The folks who currently own the Democratic Party are busy "taking it back"
The big news this week is apparently that while all the nice liberals were busy planning protests against a President who won't have done anything yet, the nice people whose campaign blunders gave us this President have been very busy keeping the Democratic Party in their own hands.
So for instance we have this piece, from Counterpunch:
The DNC Hands the Democratic Party Over to David Brock and Billionaire Donors
Here's the important quote:
Despite formal complaints, a lawsuit, and ethical concerns, billionaire donor and close ally to former DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Stephen Bittel was elected by the Florida Democratic Party establishment to serve as its new Chair on January 14. Next weekend in Florida, billionaire donors will gain even more ground in the Democratic Party at a private retreat hosted by Clinton propagandist David Brock, where each candidate for the new DNC Chair will participate in a forum to woo support from the Democratic Party’s donors.
The main candidates, then, are going to be vetted by the rich folks, and then we will see whose career will score the big cash and whose career won't.
So who are the main candidates? Politico offers an answer: Keith Ellison, the Representative from Minnesota, and Tom Perez. Ellison, btw, would prefer to be thought of as the "unity" candidate. Here's a quote from the Politico piece displaying the fruits of Ellison's efforts so far:
As such, the Minnesotan and his team have worked to make “unity” a buzzword in his campaign, and his courtship conversations with DNC members are often peppered with his descriptions of work he did for Clinton as well as Sanders. To underscore the point, the raft of endorsements he unveiled in the early days of the campaign was packed not only with Sanders backers, but prominent Clinton surrogates like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten.
The problem, though, isn't the achievement of "unity" but rather the roles we are all to play in some projected unity. As it stands, the roles that matter are played by those who can score entry passes to David Brock's private retreat, and "unity" for the rest of us means we go along with this arrangement.
Anyway, followers of last year's Clinton campaign are no doubt familiar with the name of David Brock as mentioned above. Well, here's another name you should be aware of: Jonathan Cowan. What's happening with Cowan?
Democratic Party rethink gets $20 million injection
In sum, Third Way, a neoliberal "think" tank headed by Cowan, is going to do research for the Democrats:
The think tank, Third Way, on Tuesday is set to launch “New Blue,” a campaign to help Democrats reconnect with the voters who have abandoned the party. The money will be spent to conduct extensive research, reporting and polling in Rust Belt states that once formed a Blue Wall, but which voted for president-elect Donald Trump last November.
But who is this guy Jonathan Cowan? Well, he puts himself up as some sort of great insurrectionist on his centrist "think" tank page, but Cowan's first big project back in the Nineties was "Lead or Leave," a facade for the money of Pete Peterson, the ultimate inspiration and source of money for the sequester which Obama rammed through Congress. Here's a piece from 2012 that depicts well what Cowan is best at: finding well-connected naive college students and recruiting them for what is basically a movement to deprive the masses of basic sustenance. In this regard I have to say I also enjoyed this piece on Cowan's Lead or Leave organization. Here's the most delicious passage:
Lead…or Leave was an interesting organization. It professed to speak for my generation, and to be post-partisan, while being funded by Pete Peterson, Nixon’s Commerce Secretary, and Ross Perot, and defining leadership as slashing entitlements and cutting taxes for the wealthy. (See also here and, though not available online, Andrew Cohen, “Me and My Zeitgeist,” The Nation, July 19, 1993, pp. 96-100). The group claimed a million members but, according to an American Prospect article, “ha[d] no paying membership and compile[d] its numbers by counting the student populations at colleges where the group ha[d] managed to win over at least one local, unelected representative.”
There's an Ivy League flavor to the research on this guy: Cowan went to Dartmouth, and here's a piece mentioning his work in the Harvard Crimson.
At any rate, Cowan's $20 million is going to buy research on how the Democratic Party can "win voters" while being the same neoliberal, elitist party it's been for the past thirty years. Here's the important quote:
Third Way, however, sees its $20 million initiative as a complement to those efforts, rather than a competitor in the same space -- its stated goal is a longer-term effort to conduct research and analysis that will help the party dig itself out of a hole at every level of government, with a greater focus on statehouses than on daily skirmishes with Trump.
