Bernie or Bust vs. Statist Party Fealty
I've decided that if Bernie Sanders does not win the Democratic nomination that I will change my voter registration from lifelong Democrat to Independent.
In so doing, I will be embracing the two arguments against it. That is, I won't be able to participate in closed primaries, and I won't be helping to build party unity. The party will have shown me that its intentions and my values do not align - why should I work to strengthen it?
This does not mean that I won't vote Democrat most or nearly all of the time. I might. But then again, I might not, and if I don't it will be free of the guilt that I should.
How deep does one's allegiance to the party have to run before that allegiance becomes fealty to a statist body that demands full compliance? One day you're working toward a common objective and the next day you're compromising your objectives for what they claim is the common good.
I think it's infuriating when politicians gets my support and then later abandon my core issues when they're found to be doing favors to special interests. There's always some corporation, some lobby, some favored group who steps in and takes over as coxswain. It's as if my vote is part of a reliable 31% of the electorate that won't dream of voting Republican, so we end up with a few token solar panels and watch as the status quo keeps us going in circles with a big grin on its face.
Well, excuse me, but I want to be a special interest, too. I want to be one of the favored groups that politicians pander to. Is that selfish? Is that putting my own needs above the party's? Absolutely.
Comments
Me too
If Rahm is a member in good standing then I will never be part of the organization.
Lifelong Democrat to Independent.
"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"
Agree
I am contemplating the same action. Before I proceed I plan to work with movement inside the party to build a Berniecrats wing by supporting candidates in primaries who share a Progressive ideology. No support of DNC or party leaders, they both receive a no confidence vote.
That's what I have been doing
I have no intention to contribute to anyone other than people who hold values similar to Bernies. HRC and the DNC will get not one thin dime.
I will likely do the same thing
and once I have documentation will write a letter (and enclose the documentation) and send it to all my state's super delegates telling them how deeply offended I am that they were openly supporting and campaigning for Hillary before we even had our caucuses. And my second point will contain a list of why the caucuses suck and are undemocratic. Finally, I'll let them know that if they want my support they will have to earn it. It's not automatic and the sorry state of the Republican Party isn't a reason to expect it, either. I will continue to support individual candidates who meet my standards on issues and ethics, but for now the party has walked away from me and lost my loyalty.
This is certainly your right...
...but I think that in doing so you will have given them exactly what they want. The more people they get to drop out of the Party, the more control the Plutocrats have over it. Because of Constitutional restraints and because money controls all, there is no way a third Party could ever rise up to replace either the Democratic or Republican't Party. Our only hope is to play the long game and change it from within...
I want my two dollars!
The more they grab... the less they will have.
I see the eventual end of the Democratic and Republican parties, and it is a Figurehead Emperor, issuing decrees that are ignored by everyone.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
Not to mention wearing "new clothes"
that no one wants to admit they can't see, except the very innocent and the few loudmouth spoilsports.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
A report from someone who did it a long time ago
I say the Democratic party left me when it became the DLC/Third Way. That's when I became an Independent, or as they call it here in MA "unenrolled." Benefits. You don't get those damn stupid "surveys" and no spam in your email box, after many phone calls, and returning snail mail with torn paper, small pieces of wood, finally no more pleas for $ either. The MA Dems are as tone deaf as the DNC, and like a private "clique" which always knows best. Hideous is as kind as I can get in describing my few encounters with them.
I've voted for Democrats for almost 50 years, except for the last time Martha Coakley ran, Evan Falchuk got my vote.
Of course everyone knows the "Martha Coakley" story, when she blew off a campaign for The Kennedy Seat and we got Sen Scott Brown. Then, MA Dems nominated her AGAIN, even tho many of us petitioned for another ( better) candidate. We were basically told it was still "her turn" and reminded "she was a woman." We got Rep Gov Charlie Baker, AND those of us who wouldn't vote for Coakley as we did when she ran against Brown, voted for Evan Falchuk, and Ma now has the United Independent Party. BTW, for those who don't know Martha Coakley, google Gerald Amirault for just one example of how awful she is. Even Shrillary came to Ma to speak for her, that's when she was on stage with Senator Elizabeth Warren ( for about their first appearance together) and trying to outWarren her Shrillary then said "Corporations don't create jobs." The audience had to stifle laughter, she really can't speak without chewing on her fat feet!
I think the best thing which could happen would be for the Democratic party to lose if Clinton is their nominee. Only way to wrest power out of the clutches of the Clintons. Maybe, then the party could be reformed. Don't know.
Do know there is a LOT of money available. Think many of the big funders of the Democratic party now, would be open to reform, if they didn't have to fear the wrath of the Clintons. The Clintons are formidable haters, they really are. With them out of the way, things could be very different. Bernie Sanders has shown us that.
Who ever runs as a Republican, we know that party is destroyed. I'm feeling more optimistic about being able to create a viable party. Not taking the route the Green Party has tried, but more along the lines of what Bernie Sanders is doing now.
Hey what is the Green Party doing wrong?
I'm wondering b/c I won't vote for Hellery or any of the sociopath Repubs. So I'm looking to alternatives and am interested in knowing the negatives of Greens that you are aware of.
Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.
I'm with you
Whatever name the party chooses is irrelevant and I can't see any down side to putting our newly flexed progressive muscle behind the group that has been lying on the periphery: the Greens. Much easier to build from an existing foundation than try something new. We need a concerted effort to broaden our ideals up, down, and across ballots to force the mainstream to reckon with us. Look at how much ridiculous attention a despicable psycho like Cruz can get, because he can stake the claim to be the leader of the Tea Party. I don't think that even a Hillary November meltdown can salvage the Dems as a liberal party. So if the end of Bernie's road comes this summer, I am hopeful he will return quickly to his lifelong rejection of D party affiliation and reenergize the only existing national route for us lefties. The ripple effects could be amazing.
Not from mass,
But what I remember reading about the senate race was that she thought she was too good to shake hands outside of Fenway.
i've been thinking the same thing
if Clinton loses the general then maybe the party can finally be loosed from the grip of that wing of the party that has held dominance for the last 20+ years. maybe then the Democratic party will move back to the left but, until then, i remain no party preference.
I Do TOO Have Somewhere To Go!
The GOP-lite Third-Way Democratic Party has no claim on my fealty. I left them back in 1980 when I registered independent and voted for John Anderson. They have yet to return to being the Party which represents my issues, so they can just go beg Wall St for more money without my participation.
As a union STEM worker, I would love to see a Labor Party rise in the US, but I know that the corrupt leaders of unions (I'm especially looking at you, Mr. Trumka!) aren't about to forego those under-the-table envelopes for betraying me as a worker. I'm not making enough for them to raise my dues to cover the lifestyle they have become accustomed to, so it has to come from somewhere!
But should this not happen, I'm prepared to remain a "Decline To State" voter in California. And I'll vote Green & Jill Stein before I vote Hillary!
Vowing To Oppose Everything Trump Attempts.
I've been an Independent for 10 or 12 years.
I was a lifelong Dem and proud to be one - until the party left me. That's really the truth - as many times as it is said by as many people say it - it is pure truth. However, since I live in a closed primary state, it is important to me to vote for Bernie on June 7th. I changed my registration to Dem for that very reason. I will change it back afterward because I have no intention of affiliating with the party until/unless it changes dramatically.
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
i did the same
voting was going to be a three step process for me as a NPP absentee voter. i decided to eliminate those extra steps and potential problems and just re-register as Democratic to vote for Sanders. i'll go back to NPP afterwards.
Me too.
For the first time ever I will be voting in a primary in my closed state. When I was reading things about how he'd never win Maryland, I changed my affiliation from Independent to Democrat just to vote for Bernie.
And we got rid of those crap Diebold machines and have gone back to paper and optical scanners, which gives me *some* hope.
No snowflake in an avalanche feels responsible. -- Voltaire
I did that 6 years ago, out
I did that 6 years ago, out of disgust with some Obama actions and in-actions. But I come back to Dem for primaries and caucuses when there is someone worth supporting; and sometimes there is! And I tend to vote for any Dem on the ballot anywhere just because I cannot stand voting for a Republican.
The major parties are exclusive clubs
They have their membership and they take care of their own. Especially the Democratic side- look at all the "leaders" excluding Obama. They are in their early 70s to late 80s, do not get my wrong I am not against experience or a person's age, but damn where is the diversity of their membership. I understand having to paying your dues, but it is crazy this is the number one reason why Bernie did not get the nominate- he is not part of their club membership. How many times have you heard by Hillary supporters- he is not a "true democrat".
The Democratic party of today (they did a little bit of this many years ago but it is worse now) take care of their chosen. They give money to only the members who they consider to be part of the club- also they do their best to purge the ranks of the unworthy. Finally, if you do not tow the party line then you are out.
One important note, all of the party leadership is wealthy- how is this possible? How do public servant become truly wealthy? Keep in mind there are a small exception, but even those folks do not seem to strap by. Because they are a club and ensure they take care of their own!
It is HORRIBLE politics to keep rewarding the Democratic
Party with our votes when they keep spitting on our values. It's past time to stop voting for them.
Does that mean we will encourage them to look on the right for votes?
They do that already! Since they will never stop ignoring us and never stop chasing money, our votes don't matter now.
When we are there for them despite their contempt, it means that what we stand for will always be held in contempt. Oligarchs think we're punks, and until they lose our votes, they will be right.
And as always, it will mean the End of the World, and they will say it's our fault for getting off our knees.
If the Democratic party apparatus can't even be bothered to play fairly in a primary contest where there is a pro-people candidate, then fuck the Democratic party.
That's how they feel about you. That's how they feel about your values. I will not help them cover up their true agenda from the American people and then be told it's my duty to prevent worse.
Fuck. That. Noise.
“If there is no justice for the people, may there be no peace for the government.”
an "aha" moment in your comment
the Democratic party can continue to ignore the left wing of the party if they stay in the center and pick off moderate Republicans. makes you wonder if that has been their strategy all along since Bill Clinton. wow! eyes opened to that likelihood. now i really do feel the fool for giving the Democratic party my support all my adult years when none of my progressive desires were ever going to be implemented.
Since Bill Clinton and before
The Clintons simply refined its practice. It was--and is--the Clintonite's operating assumption that for every vote they lose on the left, they gain 1+ on the right. That's not all of "triangulation", but it's a major part.
And when the willingly captive left complained about its marginalization but did nothing, the establishment of the party, which respects power and money only, developed a deep contempt for the left.
It's time for the captive left to reclaim its power, and you don't do that by continuing to reward the Establishment's contempt with your money or your vote.
“If there is no justice for the people, may there be no peace for the government.”
It's damn near impossible to lose votes on the left
Amen
F the F'n D's
Let's be honest about the fact that
That having surrendered their votes to the Democratic party for nothing in return the Black, Hispanic, & Feminist groups will be next in line for contempt and abuse, so I think they will come along after 1 or 2 terms. Unfortunately, they don't pay attention to online information so it will take them longer to figure this out unfortunately.
In Washington you don't have to register with
a particular party. I'm right with you there on declaring my independence. I'll mostly vote Dem, but will probably vote Green come the general election as I'm done voting for the lesser of two evils. The 2 party system is so corrupt, I believe the only way to un-corrupt it is to burn it to the ground. Bernie won my state by 46% and he won every county, yet all the damn superdelegates are going with Hillary. My 2 senators and my congressman all voted for TPP fast track so I won't be voting for them again either along with the governor.
"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
I think Green Party needs to get on the ballot in Washington
Just as FYI- I can sure if Green is on the ballot yet for the state of Washington.
Ballot Access by state for Green Party.
Ballot Access - Green Party. Current states where the Greens are on the ballot. NOT on the ballot in WA .
Help Jill Stein Unblock the Vote!
http://www.jill2016.com/ballotaccess?utm_campaign=ballot_vol&utm_medium=...
Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.
I registered...
As a Democrat when I first registered as a voter when I was 18. Back in 2008, Democrats in the Senate caved and voted for immunity for VZ and AT&T for FISA violations. That was the last straw. I registered as an independent. I changed back to a Democrat last December to vote for Bernie, but I will probably change back again to Unaffiliated. We have two parties in this country. A corportist, corrupt party that is willing to sacrifice any progressive cause in the name of 'getting things done' and a bat-shit insane quasi-fascist party. There is no progressive party.
Democrats, we tried to warn you. How is that guilt and shame working out?
Michigan does not require party affiliation.
When voting in a primary, you get to pick red or blue when you show up. Should be this way everywhere.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
been thinking the same thing
**edit**
crap. misplaced comment. moved above in the thread.
I've been registered Green
I've been registered Green for 4 years or so, but changed my affiliation to Democrat to vote for Bernie. I will change it back to Green after the primary is over (I'm in Oregon). I chose to register Green because, in this state, ballot access is determined by affiliation. If a certain number of people are registered for a party, they get automatic access to the ballot. There are a couple of other progressive parties in my state, but the Greens have the largest national profile so I choose to go with them. My values largely align with the Greens, so its more than just a strategic choice.
I still vote for progressive Dems, of course. I love Jeff Merkley (who endorsed Bernie)! I, unfortunately, live in a house district represented by Kurt Schrader. Only lived here a few years but am proud to say I have never and will never vote for that Blue Dog Dem.