No room for progressives in the Democratic Party -- Where to now?

For any of you who believed that progressives could take control of the Democratic Party, today’s election of the Establishment’s candidate, Tom Perez, as party chair should dispel those illusions. Before his coronation, they also voted down a resolution that would have reinstated Obama’s ban on corporate PAC donations to the party. They defeated Resolution 33, which would have forbidden registered, federal corporate lobbyists from serving as DNC chair-appointed, at-large members. Wow! Where is Obi Wan Kenobi now?

I know that many share my belief that it is unfortunate that Bernie continues to argue for reform of the Democratic Party as the preferred model for fundamental change. Bernie and Our Revolution will continue to get the same sharp stick in the eye that he got in Philly. Unfortunately this will lead many to cynicism and passivity, after having held on too long to false hopes and faced defeat over and over again.

I understand the wish. With this move by the DNC, the probable outcome is that all those to the left of Steve Bannon will split into multiple factions, those trying to reform (hopelessly) the Dem Party and those who know there is no choice other than to take an independent path. I’m sure part of Bernie’s wishful attempt to reform the Democratic Party is due to his concern that attempts to go outside of it will be faced by opposition from both major parties and will be difficult to sustain. It may take a longer time to organize outside the 2 major parties (that is unless we leap forward by uniting the 99% as a united force for change). And we may have little time before the Trump administration completely erodes any semblance of democratic processes that still exist – e.g., the right to openly protest and demonstrate.

The irony is that the attempt to work outside the Duopoly would benefit from strong leadership – and Bernie could provide that – but he chooses not to. Nevertheless, I’ll never be an incrementalist. Like Marx, I believe that change happens in discontinuous leaps and sometimes unexpected breakthroughs -- when the window of history opens – and when people unite to exploit those opportunities for true change.

When Susan Sarandon quoted Leonard Cohen the other day, in her refutation of the neoliberal panderer, Chris Hayes, she said that it is the cracks in the system that allow the light to come through – and we must be that light.

So it’s important to identify these cracks as they occur and to use them as leverage for change. Other than the hard core right wing, at least half of Trump’s supporters can unite on a program that offers real benefits for the “forgotten” people – the ones the Woody Guthrie sang about (see below). Perhaps the move to revoke health benefits from those who tasted a bit of hope under the ACA will be one of those cracks. Perhaps the vision of storm troopers removing people with brain tumors from hospitals for deportation and attacking the peoples’ forces at Standing Rock will be another one of those cracks. Maybe banning the media from White House press conferences will cause some to ask new questions.

In our household we have a running debate. On the one hand, we’ve seen through the lies and deception of Establishment politicians for a long time, and we put no stock in the mythos of America as a global leader for peace and freedom. In fact, America has led in the opposite direction -- sponsoring endless invasions that have been carried out in all our names.

Many in the Trump movement, as well as those on the left, recognize that our democracy has been stolen by the 1%. They see the same problems but differ in what the solutions should be. Many, however, who voted for ‘Her’ don’t see the role that neoliberals play in this move to evict us from our basic human rights.

But I believe there is also still a commitment of many Americans to work for true democratic ideals – ideals that are compatible with democratic socialism – which involve protection of basic freedoms as well as expansion of core human rights to health care and to guaranteed basic incomes. We just have to get used to the fact that our fight to 'spread freedom' (as George Bush said so ungrammatically) has to be focused here and not abroad. My take in this argument is that even though Americans have seen their ideals corrupted and betrayed, nevertheless the upside of what passes as American exceptionalism is the notion that we have a responsibility and a mandate to fight for democracy in its truest form and to expand the rights of all people, not just some.

You know, when they shouted “America, love it or leave it” in the 70’s, my gut response was that people couldn’t tell me to leave because they don’t like what I stand for. Because It’s not their country – they don’t own it – well at least at that time they didn’t own it outright. The consolidation of the merger of finance capital with the power of the state has progressed in truly impressive fashion. Trump is the apotheosis of the ‘love it or leave it’ approach – he’d kick out anyone, from any place, who disagrees with him. Just as Hillary and the DNC did in Philadelphia.