“The task is now how do you restore Democrats as a national party that can win everywhere,” said Cowan.
Okay, so what is Brand New Congress doing to contest all this effort to keep the nice liberals in the bag? (Suggestion for the BNC website people: the idea that you're looking for people to create a "brand new Congress" is not well-promoted if you don't or can't display any of the names and faces of those presumably found by the organization, front and center.)
Comments
They're trying to get slaughtered. Seriously.
They're never going to learn, are they?
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
didn't want to learn
They don't want to learn. They're paid rather well not to.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Yep, I wish
people would quit writing as if the dems are dumb or can't learn.
What they do is all by design. Once one accepts that premise, all is clear about the dems. They don't care about 90% of the population, and most of the ones currently in power never will care about 90% of the population.
dfarrah
I don't get the new formatting
at all. It does look nice, but my comments get messed up.
dfarrah
Your comments aren't messed up...
It just looks that way because thanatokephaloides username is so long that it pushes the comment indentation over. If you look at the parent links in your comment you'll see what I'm talking about. The parent link is the one at the beginning of the comment body, mouse hover over it and it will popup the comment you are replying to.
merci boo coo
dfarrah
This state-of-the-art new format is the cat’s meow. =^_^= n/t
@The Aspie Corner They do, however know
They do, however know how to cheat and corrupt entire governments and all agencies - and with Homeland Spying-on-you now in control of US elections, there will be Willful Massive Destruction everywhere that the hope/illusion of US democracy was once thought to potentially be found...
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.
One big sack o' rats.
I'm becoming an anarchist.
Reply to: OPOL
Right there with you.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
The Dems need LESS unity
and more insurrection.
But I don't see it happening soon.
They are still in "punch left" mode.
Reply to: OPOL
I'm with you. Good to see you back around here, Brother! Solidarity!
It hasn't happened yet.
I think things need to play out. The Third Way isn't going to roll over and die without a lot of help. They think they can still ignore us, and we will just go away like we always do. Oh ok. If we hold our breath and kick our feet, they will offer us a seat at the kids table. Then we'll be happy and go away.
This time it is different. People were pissed enough to vote for Trump. They are not going to sacrifice everything to the GOP only to take the Dems back without serious, serious change. They may have to lose again in 2018 before they realize they are shot and dying, but they are shot and dying whether they acknowledge it or not.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Reply to: dkmich
They're using Trump and his horrors to flush all the things people hate about Clinton and her campaign down the memory hole. Trump is the way they will rehabilitate their image. It will work with a lot more people than it should.
But they will still lose, unless they're able to successfully rig general elections they way they rigged the primary.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Pelosi
In her press conference where she said the Democrats need to change nothing, she also said all the people who voted for Trump would run screaming back to the Democrats by the next election. Same way they count on old white men dying, they are counting on the GOP to make the voters love the Dems.
Not that this means much, but.... Cenk keeps talking about an ultimatum that he makes sound like it is in the works. The Dems will change or else there will be a third party to replace them. Does he have a clue? I don't have a clue. I keep hoping the people on the left will coalesce and take the party on. Our way or the highway. Look at how far right the right manage to drive the GOP. We can't even get them to admit they need change after a humiliating loss to Trump. Their Queen had her ass handed to her by the pussy grabber.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Everything you need to know -
Who are the Dem leaders as we speak? "Embrace the suck" Pelosi, "Two suburban Republican votes for one blue-collar Dem vote" Schumer and "Check out this debate question" Brazile.
And they're commissioning a study by the Third Way to figure out why voters are rejecting the Third Way? And David Brock is still hanging around when his media effort was a veritable wedge factory?
Who wouldn't be screaming and running for the exits given the invincible ignorance the Democrats are still displaying? It still all about poor messaging to them and not that they have become avatars for duplicity and doublespeak and low expectations. It's hilarious that they think they have communication failures when actually they have been incredibly successful in communicating how truly feckless and rudderless they are.
