Creating a party within a party

[Exilednight]

One thing I have learned from the Tea Party is that they know how to organize, frame debates, and get the attention to make others listen. Although I don’t always agree with their tactics or stance on issues, I am not above learning from those that I don’t agree with.
The Tea Party has racked up an impressive list of victories over the past year. From this, we on the left can learn a few things about organizing and messaging.

With that in mind, I would like to suggest that we on the left do the same. Our ideas are not outside of mainstream thought and deserve to be heard just as loudly as those on the right. We deserve the right to be heard, we deserve the right to have equal access to government as big corporations and we deserve the right to have our elected leaders take our ideas seriously and not be swept away as out of the mainstream.

Many elected pols on the left govern by opinion poll. Groups like the Tea Party have figured out how to sway public opinion when it’s against them, and to hold public opinion when it’s on their side. Yet, much of our leadership on the left refuses to fight back and help build consensus for good ideas or lack the political will to govern against public opinion, even when those ideas are the right decisions and will help strengthen America now and for future generations.

Too often, our leadership has failed us, and the only way to get them to lead is to force them to lead.
Creating third party candidacies has gotten us nowhere. Bullying tactics by the likes of Rahm Emanuel and other DLC types have managed to quiet dissent within the party. Triangulation techniques used by former President Bill Clinton and President Obama have failed to produced results that make a real difference in everyday life.

The only option left is to build a party within the Democratic Party, much in the same way the Tea Party built a party within the Republican Party. We need to build a unified cohesive message that reflect our core values, and is willing to fight for those values.
We need to build an apparatus within the party that will not be intimidated by the likes of DLC types, middle-of-the-road Democrats, Conserva-Dems and the Blue Dog constituency.

We need to fight to protect the middle-class, help the poor rise out of poverty, secure our civil liberties, build foreign policy relationships on peace – not war. We need to make a quality education available to all people. When we speak of “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”, we need to make sure that it’s a quality life that excludes no one from quality health care and without being forced to line the pockets of big corporations, and secures a woman’s choice. We need to hold workers rights as sacred as Republicans hold sacred the second amendment.

The Democratic Party is consistently playing catch-up to Republicans. Republicans are quick to frame the debate and come up with catchphrases that often stick within the American political lexicon (death tax, death panels, tax and spend, take away your money, etc etc…). Our current leadership is proof positive that the current Democratic messaging campaign is failing. President Obama failed to get ahead of HCR and allowed Republicans to frame the debate with negative incantations. The same can be said of Guantanamo, trials for terror suspects, Bush era tax cuts, torture, wireless wiretapping, immigration and green energy.

We need to stop playing catch-up and get ahead of the curve and take the fight to the Democrats. We need to hold our leadership accountable and those that don’t listen need to be replaced by those that will listen to our concerns.

One thing the GOP does well is nominate those that are of the same ideological mind as their base. They nominate CEOs, small business owners, and high ranking executives of large corporations. We need to start rethinking the types of leaders we nominate. If Republicans can nominate CEOs and small business owners, why can’t we nominate teachers and labor leaders?

In the end, this is our party. Liberals and progressives have been the backbone of this party. We fought the fights that no one else would. We stood the ground that no one else wanted to. We pushed those that didn’t want to be pushed.
It’s once again time to do the work that no one else wants to do. Let’s build our party within a party and take back what belongs to the people. We need to organize, frame the debates and make people listen.

With the 2012 elections around the corner, it’s now or never!

First part of the party platform: The Economy

[boston bean]

1. Too many "progressives" are happy with the status quo.

They will not help lead the party in a better direction.

They follow the Party.

Why, FEAR. FEAR of Republicans. They don't care if the whole country is ruined by these policies the Democratic Party continues to cave into. As long as there is a D after someone's name, it is best.

They got nothing more than that.

They would prefer a slow death, instead of fighting for our lives.

[Exilednight]

2. I believe there is some truth to what you say, but I also believe that there are those

that are unhappy and willing to fight the fight, but lack any cohesive organization.

No one is going to build a system for us, we have to build it ourselves, and this is the first step.

[boston bean]

3. I agree and i didn't mean to quash any idea. I think it could be done, for sure!

Just that there are so many who are just so fuckin apathetic and looking for an easy route.

When there is no easy route.

[Exilednight]

18. No easy route, for sure. But change only happens if we make it happen. n/t

[kentuck]

4. A creative thought but...

it would not be acceptable to the moderates in the Party. You would be disowned if you tried such a trick. You are either with us or against us. Creative ideas to rebuild our Party for the better are frowned upon in this establishment.

[Exilednight]

7. I'm willing to take the heat, and I think many liberals/progressives who

are dissatisfied with the status-quo are willing to be disowned in the short run. We're already being bullied by the DLC types. It's time to fight back.

I'd rather fight and lose, than lose without a fight.

[alsame]

8. Exactly, kentuck. Could you even imagine

a GOP Press Secretary criticizing the "Professional Right"?

