The DNC's Day of Reckoning
In his analysis about the use of nuclear weapons Big Al asked How do we overcome insanity?. As everybody here knows, it will not be through reform of the Democratic party. From Salon:
This is all to show that the problem with the party is that it is completely tone-deaf to its own incredibly obvious hypocrisies. As Sanders put it himself in a recent op-ed, “The party cannot remain an institution largely dominated by the wealthy and inside-the-Beltway consultants.”
The article summarizes the core problems of corruption, massive political losses and duplicitous DNC leadership.
The problem is that this sort of cozy connection to Wall Street and what Hillary Clinton described as “good billionaires” simply falls flat on the progressive public. As Matt Taibbi has noted, "politicians who promise they can deliver change while also taking the money, mostly just end up taking the money."
This very wierd tidbit:
Right off the lobby of the DNC headquarters in Washington, D.C., there is a Wasserman Room. Not a Martin Luther King Room, not a Cesar Chavez Room, but a Wasserman Room. When I wrote to a regional press secretary asking about the history of the room, I got no reply.
Conclusion:
So, as the Unity Reform Commission enters its last round of deliberations, the first question that needs to be answered is whether the DNC is ready to give up its first-class accommodations on the Titanic and start fighting for a legitimate left platform. And, if it chooses to hold to its oligarchic legacy, the next question is whether the left will keep fighting for reform or whether they will jump ship.
https://www.salon.com/2017/12/09/the-dncs-day-of-reckoning-is-here/?page=3
Real News Network interviews Normon Solomon, co-author of the Democratic Autopsy paper, who was kicked out of the Unity Commission for holding a sign that asked:
Democratic Party or Undemocratic Party?
I'll just hit the highlights:
But actually the only way to effectively defeat the right wing is to have genuine progressive populism. In a real way, that’s what the struggle within the Democratic Party now is all about.
And as we know:
You look at the big picture, and you see that there’s a lot of money that keeps flowing to Clinton-aligned political consultants from the Democratic Party, and the majority on this commission clearly does not want to shake up that game, much less end it.
The conclusion:
Next year, if we don't want to retain a Republican majority in the House or the Senate, if you don't want to have in 2019, the year beginning with a Republican speaker or a Republican Senate majority leader, then what is the possible vehicle, party vehicle of any sort to end Republican rule of the House and Senate?
There's only one answer, which is to use the Democratic Party as a tool. . .
The mass media and the hierarchy of the Democratic Party for that matter try continually to tell us directly and indirectly that you shouldn't do both and actually try to deceive people into thinking if you want to fight the right, you have to moderate your politics and move toward the so-called center, what C. Wright Mills called the crackpot centrist position. But actually the only way to effectively defeat the right wing is to have genuine progressive populism. In a real way, that's what the struggle within the Democratic Party now is all about.
If the only way to overcome insanity is through reform of the Democratic party, these are dark days indeed.
http://therealnews.com/t2/story:20667:DNC%27s-Unity-Commission-Further-D...
Comments
Can't Stop TMS had a great pic a few days ago.
To me, it's the best response to those who think the DNC and the national Democratic machine are capable of being reformed.
"Just call me Hillbilly Dem(exit)."
-H/T to Wavey Davey
And now, according to that Cloobeck
Idiot, we won't even be able to say that:
Ya, hear that Progressives? No mention of billionaires will be spoken! We will refer to those money sucking vipers as Cruella harvesting puppy hides De Ville from here on out.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
I think only political diehards believe either party can be
reformed, whatever that means. Those who have been or are involved in political party organizations, canvassed for politicians, worked on campaigns, gone to the conventions, etc. At this point over half the country does not identify with either party so you can count them out in believing reform is possible. Most of those left just vote for one party or the other without any real hope that it will help them, it's just the only option we're given in affecting how we're governed. They believe it's their civic duty to vote for one party or the other, many based on family preferences that go back generations. That leaves the diehards.
What really gets me is how they can completely discount quotes from the likes of Eugene Debs and W.E. Dubois, or even back to Thomas Jefferson, regarding this two party system. They really seem to think that after all this time, somehow, someway, this two party system can be improved. Talk about beating a dead horse.
Some are taking post partisan option, focused on issues.
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
I think we're gonna need a bigger blog.
LOL!