Sidenote : Everyone, please read the Bill Black article on naked capitalism about how screwed over we have all been by the financial policies of the Obama years. It's long but it is so worth it. And we all need to be be well-informed and up to speed to fight off the austerity mongering that will soon be put on our plates by both Republicans and their handmaiden Democrats
" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "
Reply to: Phoebe Loosinhouse
Yep those are them, leaders, of which we speak. They suck, but we apparently are too feeble to defeat them. A gun toting, red neck, hs drop out has managed to gain more power than the Birkenstock crowd. I think we scored a huge, and painful, victory over their queen, but they aren't calling uncle. Until we can go through them or over them, we have nothing. We may need to go a few more rounds.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Reply to: Phoebe Loosinhouse
This?
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
Reply to: Phoebe Loosinhouse
Great comment.
Great article by Black. Well worth the read, he never fails to hit the nail solidly
on the head.
Thanks for the Bill Black pointer
Here's the link http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2017/01/101475.html
Feels like we face a blinding sandstorm of well-dressed, confortable, popular fraud on all sides.
Reply to: dkmich
so what are the numbers on this -- people who were pissed off enough to vote for Trump, versus those who merely abstained from voting for Clinton in swing states thus handing the election to Trump?
“One of the things I love about the American people is that we can hold many thoughts at once” - Kamala Harris
Reply to: Cassiodorus
I don't have them. Anecdotally, I see a lot of comments on social media from people who say they voted for Trump but would have voted for Bernie. Numbers for Johnson and Jill were puny and pitiful, so where did all those Indies go? I would bet Trump.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
@dkmich Or to their living
Or to their living-room couches. And I'm not saying that in a shitty way: given the situation, that's a perfectly understandable response.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
@dkmich
I'm so glad I'm not pounding my head against the wall at this moment. Since I divorced myself from the Democrats it's all popcorn and Schadenfreude for me here. I've even given up on trying to help my friends see the truth, they are just too willingly fooled.
My boss wears a camouflage ball cap with the company logo. The other day he says "I wear the camo because we're at fucking war!" He's got a good point. We're not out here playing beanbag. So I'm reluctant to treat this situation as an idle spectator. I don't want to argue or persuade but on the other hand I want to help build the resistance.
I think the best plan of attack on the Democrats is to use humor, satire, and ridicule. Anything more is a waste of time.
But I wonder … is it possible the Democrats will be able to remake themselves with the same mechanisms that created the problem? It's like watching someone who is sick with food poisoning eat tainted food.
“He may not have gotten the words out but the thoughts were great.”
Love and Solidarity Are Pretty Solid Tactics That Create a
strong, ideologically sound, strategy .
I think irony, satire, and dark humor have lapped reality one too many times with Drumpf in office for them to be effective. Is there anything shocking left? Anything un-believable, or out of the realm of respectability?
Then, of course, there is the cumulative effect of all the repetition of ugly, divisive emotions -- on the personal and societal level.
I think we need to tell human stories about human beings and our shared challenges and the rotten future we all face because of the primacy of con men like Drumpf and corporate tools like Hillary and Drumpf's cabinet, our "economic Betters", and profits uber alles. We need a massive paradigm shift. Personal Wealth as morality, public policy with ROI as qualifying metric, and citizen as consumer all need to be hammered on in public discourse using inclusive emotive messaging.
We need some positive liberty. We need a reason for being and some personal and community agency. Big Corporate & the Oligarchs are the sole possessors of political agency in America these days, and their reason for being is more profits. So we get more profits.
I think Love and Solidarity are key to filling the gaping void of agency and self respect of the consumer without cash on the treadmill of bucks and replacing it with some kind of positive, actionable future.
“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu
I went to the BNC site and
I went to the BNC site and the first thing I see is Rachel Maddow. I stopped watching her during the primaries when she showed Hillary's concession speech, then showed an empty podium for thirty minutes waiting for Donald Trump to show up. During that interval, she made an offhand comment that Bernie was making his victory speech, but we didn't get to see any of it. Shill much for Hillary, Rachel? I thought she was one of the good ones until then. It hurts, having the wool pulled off your eyes.
WTF???
Reply to: VenusFT
Apparently, the price for maddow's intellectual integrity is $7 million. She is completely untrustworthy.
Reply to: VenusFT
The first thing I see at the BNC site https://brandnewcongress.org/ is not Rachel but this:
That looks good to me right now.
