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Thursday, November 18, 2004
November 3rd Theses
From John McAndrews: My apologies if you've already seen this, but I think it's worth risking the duplication to make sure this succinct, pointed assessment of where the Democratic Party is and needs to go is widely distributed. Read in conjunction with Garrison Keillor's Homegrown Democrat and George Lakoff's Don't Think of an Elephant.
The November 3rd Theses were developed by a group of Washington DC activists concerned about the future of the Democratic Party:
They hung the poster on the door at their local Democratic Party office. You can check out their website and blog here, which tells the story.
What do you think about the theses presented? What are your thoughts about the future of the Democratic Party? Some of our DFA/DFNM Meetup members are thinking about forming a reading/discussion group and perhaps featuring the George Lakoff book to kick things off. What are your thoughts on this? Would you be interested in such a group?
Come on, be brave and comment on this post!
November 18, 2004 at 01:35 PM in Democratic Party | Permalink
Comments
The following is what I just sent to the DNC in response to their gutless e-mail response to thousands of comments given to them by volunteers who have busted their butts for a party leadership that has done nothing for them in recent memory:
These are the things I find most appalling: that no one in the DLC or DNC has resigned in the aftermath of these elections; that you had the gall to select for your web site only those comments which do not reflect poorly on the party leadership; and that you have made no mention of the issues concerning most rank and file Dems right now: the flawed, if not felonious, presidential election results, your candidate's over-eager desire to concede the election, and his self-silencing since November 3rd.
It's time for housecleaning at the DNC, the eviction of those Dems who are regularly toasted at Republican dinner parties for their contributions - whether by design or ineptitude - to the Republican cause.
It remains to be seen if the American people have the dedication and stamina to battle those who are supposed to be our allies and who have failed us so miserably and for so long. We should be fighting other battles. But if I were in an office at the DNC or DLC, I wouldn't sign an extension of my lease. And if I were an incumbent Democratic office-holder, I wouldn't assume that my seat is any more safe than Tom Daschle's was, even when it comes to primaries.
You assert your commitment to fight George W. Bush's Supreme Court nominees, yet Senator Leahy has already said that he "likes" Alberto Gonzalez, the White House Counsel who regards the Geneva Convention's provisions against torture as "quaint", and who is now the Bush nominee for Attorney General. Looks to me like appeasement, as when most Democrats supported President Bush's war on Iraq, the same kind of appeasement as when not a single Senator supported the members of the Black Congressional Caucus when they looked for an ally after the disenfranchisement of the African American voters in the 2000 election in Florida.
You say "The Court fight encompasses the values we stand for and fought so hard for during the Election," but I've noticed for some time now that, however often you invoke those values, you never, ever say what those values are. The closest you will come is to say what Republicans believe, and then you bellow that "That is not what we Democrats believe," as if expecting a roar of approval instead of the murmur of uncertainty which has lately been greeting such tepid proclamations.
To paraphrase Proverbs, without a vision the party will perish. The people, however, will not perish without the party. We will endure the hardships faced by those whose champions abandon the field outright or through dearth of preparation for battle. But we will seek to nourish the promises which this nation has never quite lived up to, even if we have to do it block by block, neighbor to neighbor, even if we have to construct our own homegrown foreign policy. We have already formed other organizations - MoveOn, America Coming Together, Democracy for America, to name just a few - in order to compensate for the work which you have proven unable or unwilling to accomplish. We have leaders worth following, we notice who makes the best use of the money we have sacrificed for our country - and we produce better advertisements for our cause than you do! If you will represent us, we will be grateful for your assistance. If you continue to be a political roadblock, if you won't work with us, we will work around you. Because if you can't beat the weakest imaginable Republican presidential candidate - either in his first effort, or when he runs again on an abysmal record - then to what possible purpose can we put you?
Run, then, DNC, either to get in shape, or to get out of our way.
Sincerely,
John McAndrew
Posted by: John McAndrew | Nov 18, 2004 6:05:02 PM
Hear hear.
Posted by: Robert Lawry | Nov 19, 2004 8:35:18 AM
I completely agree.
