So DUers who aren't happy with the Change

[malaise]

Did you expect Obama to undo 30 years of Right wing politics in two years!!
The RWs will plot and plan and defend their ideology.
This will take time - you have two choices - vote for Dems and fight for the change you want or don't vote and let the ReTHUGS go further right.

Think on these things

[Deep13]

1. I doubt anyone here is planning on not voting.

We still have legitimate cause for complaint.

[elocs]

71. Meaning that "everyone" will vote. I doubt that. Some will not. n/t

[Deep13]

87. If by "some" you mean two or three, then you're probably right. nt

[elocs]

88. No way any of us can know for sure, but my guess it will be far more than 2 or 3.

Anyways, unless one is referring to a very small set the terms such as "all" or "none", "everybody" or "nobody" are not very useful. One exception renders them wrong.

[hobbit709]

2. I can see some change

But I am not happy with Obama's continuation of some of Bush's evils. And I WILL vote. Especially since this our best chance to get rid of Idiot Rick here in TX.

[hamsterjill]

44. I will be there to vote for Bill!

Wouldn't it be simply glorious to finally send Ricky-Baby packing???!!! He's been governor for as long as I can remember and it's way past time.

[saltpoint]

46. If you'll accept some good vibes from another

state, I'd sure like to offer them.

I wouldn't miss Rick Perry one bit.

[hamsterjill]

61. We will take all of the help we can get!

Thank you!!!

[Warren Stupidity]

3. you forgot scary palin

I expected this administration and its super-majorities in congress to do far more than they have done. To put it mildly I am underwhelmed by the results.

As there was little if any progress in this great mission of undoing 30 years of rightwing idiocy, I see little prospect that this task will ever be accomplished within the current framework.

[KharmaTrain]

4. It's One Thing To Climb The Mountain...

...it's another to stay there. One major difference between Democrats and rushpublicans is that Democrats legislate while rushpublicans are in constant campaign mode. They haven't truly goverened since Ford. Notice how the past 3 Democratic Presidents all came in to clean up GOOP messes and paid a big political price for it.

To those who read "change" as being a left shift...making the Democratic party into a mirror image of the GOOP, they deserve to be let down. The real change only began on Jan 20, 2009...the tough part is taking the rhetoric and make it into realistic action, not posturing.

:hi:

[ericinne]

5. I'm not happy

I'm not happy with the President for wimping out and letting Republi-cons lead the national debate. Letting them distract America with their BS talking points are what's gonna cost the Democrat party as a whole come election day. More focus on what is being done, less focus on defending policy and debunking conspiracy. They hate him anyway, let them bitch and "CLAIM" democrats are angry at him too, but don't let them run with that ball. I support the President, but I want him, and the rest of congress, to be stronger with convictions and getting the point across.

NO MORE DRAMA!

[laughingliberal]

79. "Democrat party?" nm

[saltpoint]

6. I hope people will consider volunteering time at their

local Democratic Party headquarters.

The help is always needed and the cause is a very good one -- you want more liberal U.S. Senators in the upper chamber? It has to start at the local level.

We have to continue to create a climate in which progressive ideals can be advanced.

Sitting it out don't cut it.

[Bluenorthwest]

45. Never under the bigoted Kaine, so forget it

Prejudiced leadership does not cut it. Anything I do will be directly for Progressive candidates who support equality. If you don't like that, and you shouldn't, you should be telling the leadership that they have alienated vital sources of volunteerism and failed to replace them with new volunteers.

[saltpoint]

49. I'm one volunteer among many, and in many

different Congressional districts across the country.

Same plan is open to just about anybody.

[MannyGoldstein]

7. We expected Obama to fight hard to meet his campaign promises

(and to not deny that he made those campaign promises!), to be truthful and aboveboard, to honor the rule of law, to implement programs based on evidence rather than guesses, to be a wise and cautious steward of our military, and to fight to restore power to the Middle Class.