No Rachel Maddow on the home page.
Which site are you looking at?
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
Here's the YouTube find:
Actually I'm okay with this. Of course, when the people BNC are ready to say something that the execs at MSDNC don't want aired, you won't hear it from them. But you might find it somewhere else.
“One of the things I love about the American people is that we can hold many thoughts at once” - Kamala Harris
Arrogance is bliss
The real SparkyGump has passed. It was an honor being your human.
Tom Perez is the Turd Way candidate for DNC chair.
He was the one who came up with the idea of painting Sanders as the candidate of white males which we all witnessed, and many of us were victims of, during the primary.
Link here --> Common Dreams
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
Reply to: Azazello
Perez is Obama's guy. There is a rift. It will not disappear this time. Question is what will it take from the Dems to buy people like us off this time? Our record sucks. Based on history, I would say not much. I hope those of us that gnawed off our hand to free ourselves from the Democratic Party don't get sold out cheap.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Reply to: dkmich
Are they really interested in winning though?
Did anyone see this?
http://www.nbcnews.com/specials/democrats-left-in-the-lurch
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
Milli Vanilli ReBrand
...or... New, New Coke.
DLC III, Son of Centrism
How Not to Lose... by the Losers.
From the website:
The ability for those with seemingly unlimited Corporate Money to carve a role for themselves is truly astounding.
The only answer to this tragically comic attempt at a re-branding of Centrism is Mockery, Derision and Disdain.
And this...
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUea-PKMM3A]
Nice find. Thanks for the post.
Reply to: jobu
That quote from the website is a bunch of meaningless gobbly gook. It says nothing.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
"a singular focus on who to blame"
, that is his observation, a singular focus? No wonder. Like I said elsewhere, it is a target rich environment going forward. So far it's been like those cute little carnival ducks that keep going 'round and 'round on the same old track.
Ping! ... Next? ... Ping! ... Next? ...Ping! ... Next?
quack quack
Reply to: eyo
Of course we can't dare have a singular focus when the Third Way Corporate Dems in Leadership would wind up singularly focused upon. Hence, Russia, Russia, Russia.
Singular Focus is only allowed when it can be turned negatively upon Progressives or other "Fucking Retards" within the Democratic Coalition.
Nice how that works.
@eyo
Lol, the DNC/Dems've been blaming everyone else - especially those ebil voters and the Russians, apparently the 1st on their list of countries capable of self-defence against their usual war-crimes, all of which TPTB want to nuke for global 'smoking cinder' dominance - for the Dem's loss.
So, of course, they announce specifically that they won't focus on blame and then dredge up the silliest excuse for not working for the public interest ever:
doing so (running a 'populist' - democratic - candidate) is bad because this 'can turn into anti-government anger' - which is what actually happens when the government existing to work for the public interest and paid by the public to do this instead works against the public interest, as they plan to continue doing, just like the other half of the Corporate/Billionaire Equally Evil Two-Faced Trade-Off Party.
So, the claim is apparently being made that the reason that they can't work for the people is because the idea of having a real democracy makes them angry.
I'd laugh myself sick, but this made me ill, in part due to excessive irony levels, quite a while ago...
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.
Reply to: gulfgal98
That should be the campaign slogan for any Third Way or New Democrat going forward, for example:
Jeez, I know I am preaching to the choir
but I am so SICK to death of "resentment" and "envy" being used by these bloody rich shills I felt the need to scream it! My own Bagger stepmother uses this as well, "you're a product of your own choices, nothing more" and I cannot count the times I've yelled back at her for saying such stupid, vapid crap. Sure we're a product of our choices, but many things we have NO choice in, including watching these people destroy not only our country but the entire globe, all for private profit!
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
Reply to: lizzyh7
I had a diary at TOP on this same bullshit meme when it was floated as a trial balloon back just before the coronation's launch:
That we got a forced pre-cooked coronation instead of a disqualification speaks volumes as to the lengths these corporate careerist hacks that infest our leadership will go to maintain their dominion over our once proud Democratic Party.
This New Blue slop is just warmed over Screw Blue oatmeal we've been served for the last 25 years.
Once again, Third Way Lucy putting down the football and daring us to kick.