[mmonk]

5. I think if Union leaders became more independent, they could

marshall their resources to exert more influence. The same with social and civil rights organizations. If they don't decouple from the party leadership, they will be consumed and removed by the third way ideology.

[boston bean]

6. that is a good thought.

and it might work.

[mmonk]

9. Thanks. In my opinion, it is our only chance.

If they never change, then the pendulum will never swing back.

[Exilednight]

13. Then we should start identifiying these leaders and

show them we are willing to organize on their behalf.

[mmonk]

19. I agree.

[KharmaTrain]

10. Astroturf Vs. Grassroots

The teabaggers were created with lots of money...whipped up by a television network and its "legitmacy" determined by the other networks. It's always been an anomoly as there are no Democratic teabaggers...only rushpublicans. Also...follow the money. Between the Kochs, Chamber of Commerce and other third parties, the noise was amped up further while Democratic voters stayed home and the more the teabaggers made noise the more it appeared to depress Democrats...enough to make the difference in last year's elections. Had there been a 10% increase in young and minority voters, results last year would have been a bit different.

Democratic groups are more from the "grassroots"...but from different directions and sometimes in conflict with one another. We're starting to see an awakening of the labor movement...but look what it has taken. And there's still a lot of competition and animosity between unions that make solidarity difficult and allowed the corporates to wedge and then marginalize them. Other groups that tend to focus on one issue...be it against the wars or GLBT equality or environmental matters...a lot of worth causes but also competing with whose cause is more worthy...or that if their issues are neglected then the entire party is a failure.

The one thing we can learn from the teabaggers is the value of supporting and getting your local candidates elected. Working harder to get their people to the polls and to make the difference in the smaller elections. If Progressives want a bigger seat at the table, they have to do it with more votes both at the ballot box and then in the House and Senate.

One will hope that with a big ticket election next year and a lot of working class folks getting real pissed at the over reaches of the teabaggers and their big money bosses, this should make for many opportunities to organize and support Progressive candidates next year.

[Exilednight]

11. You hit the nail on the head. There is too much infighting between groups

seeking attention to their cause, but there doesn't need to be.

In the end, we are all in this together. We need to realize that each part of government is linked together. A win for one is a win for all and a loss for one is a loss for all.

[boston bean]

12. just goes to show you how the Democratic party is fueled by $$

versus principle.

Because if there was something in it for them, they would be astroturfing all over the place.

[KharmaTrain]

14. Principal Doesn't Win Elections...Money Does

Until there's some massive sea change, we now have the best government money can buy and the price keeps going up. Next year it's gonna cost each Congresscritter a minimum of $1 million and the Senate $10 million (in many cases a lot more)...just to be competitive. Where does that money come from? For many they can't count on the $25 and $50 donors and need those who can write the big checks. Thus those people get their calls answered and their issues addressed. The electorate only matters in the short windows before elections AFTER the money has been collected.

While I wish we had a far different system where the non-stop campaign season was limited, just like the British, to only 90 days before the election, that's not about to happen (thank-you Citizens United). Damn right the party is fueled by money cause that's the only way they can buy the teevee time and organize the large staffs to run an effective campaign...especially against a super well funded rushpublican machine.

[Exilednight]

17. For there to be a sea change, there has to be the beginning of a swell, and either we can

begin creating the swell, or wait for something to never happen.

[DemocratAholic]

15. we had this once with MoveOn

Anyone remember MoveOn.org? Wow. It seems at one time it was such a powerful progressive organization. I honestly do not know what has become of it, why it suddenly drifted off into the sunset after 2008. It seems like every e-mail I get from them now is simply asking for donations. When it first started out, it seemed like the most important thing was being a progressive voice and supporting progressive causes and candidates. Asking for donations seemed to be a secondary concern for them. Is that because they have run out of money? The only time it really seemed to come alive in the past 2 years was during the primary with Blanche Lincoln, meanwhile it was butting heads with Obama.

It was much easier creating an organization like MoveOn when George W. Bush was in the White House. Obama or H. Clinton would have gladly taken their support in 2008, and the Democratic Party as a whole seemed very supportive of it. I don't think the party apparatus is too keen on an organization like that emerging now. Dissent within the party is frowned upon, and you are very correct in stating that those who do are bullied.

At the very least, a progressive organization within the Party could give a voice and hope to those who are feeling dissatisfied thinking it has moved too far to the right. I think it would be very wise to give those people some hope, and the feeling that their opinions are heard and do matter, and not simply take them for granted. I really fear what is going to happen with Democratic candidates in 2012. Obama seems to have a campaign strategy and lots of money for his own re-election, but I don't think it is going to benefit other Democrats.

I hope with this new DNC chair, we are going to see some changes, and focus on a message for the party as a whole.

[Exilednight]

16. MoveOn.org was beaten down by the DLCers. Rahm threatened to

cut them off from White House staffers unless they stopped criticizing the president.

As far as the DNC chair, meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Obama is not going to put anyone in charge of the DNC who is going to push back against his "accomplishments" and hold him accountable to his words.

This is why we need an independent party within the Democratic Party. One that can not and will not be bullied by the keepers of the status-quo.