Also - note that passing legislation does not equal reform, e.g., the 2,000+ page lobbyist-written financial bill is very different than, say, restoring Glass-Stegall.

Most everyone on this board will vote Democratic in November, but many others who are less passionate will sit this one out - just ask Martha Coakley about how that works.

[Chan790]

8. I have thought on these things.

And you're wrong.

The train analogy holds true. When you're on a train and it's about to plow into a school bus, you don't initiate reverse drive to slow momentum, you grab the brake cord and FULL STOP! If you're too lazy, incompetent or corrupt to do it, it might fall to the passengers to pull the brakes.

I'm hitting the brakes...I want a primary in 2012 and I want our Congressional leadership ousted from their posts in 2010 regardless of the outcome of the elections. I'm done with Obama, Reid and Pelosi. I cannot understand any Democrat who does not feel the same way.

[saltpoint]

9. This Democrat disagrees with you.

You can stomp out of the room if you want but there's good work left to do if you should change your mind and stay and help us do it.

[Chan790]

14. For us to do that work,...

our leadership has to stop being collaborationist quislings. I don't think that's going to happen, so they need to go away.

I like to think of this as the surgical approach. We're cutting away the dead flesh to stop the spread of the disease. When the rot is gone, I'll be there to clean the mess up too. The first step is not to facilitate the disease because non-treatment would be worse. (That's simply never true as much as you, malaise and pragmatic woodchucks want to argue otherwise.) The first step is to treat appropriately...in this case, it's with the scalpel. If it spreads much further, we're gonna need the bone-saw too.

[saltpoint]

16. No sale.

You aren't going to cut away anything.

There's no mechanism for dismissing party leadership once actual voters have returned those people to office. Reid is up for re-election; it appears he has a better-than-average chance of defeating the GOP nutbag nominated to run against him. He may retain the leadership job, or not, but in any case, the process is the point. There's no arbitrary "screen change."

You talk a tough game but I see no plan in place.

[Chan790]

24. How about...

when I called my congressman and told him if he wanted my vote...I wanted Pelosi ousted from the Speaker's seat if we held the House.

His response was that he didn't support her for Speaker the first time. (Which I knew. I was hoping he'd take up the flag to lead the "boot her" campaign. I respect his response. It's coy and doesn't commit him to anything, but makes it really clear what his feelings are.) Her term ends with the Congress...if she wins her race and if we hold the House, the Democratic House membership can (and should) vote to replace her as Speaker. She doesn't just continue in that role, she has to be voted/affirmed into it in what is typically a procedural vote in the situation where control of the House has not changed.

Reid's just a cowardly lion. I think if he saw those around him bolstering to go on the attack, he'd find his guts. He really seems thwarted by the status-quo.

Moderates need to learn that we will not have their backs if they don't self-police out those to the right of the center-left.

I still want a primary in 2012. Obama I have less and less respect for with every passing day. If the election was tomorrow, I'd be writing in Eugene Debs in my safe Democratic state.

[saltpoint]

26. Nope. You were right to phone up your Congressman

but out of play when you expected the outcome you presented. Real people vote for their representatives. Once they're in office they are asked to decide their own caucus leadership.

Pelosi used to be my Congresswoman. I liked her then. I like her now. A lot.

I think you may underestimate Harry Reid. There's more than a little of the boxer left in the guy.

There's nothing stopping a primary challenge from the left against President Obama in 2012 except history and common sense. I like Debs too but his death would appear to cast a pall over his chances.

[dionysus]

42. who do you want to see run?

[Atticus]

101. Your analogy is lazy and dishonest.

A train can't turn or do anything except follow the track it is on---or stop. Further, why not fill the school bus with adorable orphans and beagle puppies? That would be even more distracting and irrelevant.

A better analogy is a bus. We're riding the bus and it's in Chicago. We want the bus to take us to Washington, DC by way of Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Annapolis. The bus driver wants to go to DC by way of Memphis, Nashville, Atlanta and Richmond.