Reply to: gjohnsit
The thing is that (at least according to the Politico piece) it's Keith Ellison, Bernie's candidate, who's currently offering the "unity" snake-oil.
“One of the things I love about the American people is that we can hold many thoughts at once” - Kamala Harris
Got your "unity" right here bud
, saw all I needed in the article below, is part why I question Bernie's outreach. He is still talking about poverty, maybe that's why. Plus, what else is he going to do, he already said he thinks a third party wasted time: Soros, Pelosi, Warren, and Ellison hold conference in DC to plan Trump resistance strategies
LOL take on Politico.
Soros and Pelosi have (admittedly!) no conscience, and that is who Ellison meets with? The core is rotten.
Fight Trump? No issues?
Of course no issues. It's just a game for power for their team. Besides, everyone hates their real ("private") policies.
Reply to: Cassiodorus LOTE
He's the lesser of two evils candidate. Of course, elite third way Dems may see him as the GOTE.
Either way, this feels like the beginning of the end for the Democratic Party.
"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott
Funny thing...
Everything I do is portrayed by the DNC and their MSM allies as being stereotypical "White Male"...
That includes bisexuality, the fact I am polyamorous, a Gamer, a former fan of Bernie, and a disabled veteran strongly against war. Apparently every single one of my issues is to be completely ignored due to the fact that I already have all the rights, and therefore shouldn't be complaining about anything.
As a matter of fact, they would probably classify me just by my attitudes as a member of the "alt-right" because it would make for a nice convenient label to slap away at.
The thing is though, by doing this constant identity politics/divide and conquer, they're sticking their allies into smaller and smaller groups and their enemies into larger and larger ones. This is how they lose. Essentially they stuck a ton of people into the "Deplorables" basket who had NO business being there, then were shocked when the people said, "Fine, if that's where I belong..."
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
Reply to: detroitmechworks
WHOOPS, that was supposed to be a new thread. getting used to the new interface.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
Why stress out over critical thinking?
It's so much less stressful having MSNBC and the corporate media tell me what to think than to come up with my own opinions. Actually, everytime I venture to come up with my own opinions they just clash with theirs so it's just easier to regurgitate what their opinion is and talk myself into thinking it's my own.
"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." - Groucho
The Intercept on Perez
DNC Chair Candidate Tom Perez Refuses to Support Ban on Corporate Money and Lobbyists
https://theintercept.com/2017/01/18/tom-perez-dnc/
'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member
Reply to: MsGrin shredding one's identity isn't easy
https://twitter.com/lhfang/status/821550818914697216
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
@ggersh yessss... Had seen
yessss... Had seen that and have tucked away that link. Icky. They're just everywhere, aren't they, slimy little creatures. Have been keeping my eye on that Harrison creature from the same, um, village who wants to head up the DNC (might as well get rid of the middle man or whatever).
'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member
Slime everywhere
Today America has gone from being a hedge fund to bring a Private Equity firm.
Problem is Obama/Clinton cleared the way.
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
How do you get rid of billionaires?
They have amazing survival rates in the political world.
It's beginning to look like for progressive thought to survive in elected politics it's going to have to develop its own signature separate from Wall Street and the politicized intel branch of the Democratic Party.
There was no real third party option (Green was a place to park a vote, not an actual choice) in the election, and there is no organized third party ready to challenge the Dems. As we have seen, superior progressive candidates in state and congressional/senatorial races will be primaried out by the big money, and the big money candidates will have a high fail rate against a real Republican. The Dems will continue to be the Republican-lite, maybe having a slight comeback if the disgust with the Trump regime alienates too many blue collars, which will only delay the inevitable. The foreign policy spectrum of our two major parties is either corporatism with Russia or corporatism at Russia's expense.
The only real way back for progressives is to ID the remaining semi-progressive office holders, and put up primary battles or selected third party runs. It's hard to win elections in the US without the media, though, and that strategy is no guarantee of anything. If Sanders could run for President right now he would win. I suspect he won't be around for the next election. He'll be neutralized by the Democrats or reach a natural or unnatural end of his career. Some kind of Monkey Business, if you know what I mean.