In reading the essay on this board this morning about breaking points and seeing the comments about how much they are trying to break us, I must add to that stream the certainty that this cynical reassertion of the Hillary-bots in the DNC is one more boulder being hurled at the Left. Watching Donna Brazile chairing the meeting was all we needed to see in order to be certain of the outcome. (They actually played an infomercial about her a fighter for freedom while the vote for the new leader was occurring.)

We have to find a way to get beyond these breaking points and decide how best to concentrate our energies of resistance. Ms. Hillary appeared just like a hologram yesterday, again trying to co-opt the resistance with her “resist but persist” message.

I’m reminded of the forbidden lyrics from Woody’s This Land is Your Land. These have always been fighting words for me:

As I went walking I saw a sign there 
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing." 
But on the other side it didn't say nothing, 
That side was made for you and me.

In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people, 
By the relief office I seen my people; 
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking 
Is this land made for you and me?

Nobody living can ever stop me, 
As I go walking that freedom highway; 
Nobody living can ever make me turn back 
This land was made for you and me.
___________________________

Did you know that Woody wrote This Land as an alternative national anthem, because he had grown so weary of Kate Smith singing God Bless at America at public events?

I’m interested in what the caucus thinks about next steps. Should we work at forming a people’s party? Should we simply resist the Establishment at all points as a sort of negative dialectic? If so, does one participate in a united front with the Dems who mainly just want to re-assert their neoliberal candidates in 2018? Are these mutually exclusive choices? What principles should be guiding the decisions that the Left makes in deciding where best to use its energy? What audiences should be targeted in trying to reach others with alternative messages?

We will not be funded, a la the tea party, in this effort, and ‘the revolution will not be televised.’ It will have to depend upon grass roots determination and grit. I’m interested in some dialogue on this subject, because I’m committed to struggling and want to be united with the actions of the people in this caucus, wherever we may live and work.

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Not Henry Kissinger's picture

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The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?

RantingRooster's picture

We are going to have to do more than resist. We are going to have to burn some shit down. We can no longer play "nice". We've been doing that for decades and now we have heir trump, for a so called president. What we have been doing hasn't worked.

We must Dissent, Disobey, and most importantly, Disrupt.

Untill the billionare class feels the possibility of poverty or death is real to them, their way of life and their ill gotten gains, nothing will change. We must overturnthe apple cart at every opportunity and be exceptionally unapologitic about it. Now is not the time for "safe spaces" or people that get "triggered" by harsh language / tactics.

They have already declared war on us, now is the time to really fight back. And if we have to get violent, so be it. They are killing us already (literally) and we are only crying about it (protests). It is not enough to "resist", it is time to fight back, and kick some billionare's collective asses.

We only have our selves to count on. The media doesnt give a hoot, nor to our political parties, who just want power to rape and fleece the people even more.

The so called rule of law, doesn't exist. The constitution is a fricking joke.

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C99, my refuge from an insane world. #ForceTheVote

zett's picture

@RantingRooster I totally agree with you. I'd prefer if we could find some way to harm the oligarchy by monkey wrenching and sneak attacks. We'd be mowed straight down if we tried to march on them with pitchforks.

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jwa13's picture

@zett ... and I didn't vote for The $Hill either. Still admire Bernie, though; wonder what kinds of threats had to be issued to get him to fall in line?

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When Cicero had finished speaking, the people said “How well he spoke”.
When Demosthenes had finished speaking, the people said “Let us march”.

Alligator Ed's picture

@zett

Like Marx, I believe that change happens in discontinuous leaps and sometimes unexpected breakthroughs -- when the window of history opens – and when people unite to exploit those opportunities for true change.

The window of history is opening because the Overton window can no longer stand the strain of such distortion. There is no dialectic here. Dialectic is triangulation. The triangle must be shattered. A linear approach to the current mess will not solve it. Disruption is never linear. We are experiencing seismic waves now--I think they are foreshocks, not aftershocks. More is coming. I and many others here have acknowledged that the Democratic party is beyond repair.

Quo vadis?

