Can a "Centrist" Democratic Party make needed change?

[Morereason]

With all the talk about this election bringing in "centrist" Dems, and the "need for centrist democrats". Will being "centrist really make change?

The Center has ***Moved***, as is evident in the last year.......

After the last two years can there be dems out there that have not learned this vital lesson. That sitting in the "safe center" not only does not work well, but striking out and defining us in even stronger progressive terms, and in stronger opposition, is WHAT WON THE ELECTION! It layed the groundwork that started opening up eyes, then when the repubs had a crash it became a total meltdown!

The Dems must **set** the agenda and people are ready and willing to follow. But to shrink back into "centrist" territory is to lose momentum. It is amazing we are still arguing this. The facts speak clearly. When we fight and differentiate we win. People want serious change, they are just AFRAID and not sure what to do. The Dems need to lead them.

If you start to think as a "centrist", ask yourself:

What about the sick losing their houses over medical bills...

What about our "free trade" policies that destroy families throughout the globe...

What about the "megopolies" that have been allowed to completely decimate entire realms of business opportunities for the average Joe, and use pricing policies and requirements to keep them out of competing?

what about the continuing strained nature of our workplaces, as we fight each other over turf more and more, and the true lack of opportunity for much of the public(that is being covered over by manipulated statistics)...

What about the massive use of public monies to propagandise and confuse our own public with planted stories and bloggers?

What about allowing and even encouraging (tax breaks) corporate money and special interests to run their own propaganda machines?

What about the ideologies that ignore the truth of the "middle class", and seek instead to propagandise the population to believe that by becoming poorer and giving more breaks to the rich, we will instead benefit?

The "centrists" will continue these ideologies, although with a "kinder gentler" side, nice little programs to help a few.

The "centrists" will moderate government encouragement of "globalism", but will allow megacorps to continue the same killer policies throughout the planet

The "centrists" will up the minimum wage while having nothing to say about the loss of our family holidays as the megacorps continue to force lower wrung employees to work through Holidays including Thanksgiving and Christmas, destroying their family balance for a few more bucks.

The "centrists" will not introduce legislation that will make it illegal for the growing number of companies to work their employees without paid vacation, or any vacation at all, as has been demonstratively growing in recent years.

The "centrists" might temporarily bring average income up, but likely while the average workweek also climbs, as during Clinton's terms.

The "centrists" will not likely make significant changes to our nasty system of credit reporting, credit collecting, consumer "spying", and usery, where the consumer is often ripped off and the poor are forced more and more to pay more than the upper incomes for necessaries and utilities. (check out CNN for a good comparison of consumer rights that other developed countries have in place in this respect).

It will not be the "centrists" that move our transportation network away from single cars and into significant mass transit

It will not be the "centrists" that change Social Security into a needs based program that truly takes care of all needy seniors.

The "centrists" will not make significant policy changes to resolve the huge and growing homeless epidemic in our country!

Moving to the center may help out a few of us that are on the lower wrung of the middle class, and take a bit of the sting our of a few of the losses we have experienced in recent years. But the "centrists" will do little to resolve the severe underlying issues that are eating away at the least amongst us, and that are eroding and destroying our nations bounty, and our nation's heritage.

[wishlist]

1. We have to be left of center just in order to bring about modest improvements

Seems like a basic given of compromise and negotiation that if Dems start out in the center, results will be right of center only tweaking the status quo and falling far short of obtaining progressive improvements.

[fasttense]

2. I'm not sure the word centrist has any meaning anymore

The center seems to have evolved into a luke warm repuke. The word was used so often to describe the culture of corruption that it simply means a politician will only take bribes with their left hand. It really doesn't have a meaning and the corporate media is taking it from right wing talking points. It's the media's excuse to continue business as usual. They can still have two repukes guests for every one democratic guest because the repukes are supposedly centrists. It's just a way of avoiding the reality that Democratic leaders are in charge in congress.

[BootinUp]

3. Read this NYT piece on the freshman class just elected.

By ROBIN TONER and KATE ZERNIKE
Published: November 12, 2006

WASHINGTON, Nov. 11 — The newly elected Democratic class of 2006, which is set to descend on the Capitol next week, will hardly be the first freshmen to arrive in Washington promising to make a difference.

DAVE LOEBSACK, IOWA Supporting national health insurance is “one of the first things I will do.”

The last time Congress changed hands, the Republican freshman class of 1994 roared into town under the leadership of Newt Gingrich as speaker and quickly advanced a conservative agenda of exceptional ambition.

Many in the class of 2006, especially those who delivered the new Democratic majorities by winning Republican seats, show little appetite for that kind of ideological crusade. But in interviews with nearly half of them this week, the freshmen — 41 in the House and 9 in the Senate, including one independent — conveyed a keen sense of their own moment in history, and a distinct world view: they say they were given a rare opportunity by voters, many of them independents and Republicans, who were tired of the partisanship and gridlock in Washington.

Now, they say, they have to produce — to deal with long-festering problems like access to affordable health care and the loss of manufacturing jobs, and to find a bipartisan consensus for an exit strategy in Iraq, a source of continuing division not only between but also within the parties.

Incoming Democrats Put Populism Before Ideology

[Morereason]

4. I hope it is right.. but I fear the results will be the same "compromises"

[BootinUp]

5. Sure it will be, but we have control of both houses

We need to use these 2 years to craft legislation that is difficult for Bush to refuse because it apeals to a populism sense. In truth it will be difficult to get him to sign anything. But we can use that to make the case for a Dem President in '08. THe big difference is we can get our message out again, the media cannot ignore completely two houses of congress.