Take a look at the Wisconsin Democratic Party. I think that may be a tell for the rest of the party. In the meantime, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz will drink champagne until the last porthole slides beneath the waves.
anarchists
OPOL wrote:
to which CantStopTheSignal replied:
As a man who has spent his entire sentient life as one, I have a news flash for you both: You already were anarchists. You're just now figuring it out, that's all. Just like August Spies and Co. at Haymarket, or the Spanish anarquistas in the Spanish Civil War. Or me.
Oh, and by the way: Welcome!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Anarcho-pacifism
, still exploring and I found anarcho-pacifism resonates:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarcho-pacifism
is probably why I will forever feel marginalized. These guys are well-remembered though, so there's that:
found also the Non-aggression principle of libertarianism which I never knew, or it's been so long I forgot. Thanks.
Peace & Love
anarcho-pacifism
You mentioned "libertarianism":
You're using the term "libertarian(ism)" in its correct, original, proper sense. As a general rule, only Old World folks (Europeans mostly) use it in that sense today. The utter rapine and pillage the USA right-wing thus-and-suches did to that noble term, turning it from respectable anarchism to serve them and their uber-wealthy owners, is unforgivable and near unbelievable.
I applaud you for your superior literacy!
And anarcho-pacifism is closely related to the exact anarchist school I follow, anarcho-socialism (mutualism). One is far and away more likely to establish a culture of mutual aid in a culture of love and acceptance than one based on strife, competition, war, and conquest. Without pacifism, there can be no mutualism; and without mutualism, some humans will always need to bear authority over others -- the exact polar opposite of anarchism and the very thing that anarchists oppose by the definition of the word (an-, no + -archon, authority figure).
And we are marginalized now, but within a single human lifetime, either we will be the preferred political form worldwide as the State is today, or the next major extinction event will be that of our own species. We've actually come to the point where the bonobo chimpanzee was roughly 100,000 years ago: biology demands we give up our alphas and live as equals, or we all die.
Here's hoping we're at least as smart as the bonobos were!
And Love and Peace be upon you, as well!!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Addicted to corporate cash crack rock...
and they ain't a gonna change. Time for plan B.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Reply to: Lookout
Which is exactly my point. They ain't going to change - unless we make them. Is there enough "we" to do anything but bitch, vote third party in protest, and lose?
Taking over from within or creating an external force that overpowers and replaces them is strategy. I really don't care how it gets done, I just want it done. If we can win at the polls, we can make them lose at the polls. That is what we did with Hillary.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Reply to: dkmich
Yes, this. And focus mostly on the domestic agenda. The stuff that affects families, here in the US everyday. This globalism screw job has gotten way old.
I am a bit slow on the uptake sometimes.
So please clarify the situation. I would not be welcome amongst these august participants at this auspicious event even if I brought along my (suitable imprinted) stacks of cash. Only one bill per attendee, I do have standards.
From get out the vote to get out the money
Back in the day when I worked within a democratic machine dominated town, the emphasis was on getting out the local vote. You could build influence and even maybe a city job if you got out the local vote. The local precient committeeman or woman had a lot of influence, and those local party elections were more important than national elections.
But now, it is all about getting out the money, or actually who is the money gets to make the decisions. My state senator ran and won the congressional seat, and instead of picking the most senior house representative, a rich local donor was appointed. Luckily the donor is pretty progressive, but that person's politics had nothing to do with the appointment.
Stories started coming out right after the loss that people on the ground in MI at least were begging Hillary's campaign for help, and were told to STFU and even forbidden from contacting lead campaign organizers/officials. One of Hillary's (in)famous outreach attempts was to scream and lecture union members for her poor poll numbers as if they were house servants who didn't set the dinnerware properly.
We see it with the reaction to the vote on the importation of drugs from Canada. After the first initial disgust with senators who voted against the resolution, there is now a counter reaction defending their votes and calls for "unity" with the pages of pro-democratic party sites.
The Russia diversion is perfect cover for rich donor and corporate control of the party. Like Hillary during the campaign they will make it thee theme against Trump and divert from their pro-corporatist actions. Sanders and Warren in time will just be dusted off and put forward as being the voice of a "progressive party", but won't work. I think Bernie in time will refuse to cooperate, and Warren will just stick with her issues on the financial industry.