There is also the issue of campaign contributions. On Friday, October 29 Kerry sent an 11th-hour SOS requesting campaign contributions. I sent $100 thinking that it was going to be used for recounts, etc. Kerry wimped out on Nov. 3 and now has $45 million. Those of us who are supporting the election investigations in OH and FL now have to come up with the money for these, too.
Harry Reid, the new Senate minority leader, is against abortion. Is this an indication that the Democratic leadership has abandoned pro-choice?
In addition, Bill Clinton has been called one of the best Republican presidents we ever had. We are experiencing the impact of his presidency now with the outsourcing of jobs to Mexico (NAFTA) and the opening of trade with China.
Combined with Wal-Mart's huge dominance of the retail industry (see this week's Frontline https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/) and that company's forcing its manufacturers to sell to Wal-Mart at the cheapest price possible, U.S. manufacturers had to outsource - first to Mexico and then to China.
They built the huge factories on the U.S./Mexican border and tens of thousands of workers came from Mexico, Central and South America to work there. Now the source of cheap labor is in China, the Mexican factories are closing and those workers are streaming across the border into the U.S. to find work.
Through the port at Long Beach alone, China is exporting $36 billion of goods annually to the U.S. and we are exporting $3 billion in return mostly of cotton, hides, scrap metal and scrap paper (Hedrick Smith, the moderator of the Frontline Wal-Mart program, observed that these types of exports would categorize the U.S. as a third-world country!).
China is also building an oil pipe-line to Kazakhstan and is the number one customer of Iran for oil and natural gas. If Bush is really serious about attacking or putting sanctions on Iran, you can bet he is going to be getting a call from Wal-Mart. Also, China has nuclear weapons and would probably support Iran with that kind of military leverage.
The U.S. manufacturing jobs have gone to China and the high-tech computer jobs have gone to India. Bush has been talking about using the community colleges to retrain people. The community colleges were set up to train people in computer skills and those jobs have now been outsourced. So what are people going to do for work?
People need to wake up and understand that we are no longer the greatest economic nation in the world. Our natural resources are gone and we have no internationally marketable labor resources.
Bush has invaded Iraq to take over the oil there to give him and his corporate supporters economic leverage.
I believe he is giving the huge tax cuts to the wealthy and the corporations to give them some padding for the recession or depression he sees coming in this country.
Posted by: Andrea Sterling | Nov 19, 2004 1:21:45 PM
John, you da' man. Let join forces everyone and go down to our Democratic Party meetings this winter and TAKE THE DAMN THING OVER! Look what the inbred facist hillbillies did with the once great Rebublican party. We will do the same. We are coming and we ain't gonna be nice about it. Anyone ever seen the movie "The Handmaidens' Tale"? Or "Clockwork Orange"? Well, I am the liberal with the M-16 if that's what the bastards want. But let us first PREVENT the end of rebublican democracy and get involved NOW, because as much as I would enjoy watching the hateful bastards brains splatter all over the ground, I really prefer trying Ghandis' methodology first. Let's move NOW and let's be diciplined about it.
Posted by: Michael Mills | Nov 19, 2004 8:58:45 PM
Whoa, Michael. I'm glad you prefer Gandhi's approach, but I'd recommend renting some Bruce Willis movies or a punching bag and getting the testosterone down to a manageable level. I applaud your passion for change in the party and the country, but keep those pistols in their holsters, bud! Disciplined strength and passion are what we'll be needing in the months ahead. And try to keep from calling our fellow citizens "inbred fascist hillbillies": you might want to run for office someday, and it'd be a damn shame for a quotation like that to come back and kick you off the campaign trail.
Posted by: John McAndrew | Nov 19, 2004 10:34:00 PM
Draft Freedom: Stand up for freedom from the draft.
Draft Freedom is an example of reframing through use of words and images.
1. Does not “look” anti-war (recenters our positions)
2. Targeted outside of the Reform Democrat (liberal) wing of politics – reaches new people
2. Red-white-blue patriotic feel to the site (but not on defensive terms)
4. No "resistance", "dodgers" – instead focuses on freedom and American values
While the site is in development currently, it can serve as an example of discourse framing.
Posted by: Tom Kertes | Nov 20, 2004 3:29:34 PM