And, ::SIGH::
One thing
weI can say about Bernie: despite his problematic areas, I still believe he's firmly in command of a bully pulpit that is awakening a new generation of citizens who understand there should be a better way. Those of us whose minds you're trying to open with your essays, BA, may just be too entrenched in the status quo because of our age. But the Millennials aren't. Maybe it's already too late with climate change and the threat of nuclear annihilation barreling down the pike, but I'm holding onto a scosche of hope ...I slightly disagree,
The Republican party can be reformed if by reform you mean that the Tea Party movement can transform the Rs into a true, hard core fascist party. As for the Democrats, it is conceivable that after fatal losses in 2018 the Pelosi/Feinstein/Harris/Booker wing of the party will become Republicans and the Sanders wing will take over what's left and without obstructionism get back to winning. (I call this the Sanders plan. I don't think that it will happen, - pssst, neither does Bernie - but I admit it's possible)
On to Biden since 1973
Could happen.
If there is no nuclear war etc intervening in the interim.
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
Oh, McMurphy, stop complaining and join the rest of the patients
Don’t you know that Nurse Ratched’s psychiatric ward can only be changed from the inside?
Brilliant analogy. n/t
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
Sanders is wrong about this:
"The party cannot remain an institution largely dominated by the wealthy and inside-the-Beltway consultants.”
That's what it is, and there's nothing stopping it from remaining like that forever. They won't win any elections that way, but I'm certain that they're fine with that.
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
I'd blame Osama bin Laden
…for delivering the US into the failed bankrupt state he promised if the US didn't get out of the Middle East — I'd blame him if I believed for a moment he had anything significant to do with 9/11. No, the US was the architect of its own failure, a capitalist megalomaniac that mortgaged the futures of its own people to indulge in its craven ambitions for global power. The people are obligated to toil for generations to repay the steep debt that is theirs alone, as per the US Constitution. Their democracy offering no representation beyond the two contempuous right wing Parties.
[edited for clarity]
It's not just the party that needs to change
The people who are still supporting them are also hypocrites. Obama's presidency betrayed everyone who believed that he would do what he campaigned on doing instead of continuing Bush's 3-4 terms. That's why the democrats lost so many seats during his presidency. Her would have moved the party even more to the right because that is what the masters want. The democrats could have done another 24 hour sit down when the republicans gave them an hour to read the tax bill, yet the only one who complained about it was Warren. On Twitter. Not in front of congress. We know that they support the bill. Manchkin has already said that. The party of FDR is dead. So is the New Deal.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
I don't see much indication . . .
that Manchin speaks for a majority of Democratic senators. He's at the top of the list of Democrats I'd rather see replaced by Republicans than continue in office.
Here's a breakdown on the DNC meeting
Norman Solomon went to it and he describes how it went. The hotel it was at wasn't announced until a week before it started. Right. Like they could just pick a hotel one week out and it would be set for them.
Remember hearing that the democrats were running on the most progressive platform ever?
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&I...
Solomon thinks that the party is worth saving. I don't.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
"Clintonism" exists only in
the DNC. And once Her Heinous flames out after Russia-gate flames out, well... "Clintonism" flames out with her. There still will be a "Clinton wing" in the DNC and party, but it mostly will be pointed at and laughed at. Everyone else returned to sanity.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
I wish I had your optimism
the Clintons and Obama are staying in control of the DNC. This is why Perez was installed as the head of it by Obama.
The Case for Tom Perez
Obama was the 4th terms of both Clinton and Bush. As long as there are operatives of both, this party is not going to move an inch to the left.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
If Hillary isn't Frog
Marched off to jail, alongside DWS (for crimes and misdemeanors involving "Russiagate") (which very likely doesn't happen, becuz), then the very least that happens in the aftermath of her disastrous 2016 run is she is minimized as any kind of player moving forward. I think she's toast. Yes, there still will be a Hillary /Obama Wing. It will have less and less influence. And, if I'm wrong... then that Hillary wing will BE the Dem party. The Only wing of the -ahem- "Dem party."
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
It has been charged that Obama has been acting
as a "shadow President." Most of these stories have been reported by the right wing media, but it has been documented that Obama has met with many foreign leaders since Trump took office. Many of these meetings have either preceded or come closely after meetings Trump has had with these foreign leaders.
I am not sure what is going on here with Obama.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Obama met with Merkle
I only commented on how he was received by the people there and didn't stop to wonder why he was appearing with her. This doesn't surprise me, gulfgal. He's also keeping his hands on the DNC and probably the democrats too. This is why he's getting paid the big bucks. This and for what he did as president when he sold us out. The people who want him back in office as stated up thread are idiots.
Is this why Germany told Trump that they are distancing themselves from our country? Joe posted this in one of last week's EBs. If this is true, then what could possibly be the end game? Very interesting.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
DNC
The DNC Unity Conference was shown on C-SPAN yesterday. I listened for a while after seeing Bernie's people on the panel.
It's simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves that we've been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back. Carl Sagan