The democratic party candidates in 2018 will be DLC corporatists and will only win depending how much disgust there is about the republicans, and loose just as easily in 2020 as people become disgusted with them.
Reply to: MrWebster
One imagines at some point that the money will no longer be forthcoming for political parties which only exist to keep people from voting for them, no? Because there's no way I would vote for anyone with the fingerprints of David Brock or Jonathan Cowan on them...
“One of the things I love about the American people is that we can hold many thoughts at once” - Kamala Harris
Reply to: MrWebster
I just found out that a NM senator that I trusted voted against the importation of drugs. Are they all corporate whores?
corporate whores
Yes.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
This election
is a game-changer, apparently. We still need to "get out the money" like we do the vote, but for the first time, boatloads of cash came from small donors, and the oligarch's picks consistently failed. In fact, money didn't seem to make much difference, beyond a certain basic amount up-front. Pouring more cash into the election didn't translate to more votes.
The oligarchs have to be scratching their heads at this one.
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
Reply to: CantStoptheSignal
I don't think it will work. They need to reach the people who affirmatively rejected Clinton and the DNC this election. These folks were willing to vote for trump (or not vote against him), that's how disgusted they are. And I expect trump will be a sufficiently successful president because he understands timing and how to maintain focus. So long as he does enough to keep people hopeful, to let them know he's thinking about their needs, he will get re-elected. I would venture that he would win re-election if it were held tomorrow, notwithstanding the media and DNC's rending of garments. 2018 will be another bloodbath, given the senate seats up for re-election. And disgust at teh DNC will only grow over those two years if they intend to continue to ignore the needs of people and offer only hollow platitudes.
This canard that clinton was more popular because of the popular vote also needs to be put to death. She ran on a platform of- he's so contemptible, you have to vote for me. That's not endorsement of her or anything she claimed to stand for. That was an anti-trump position.
Frankly, I think the solution is going to be a new party. It will be too difficult to pry the neoliberals' hands from control of the party. They are going to have to be worked around.
Tired of Unity
Sorry, unity is a bullshit forced term these days.
Democrats wish to just shove all their garbage to the past.
War Crimes.
Corruption.
Greed.
People just need to Unite! Yeah! Awesome!
What garbage.
They wish to say the past is the past and now is the time to unite.
The thing is, that the people who are to "unite" are those on the left. The centrists don't have to do a damn thing. Nope, the left must unite.
Reply to: Strife Delivery Re: unity meme
They were all for unity too at the DNC in July, until anyone opened their mouth and said the wrong thing.
They don;t want unity, they want submission.
"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott
They'll never learn. Perez will be DNC chair. Meanwhile,
Here's a great takedown of Kos: Requiem for a Lightweight
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." - JFK | "The more I see of the moneyed peoples, the more I understand the guillotine." - G. B. Shaw Bernie/Tulsi 2020
Reply to: ZimInSeattle
That piece is withering. I highly recommend it. And I have to say the author is an excellent writer. His style is direct and compact. It's been a while since I've read a professional writer with this ability. Too much NYer reading for me, apparently. Damn, they do go on in that magazine.
Maybe you should run?
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
Reply to: sandiapeach
Sadly, yes. There may be one or two exceptions, but I can't name them off the top of my head. I would say the ailment with many of them is courage. They're too afraid to stand up because they know the establishment mob will marginalize them. They're too feckless to realize it is the path to success. O'Malley is a prime example. I argued during the primary that he should have backed Sanders and could have stood as his heir. Hell, that position was open to nearly anyone. But none of them had the courage, except for the very few. It is why Gabbard has such standing today, and why Ellison is a contender to run the DNC. Cowards, the lot of them with morals. The others are just self-serving scumbags.
Gibberish
"I'm sorry, Mr. Booker, but I'm not a Gibber and therefore have no command of Gibberish. Could you please re-state that in plain American English?"
(we all know what the answer will be -- or mean!)
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Who cares what he wants? He wanted Clinton crowned as well.
The old sheepdog. Here's a snap of Bernie and Schumer having lunch.
I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks
Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa