we have only one hope . . . we must take over the Democratic Party . . .

[OneBlueSky]

and by "we" I don't mean any party faction -- liberal, moderate, or otherwise . . .

I mean "We the People" . . . we have to take back our government from BushCo and the corporations and, in the real world, the Democratic Party is the only viable vehicle for doing that . . . so we have to take it back -- from the corporations, and from the politicians (who are, after all, pretty much owned by the corporations) . . .

"We the People" includes all Democrats and others (probably 85% of us) who are to the left of Genghis Bush and his fascist dictatorship -- liberals, moderates, and even true conservatives . . . anyone who wants to save the country from BushCo, the PNAC, the New World Order -- and economic and social ruin . . .

so we need a candidate of substance who will be willing to run on three issues:

1. telling the American people the truth -- about everything . . . and pursuing the truth, no matter where it leads

2. refusing all corporate money, and funding the campaign solely with contributions from ordinary Americans . . . in order to retain the prerogative of actually telling the truth

3. committing unequivocally to a quartet of traditional and historic American values, i.e.

- The Rule of Law
- The Constitution
- The Bill of Rights
- Government Of the People, By the People, and For the People

I nominate Al Gore . . .

thanks to another DU poster whose name I can't recall for the first three items in #3 . . . I added the fourth . . .

[kiteinthewind]

1. I second that motion! It's either take it back or get the f*ck out of the

country. Not sure how much more I can take. :evilfrown:

[az chela]

2. I agree

I have had enough!!!Seems like the democrats are getting as bad as the repukes,gutless

[countmyvote4real]

3. It may be TOO LATE for that if Alito is confirmed. n/t

[firefox]

4. I say the issue is Empire

Kerry called for more troops. Hillary called for more troops. I say they are pro-Empire. I say there is your problem.

Get big picture with me. Puppet Bush represents the PNACers that call for global domination and doing away with any opposition. They call for military supremacy forever, the sole militarization of space, and full spectrum dominance in all classes of weaponry.

Do you hear any opposition coming from Congress to a policy that is up in plain site on the Internet and confirmed by the presence of PNACers like Rumsfield at the head of the offense/defense department?

The telling issue before us is Empire. Now what I am telling you as a fellow citizen is that I will not accept anyone that I see as being pro-empire and that as a citizen I will ask everybody to forget the idea of accepting the lesser of two evils.

What I want from the Democrats is somebody that says when you spend more on armaments than the rest of the world combined, it is really not all defense. If you get someone that can spout the "strong on defense" bullshit when nobody has threatened our shores in 60 years, you have somebody that is unacceptable to me.

The system is gamed by the powerful for the powerful. Chomsky says we have the illusion of elections where we ratify one of two candidates given to us by the powerful. Do you think he is wrong? Do you think he is lying?

I am aware of the sensitivities of the DU board, but it needs to be presented to you that some of us see Kerry and Hillary as pro-Empire and with pro-Empire goes the word fascist.

Now you can accept what I am saying on its merit or reject it. I am just telling you how I think and what I can and will not support. I mean I have to suffer with people saying that Kerry has done more to clean the government of corruption than anybody could as if the entire system is not eaten with corruption or the CIA is not a state sponsored terrorist organization and still deals in the drug trade. Here is Chomsky's lecture given on January 16, 2006 to Amnesty Internation called "The Terrorist in the Mirror" saying the US is the biggest terrorist on the planet- http://counterpunch.org/chomsky01242006.html

I am not being mean spirited. But somebody needs to wake the hell up. Our policy is warped by a ficticious war on terror we made worse by illegally attacking Iraq while at the same time the US engages in state sponsored terrorism on an unbelievable scale.

The Democratic candidate that we want will call for cutting the military budget. That man/woman would win. He would be the leader of the revolution to restore legitimate government.

But you have to see through the machinery of the country that is now designed for plutocratic/wealthy rule and global domination. Now if Kerry did not say that he was not different from Bush in substance, but only in style then I am completely delusional and am as nutcase as a Freeper.

You guys wanted your team to win because Kerry was a Democrat. I am just telling you that the lesser of two evils is a game not played by a lot of people. That is why more people don't vote than do vote. When people honestly tell you they do not see a real difference in the candidates, you do not believe they know what they are talking about even when Kerry himself says it.

[orleans]

5. rachel maddow -- i nominate her! n/t

[longship]

6. Do like Pat Robertson did in the 1980's

Run for precinct committee person. That's much easier than one would expect. Many precincts do not even have a committee person. Contact your county Dem party and ask to be appointed as precinct committee person. Most likely the county chair will just do it.

Then, you're in. You're part of the Dem machine. You can start moving things in the right direction. If we're smart, we'd organize this and get people involved all over the country.

It's possible to change the party, but it has to be done one precinct at a time. That's how the Repugs came into being in the 1970's and 80's. The problem is that progressives haven't learned the lesson yet. The secret to changing the party is to take over the precincts, then the counties, then the districts, then the states. The end result is to have a national convention with substantial progressive participation.

We can do this, but people have to start by picking up their phones and contact their county party chairs and get involved.

It does no good to stand there screaming about things unless you're willing to take this very simple action. Then your screaming actually begins to make change.

Let's do it.

[OneBlueSky]

7. kick . . . for the day crew . . . n/t

.

[WilliamPitt]

8. *koff*

http://www.pdamerica.org

[OneBlueSky]

10. all well and good, Mr. Pitt . . . and very much needed . . . but . . .

PDA is focused locally, on Congressional races . . . much needed, as I said, but we also need something national in scope that will garner the attention of the 80% or so who are NOT in the neocon camp -- something the media will find hard to ignore despite their best efforts . . . a populist campaign by Al Gore based on the these principles would do that, imo . . .

[WilliamPitt]

11. You will never win nationally

without focusing on local races we can win. The neocons did not take over by accident. They worked locally for 20 years; Florida 2000 was lost because we didn't have home field advantage, because the GOP had been working locally to take those offices for years.

A wise man emulates the victors.

"All politics is local." - Tip O'Neill

[OneBlueSky]

12. I agree . . .

we'll never win without a local focus . . . but it's also a different world from when Tip O'Neill was running things . . . "local" is a vastly different concept in the internet age . . .

we need a local focus AND a national one . . . right now we have neither of any consequence . . .

[crispini]

9. I agree, and we do it from the bottom up.

Get involved with your local county party and become precinct chairs. Elect liberals and progressives and populists as county party chairs, as state democratic executive committee members, as presidents of local clubs, as state party chairs, as members of the DNC. And you can only do this by GETTING INVOLVED AT A LOCAL LEVEL.

This means getting off the internet and going to meetings and walking the walk, not just talking the talk. And it means not expecting someone to fix the party from the top, but doing it together. All of us, as citizens.