We leave the DC-bound bus and board another bus and ride to San Diego where we disembark and claim surprise that we are on the wrong coast. We then blame the first bus driver and his passengers.

[t0dd]

104. +1

:applause:

[MyNameGoesHere]

10. Happy? I would say am amused

at the progress so far. Of course I never believed a word of the change mantra. I knew it was impossible. There is only one way for a populace to implement radical change. Many have written and been a part of that type of change, Americans will not because it is alien to their make up. There will be no change in this country until the populace are truly revolted by the so called government of the people.

[Steely_Dan]

98. I Fear That You Are Right....n/t

[elocs]

11. So, there is nothing with which you are disappointed about concerning Obama?

Promises that he made or inferred that were not kept? Too much compromise with Republicans when he had large majorities?

There are many who enthusiastically supported Obama based upon what they perceived was his ideology and what he would do when elected. I think they might have a right to feel a little disappointed and to express that. Based upon his campaign for change and its rhetoric I think many hoped that they would have a president who would be bold and inspire them rather than to just tell them to keep fighting.

Yes, Obama did inherit a mess and it would be dishonest to claim he has done nothing, but at the same time it should be easy to understand how some may be less than happy with his decisions and direction compared to what they thought they would get. The hope was for a bold leader who would stand up for our ideology who would draw a line in the sand and say, "No further" rather than compromising to move the line to get something, anything.

Troubles are a time for greatness to rise to the top and assert itself.

[treestar]

55. do you go out of your way to look for ways to be disappointed?

You mean we have to look for something and go on about it instead of being happy about what we did get?

Are you disappointed in your children? Employees? Friends? There must be something you are disappointed about.

[elocs]

69. No, but neither do I ignore them. This is politics and nobody gets a free pass.

Politicians are accountable to their electorate. Obama is no different and he will have problems if the ones who brought him perceive that he chose not to dance with them after having courted their votes.

[madokie]

12. Thank you, Thats as simple as it can be put

Recommended

[Chan790]

17. Simple, direct and wrong.

I un-recommended it to cancel you out.

[madokie]

50. Well bless you

[T Wolf]

13. I am so sick of the "he's only been in office..." and "can't undo 30 years..." bullshit coming

from those who defend the policies pushed by this administration and the Dems in Congress.

You are only missing the "pony" and "IBTL" pieces of the loyalty-demand credo.

It is not the (lack of) accomplishment that we are complaining about - it is the fucking direction that Obama and the Dems are trying to take policy.

Time after time after time after fucking time, the policies that most here vehemently and sincerely (I thought) railed against when Bush was in charge are continued or enhanced, with full support by the hope and change crowd. A (very) few crumbs are allowed to slip off the table down onto the floor, to be ravenously scarfed up by those still thinking we elected a liberal. Those of us with consistent standards see them for the meaningless eye-candy they are.

We have been fighting for change. The administration - not so much.

[Chan790]

18. Yup.

We have been fighting for change, they have not.

[saltpoint]

40. So you're using a different calendar than the folks who

make that claim?

Their arithmetic seems to check out pretty good, actually. They say he's been in office so long and it turns out they're right.

He hasn't been in office for any shorter period of time than that nor any longer.

Presidents interact with design and chance to shape their administrations, and by any model, Obama's first many months have been very impressive.

This past week Al Franken told progressives, "You can't check out now." I think he's right.

[T Wolf]

62. Senator Franken said he "needed more progressive Senators." Now, someone tell me how

reelecting a DINO/BlueDog/ConservaDem will increase the number of Progressives in Congress.

All that action does is reinforce them for abandoning (if they ever believed in) Democratic principles.

[saltpoint]

93. If we agree that Franken is right -- that more

progressive Senators are needed -- then the climate by which those sort os Senators are elected (and supported) requires increased investment of time and toil.

A statewide ballot is a big deal, but it is often decided on an extremely local level of energy and investment.

The presidency is a far larger landscape.

[treestar]

56. How are you fighting for this?

Where the administration has not?

[zipplewrath]

15. No, nor continue them either

My biggest problem with Obama isn't what he hasn't done, although there is definitely some justifiable criticism there. It is the things he HAS done.

And I also reject your false dichotomy. There are vastly more things I can do that the two measly ones you mention.

[alc]

19. I understand why some things haven't happened

It's hard to undo many things and he needs congress to help with other things.

But he is in complete control of other issues that were/are very important to me
* Transparency
* Not hiring lobbyists
* Not using signing statements
* Not making secret agreements with pharma

Basically, restoring trust in the executive branch. If I don't have that basic trust it's hard to accept that he is doing all he can for gitmo, dadt, marriage, wiretapping, torture, wall street, wars, and on and on. Or maybe he's doing all he can, but not for us.

[laughingliberal]

81. I'll second all that and raise you a putting so many conservatives in key positions in his WH. nt

[mmonk]

20. It's not we are unhappy with change, but rather continued slide

in ideology surrounding education, wages, war, executive power, and secrecy.

[Tailormyst]

21. As long as people like you continue to be frightened into voting in this way

NOTHING will ever change. You spend your lives so frightened of the RW boogeyman that your own party works against your best interest and like a good battered spouse you just take it. 2 years ago I was you. Then I woke the fuck up and realized how America was being played by the people we are led to believe that WE put in power. Rarely is it much of a choice and the rare time that we think it is....well it was just a bait and switch, more of the same, corporate rule.

[saltpoint]

22. Do give us your plan, Tailormyst.

You throw accusations around but offer no meaningful solution, no practical blueprint.

Let's hear it.

[Tailormyst]

25. Oh yes- now I can't have an opinion without posting my thesis on how to fix it

Go jump in a lake.

[saltpoint]

27. I didn't think you had a proposal.

You mischaracterize the original poster and offer no alternative plan.

[Tailormyst]

33. I mischaracterized nothing and am not required to provide a plan

Off to ignore you go.

[saltpoint]

35. Aw heck, and we were just becoming good pals.

- - -

You should do a search on the original poster's contributions to this site.

If you did, you would be forced to concede that you did in fact mischaracterize.

[dionysus]

43. nope, just ceaseless bitter complaining.

:rofl:

[frylock]

85. plans have been submitted..

said plans have been deemed insensible and unpragmatic.

[asdjrocky]

23. I'm sorry man.

With all due respect, I'm not buying that any more.

[bobbolink]

29. uh-oh...dissension in the ranks.

They're tossing a lot of us out, eh?

When they realize they actually NEED us, there will be a lot of gnashing of teeth.

I *hate* the sound of gnashing of teeth.

:hi: :pals:

[Tailormyst]

36. Sorry but you are not allowed your opinion without a corresponding plan to fix things

or so I have been told. You're supposed to shut up, drink the kool aid and put on your Obama campaign pin.

:sarcasm:

[asdjrocky]

39. Yeah, our ideas are irrelevant, but our participation is mandatory.

2 parties + no difference between the two = Change?

Maybe in bazaro world.

[whyverne]

28. Y'know, that French Resistance really sucked.

They never did beat the Nazis.

[NorthCarolina]

30. Simply voting for Dems won't bring change as long as the DLC New Dems

are setting the agenda.

[n2doc]

31. My dear malaise

What makes you think he is trying to change things? I see no evidence in the big things that are killing this country- the wars, and the economic injustices.

Bush was able to do all sorts of crap without asking Congress or anybody if he had the power or right to do so.


I want to see evidence of Obama's willingness to fight for the Left. For real change. Even if he loses battles in the process.

[malaise]

38. Like you the wars, the economic injustice and Gitmo

depress me no end, but in a situation where the plutocrats can sabotage government, change is much harder than we believe. I too want more but there will be even less if ReTHUGS make gains.

[n2doc]

41. Agree- there is no reason to vote for the RW

I think the anger you see is the feeling that we lefties have no where to turn. When Bush was in office at least one had the hope that his successor would try to change things. Now, all we are left with is a choice between status quo and madness.

I also am increasingly feeling like the best we can do is maintain the status quo for 6 more years before we get another chance at "change".

[Tailormyst]

48. Let me ask you this:

If the Dems continue to move to the right and continue to work for the best interests of the corporations when do we say enough? When do we finally say STOP with enough force that they listen? Right now they are not listening to anyone but those with the money. When is it going to be bad enough that "but but but the repukes are worse" isn't going to be enough for us to continue to vote against our best interest?

The problem is that our representatives no longer fear the people and no longer feel beholden to them. I don't know what the solution is. I had hoped Obama would bring about a wave (even a slow one) of change, instead he has continued the move towards the right. I had hoped that getting the majority in both houses would bring about positive change. It has not.

How long do we wait before we say enough?

[harun]

32. He needed to destroy and attack RW ideology, not appease them.

[DainBramaged]

34. One with the Universe, one with the Universe...........

:rofl:


He broke a LOT of promises, and even though he accomplished a lot, his Minion Harry Reid has knuckled under way too many times and made him appear weak. The Pukes ALWAYS win in the press, and until we decide to become as nasty and aggressive as they are, we will be deemed weak.

[txlibdem]

37. It's only been 18 months

January 19, 2009 till now is 18 months.

What makes me frustrated is that Reid, Pellosi and a few others held a press conference just after the 2008 election and told us that they know what needs to be done and they know how to do it. But we see now that they don't know what to do at all.

They were there watching all along as the Rethugs gutted regulatory agencies yet the head of MMS who OK'd the BP oil well in the gulf was in there from Bush. Why didn't they immediately remove all the Bush lackies from these agencies?

"We're talking about eight years of the Bush administration, and many of the people appointed in the Bush administration are still burrowed in the agencies that are supposed to oversee the industry," Pelosi said.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0510/37868.html

That's just one example but shouldn't that have been obvious to the Dems coming in to office after the November 2008 elections?!?

[DailyGrind51]

47. Then why promise "change you can believe in", when you know it is unrealistic?

[Iggo]

51. I expected him to undo two years worth of damage in two years.

[Catherina]

52. Have the wars stopped yet? Have we stopped interfering in Central & Latin America?

Wake me up when we stop playing ball with rightwing ideology and the change starts.

[treestar]

54. As the OP points it, it's been 30 years?

YOur post sounds something like a child saying "Are we there yet?"

[TheKentuckian]

66. In thirty years under the current ideology, this country will be a hellhole

for common folks.

The current systems are crappy to suicidal and our current leaders are committed and all but fully bought into them. How many times during the campaign did I say I expected a twenty year turn around if we could keep the wind at our backs and our eyes on the prize?

We are digging the same damn Reagan hole as before but with half hearted efforts to use more precession tools than dynamite. Both parties lead us to a similar pass as we go now ours is mainly more inclusive. If we keep going as we are now we'll be the rainbow Ronnie party and the pukes will be the southern strategy Ronnie party and I'm not going to go along for such a ride.

This is not about instant gratification for me but a matter of direction and goals.

We are not building toward a more perfect Union but continuing to bring it down under more sane management. Change is cosmetic not systemic and I'm not obligated to pick up a shovel and sing spirituals as we labor on our path to hell.

We are leaving a worse world even if toss a bone or two to make it a little easier for a few people along the way and the other guys will just kick them.

This isn't even change I can suspend disbelief for, a bridge to nowhere. Our leadership is heavily compromised, they wear a collar.

[treestar]

53. Sadly that is the difference between the left and right wing

They never give up - they plot for 30 years and keep at it. They have long term vision and they know they are the ones on the ground who will do it, they don't sit back and blame Bush for not getting it all done while he had the powers of the UTMOST POTUS! :rofl: The bully pulpit for Bush did not get them laws against homosexuality and abortion and a Christian Nation by law. But they still have not abandoned the fight!

They use the R party for it, and don't threaten to create third right wing parties.

[Forkboy]

57. "They use the R party for it, and don't threaten to create third right wing parties."

Well, besides that whole Tea Party thing.

[malaise]

58. No the teaparty is the new trick replacing

the Xtian coalition since that failed and they publicly admitted that Brand ReTHUG had been thoroughly and utterly destroyed by Bushco and rejected by American people.

[Forkboy]

65. It is, but it's also setting itself up (even as a pretense) as something other than the GOP

The everyday Tea Baggers seems to know nothing about Dick Armey and the origins behind the party, they're just pissed that the GOP isn't crazier.

[malaise]

67. It's nothing without the lobbyists' who finance

the GOP. It's undiluted BS -smoke and mirrors. It is the GOP and their money boys who ensure that they have no leaders because it's their new way to whip up their moronic base of sheeple.

[treestar]

59. Are they really setting themselves up as a third party?

With their own party structure? Or as you just being cute?

[Forkboy]

64. Other than the Greens, what leftists have set themselves up as a third party?

And yes, I think the tea party would love to have a separate structure from the GOP. These people are so nuts that even the GOP isn't good enough. Overheard a Teabagger last week ranting on and on, not about Obama, but about the Republicans.

[spoony]

89. More boggers praising the right wing over the left.

Pathetic.

[LWolf]

60. No, I never expected any of those things.

I never expected Change I Could Believe In from Obama at all, because I always knew he didn't represent or support the change I wanted to see.

I'm happy to vote for any Dems who are fighting for the change I want.

[superduperfarleft]

63. This sort of thing is posted about twenty times a day on this board.

Did the exact same sentiment really warrant an OP?

[Ignis]

68. Are you calling Bill Clinton a RWer?

If not, I don't understand the "30 years of Right wing politics" comment. :shrug:

[LostinVA]

74. Good catch n/t

[jgraz]

70. Well, there has been one huge change

When Bush was in power, nobody felt the need to waste this board's bandwidth continually posting excuses for him.

[Morning Dew]

72. +1

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

75. +2!

[LostinVA]

76. +3

[JVS]

80. +4

[laughingliberal]

82. +5

Nor was any bandwidth wasted defending trickle down, corporate friendly economic policy.

[malaise]

96. I have never defended trickle down policies

or war or Gitmo.
That said it will take way more than two years to remove the stench of Bushco policies.

[jgraz]

106. It will take a helluva lot longer than two years if you never start

Or if you march in the wrong direction.

[Lorien]

84. Yep. nt

[Junkdrawer]

73. Summers, Geithner, Gates. That told me what to expect...

and I haven't been surprised.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

77. My first clue was Rahm, who did everything he could to stack the House

with pretenders.

[KoKo]

86. Yes...it was Rahm..and the rest of retreads from Wall St... n/t

[walldude]

78. How many times are people going to have to say that it's not

that Obama is "moving too slow" but that his administration is espousing anti-liberal ideas. Nuclear Energy, Offshore Drilling, The Patriot Act, Constitutional violations, bailouts, DADT, Wars.. Not to mention they show no spine whatsoever. That couldn't have been proven any better than in the Sherrod fiasco this week. It was already proven that Breitbart faked the ACORN video, yet Sherrod was fired without a moments hesitation on his word alone. This is simply too much for some liberals to sit there and cheer for.

[joeybee12]

83. I expected him to at least TRY n/t

[spoony]

90. Here's your choice: keep repeating talking points or don't.

I'd prefer you did the latter.

[RagAss]

91. He could have at least thrown the people who invented a war in jail.

At the very least.

[Winterblues]

92. If you can't walk the walk then don't talk the talk.

It wasn't me that said there would be Change...