I don't know but it won't be pretty. When the Republicans start destroying ACA, people will start dying in great numbers. When coastal cities start drowning, the deniers will stop denying (too late).
When drinking water turns brown as in Flint or ignites as in Texas, will people see the real problem?

People say Trump is basically no different than the other war criminals who have recently occupied the WH, but they're wrong. He is so flagrant that he serves as a catalyst for a massive chain reaction, that has not yet reached critical mass.

If the Democrats continue their losing ways, and they still show no signs of learning from their mistakes, they will lose even more seats in congress and in state houses. when they cannot even muster 1/3rd of House seats, the Dumbocrats will cease to be a political party.

What comes after DEMOlition, will be a split in the Repugnants to fill the void. Tea-party and libertarians on one side and establishment types on the other side.

If the enraged electorate fails to maintain its anger in 2018, further Dumbopcratic losses are inevitable. It will be then that a potentially viable third party will start coalescing.

Fine essay, MsDidi. Thanks.

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@RantingRooster all this 'resist' crap anyway?

IMO, it's just a diversion from the failure that is the dems, just the dems sucking up people into false activism.

Anyone with half a brain should realize that the only worthwhile effort is to get power, and the only way to do that is to get the right people elected. (well, notwithstanding the entrenched power that wants war with Russia).

Letter writing campaigns? Big fat protests? Big deal - they mean nothing to those in power.

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dfarrah

and that matters for the same reason that Hillary had female genitals.

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Strife Delivery's picture

@gjohnsit Yeah so tired of hearing that Perez is awesome for the job cause now we have a Latino!!

Wooo.....

Hooray....

Also somehow he is a progressive?

But yeah LATINO!!!!!

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Mark from Queens's picture

I'm with you about the need for a third party rooted in the sound fundamentals of Democratic Socialism. Some think the term is still weighted negatively, but I'm not so sure. The youth vote, which Bernie won in a landslide, is on the side of socialism. And if things continue in a morass of economic insecurity it will only strengthen. They're the future.

In any event, it does seem there's a golden opportunity for a third party, which would serve as a home for perennial Independents who have refused the charade of the two-party system, sane Republicans disgusted with the banks' criminality/chronic under-unemployment/rising healthcare costs/distrust of Congress, etc, and LW Progressive/Bernie voters spit upon over and over by the Neoliberal DNC.

Still have a little soft spot for the Draft Bernie thing. But not sure if he wore out the enormous gravitas he had during the primary by making a couple of unfortunate decisions afterward.

Nice job with a well-rounded essay. Your cultural touchstones piqued me as well.

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"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"

- Kurt Vonnegut

... I’m sure part of Bernie’s wishful attempt to reform the Democratic Party is due to his concern that attempts to go outside of it will be faced by opposition from both major parties and will be difficult to sustain. It may take a longer time to organize outside the 2 major parties (that is unless we leap forward by uniting the 99% as a united force for change). And we may have little time before the Trump administration completely erodes any semblance of democratic processes that still exist – e.g., the right to openly protest and demonstrate. ...

Seems to me that protesters are only allowed that basic right in safety when it suits the purposes of TPTB, and that it's been that way for some time... not such a big step further to let those militarized police and their military weapons completely loose on those terroristic Raging Grannies.

Personally, I suspect that Homeland InSecurity taking all electoral processes and information out of the public purview and into Top Secret territory, making citizen or other independent oversight/verification of results/observation of evidence of electoral fraud virtually impossible, (and possibly any questioning of unlikely/impossible declared results made 'illegal') may be playing into this as well.

Why start a party which you know will be automatically nobbled and prevented from ever gaining public offices right from the closely controlled voting booth? In such a case, trying to bring sane blood into one of the corrupt parties while keeping the concept of democracy alive in the public heart and mind by using that party and corporate media to do so may be the only available useful options at the moment.

Even if you have to sacrifice yourself to the point of mouthing party propaganda which you fortunately that know your supporters and other informed people would never swallow, in order to retain the ability to do what you can, any way you can, to try to assist your people and country in any possible form.

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.