement.

[LocalDem]

33. Love it!

The Democratic party has been the party of city hall for decades. We can make that a big positive by pledging and providing responsive government and responsive party membership.