[lib2DaBone]

94. Thanks for depressing me... more than I already was....

[Steely_Dan]

95. Oh, If It Were...

only that simple.

[Swamp Rat]

97. For me, anyway, things have changed for the worse.

Things were bad enough before the BP disaster in the Gulf, the closing of our university departments and degree programs, the closing of major industrials complexes (ship building, etc), and the poisoning of our air, water, and food here in Southern Louisiana.

Just as we were recovering from hurricane Katrina, something even bigger hit us.

[GOTV]

99. How long should it take to get rid of Bush cronies instead of ...

... putting them in charge of the economic clean up?

[Steely_Dan]

100. I Hope That...

those posts that state "it isn't what he has accomplished or not accomplished, it is the direction he is taking this country in" starts to sink in to those who think Pres. Obama is doing an excellent job.

It seems that the Obama supporters just don't quite get the argument. You state that it has been only 18 months and that it will take more time. THAT IS NOT THE ISSUE. We KNOW that the Bush policies that nearly destroyed this country is going to take time. ONE AGAIN...THAT IS NOT THE ISSUE. The issue is simple. You cannot continue the Bush policies and expect us to just sit back on not say anything.

I would rather have President Obama TRY and fail than not try at all.

We are talking about principle here. It's that simple. The tenets of our party are NOT being adhered to. This has nothing to do with how much he has accomplished in 18 months. There are plenty of examples of a President who has compromised the very principles of our party. It is either that he doesn't understand the very basics of what it is to be a Democrat or he is simply too inexperienced to do something as simple as "frame the argument." If you can't take control of the message you have failed the very basics of politics.

During the campaign he successfully articulated a vision of our country that (for the most part) was completely in line with what I believe is what the Democratic Party is about. Unfortunately, his actions since taking office do not match his campaign rhetoric.

You see, there are some "no brainer" decisions that have been before our President and our Congress...NO BRAINER. They have failed to adhere to the most basic of Democratic values.

It isn't what or how much he has accomplished...it is the countless times he has abandoned the very tenets that have made our party the Party of the People.

Here is FDR's Economic Bill Of Rights. It is probably the best description of the principles of our party that I have found.

Franklin D. Roosevelt
“The Economic Bill of Rights”

Excerpt from 11 January 1944 message to Congress on the State of the Union

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is our duty now to begin to lay the plans and determine the strategy for the winning of a lasting peace and the establishment of an American standard of living higher than ever before known. We cannot be content, no matter how high that general standard of living may be, if some fraction of our people—whether it be one-third or one-fifth or one-tenth—is ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed, and insecure.

This Republic had its beginning, and grew to its present strength, under the protection of certain inalienable political rights—among them the right of free speech, free press, free worship, trial by jury, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. They were our rights to life and liberty.

As our nation has grown in size and stature, however—as our industrial economy expanded—these political rights proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness.

We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. “Necessitous men are not free men.” People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.

In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all—regardless of station, race, or creed.

Among these are:

The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

The right of every family to a decent home;

The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

The right to a good education.

All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.

America’s own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for our citizens.
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These words were true then and they are true now. You can argue that we do not live in FDR's time. However, you would be hard pressed to convince me that these principles are not to remain as the guiding light for our Party.

I will not compromise the principles of our Party. These principles are bigger than any single individual, including the President.

-PLA

[ibegurpard]

102. Most excellent post!

bravo!

[malaise]

107. Good post but what exactly have been the principles of the party

from Clinton to now?

[Steely_Dan]

108. Excellent Point...

I don't know. However, maybe it's about time we go back to the original tenets of our party.

I can see where your question was largely rhetorical.

-PLA

[malaise]

110. All liberal and social democratic parties

have turned right - I agree with you we all need to get back to our roots - people.

[unkachuck]

103. "Think on these things"

....how long?

[rucky]

105. I thought this thread was going to be about menopause.

[Orsino]

109. "Surely, Comrades, you do not want Jones back?"

:eyes: