The Zombie Party
I've been a fan of Chris Hedges since I read War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning. I respect his opinions.
So when he said this I noticed.
Since 2010, Republicans have replaced 900 Democratic state legislators. If this was a real party, the entire leadership would be sacked. But it is not a real party. It is the shell of a party propped up by corporate money and hyperventilating media.
The Democratic Party must maintain the fiction of liberalism just as the Republican Party must maintain the fiction of conservatism. These two parties, however, belong to one party—the corporate party.
I was curious what exactly he meant by this, so I found this video where he says (in the last minute) "[Democratic Party] has none of the intrinsic elements of an actual party...It's a prop in the political theater. It's not an actual party."
The 2016 election cycle ripped the mask off the joke that the Democratic party has become, but the reaction of the Democratic leadership after the election - or lack of reaction - is even more telling.
"The Democratic party is where progressive politics go to die."
- Rosa Clemente
The Democrats are a dead political party walking.
They maintain the illusion of a living, breathing, political party by three conjuring tricks, specifically:
The cry in elections was no longer that the vision of candidate X was amazing, but rather that candidate Y is so much worse and we don’t want them in office, so vote for Candidate X. These vulnerable groups would lose ground this election, but in four or eight years, maybe they would have a better candidate to get behind! However, by accepting this undesirable candidate and holding their nose, there was no incentive for the Democratic Party to ever give them someone to believe in. That wouldn’t be pragmatic.
To mask the collapse of the Left's economic defense of labor, the Left has substituted social justice movements for economic opportunities and security.This has succeeded brilliantly, as tens of millions of self-described "progressives" now parrot the Great Con that "social justice" campaigns on behalf of marginalized social groups are now the defining feature of Progressive Social Democratic movements.
This diversionary sleight-of-hand embrace of economically neutered "social justice" campaigns masked the fact that social democratic parties everywhere have thrown labor into the churning propellers of globalization, open immigration and neoliberal financial policies--all of which benefit mobile capital, which has engorged itself on the abandonment of labor by the Left.
Team alliances in such trivial matters as sports and pop culture may be of little significance, save for the time, effort, and money spent on these trivialities which could be better spent on matters of consequence. However, strict team alliances in politics serve to manipulate the masses and obfuscate the issues. What results is a highly polarized, divisive society in which the suffering of the people and the crumbling of our ecological life support system go on almost unabated. Those at the top of Team D and Team R forge forward, reaping the rewards of our toils on the bottom.
Dichotomous political teams exist to provide an illusion of choice. Real life, real issues are messy and multifaceted. Tackling climate change, for example, is much more than merely a matter of choosing between Team Prius versus Team Hummer. But teams provide a simple heuristic so that people can avoid the difficulty of analyzing and considering complex matters. We choose teams so that we can spend our time chasing careers, wealth, and a host of other shallow pursuits rather than participating in building a better world every day. Finally, teams allow those in power to go about their self-serving, often destructive, business while the powerless squabble with each other over which side they are on.
When we are aligned with a particular team, we tend to excuse and rationalize that team’s bad behavior, because that team becomes attached to our own ego. We project our beliefs and feelings onto that team and its representative leader. Thus, any attack on the team becomes a personal affront, regardless of the fact that the team seldom cares about us.
When all else fails, you simply ban/eject dissenting voices, like Markos did.
Of course that comes at a high price, a price that will continue to get steeper.
It should be obvious to everyone by now, 14 years later, that the Demographic Wave that would give the Democrats a "permanent majority" isn't coming.
From leadership positions all the way down to local organizers, Democrats have no ideas, no vision, no values that would endanger the status quo. There is no blood pumping through those veins.
Comments
Great summary!
You pretty much covered all three of 'em; the LOTE flim-flam, the Identity Politics hustle and the Granfalloon loyalty scam. I don't owe the Democratic Party jack shit and if they want my vote in future they must deliver on policy. No more bullshit, no more trickery.
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
This is potentially a huge problem
for the establishment.
If it becomes so obvious that the Dems are a zombie party the public might notice, like they noticed the news media was full of shit.
There could then be trouble.
@gjohnsit We can only hope. But I
We can only hope. But I doubt it. There will always be a new pink hat or BLM pin to put on--with little, or no, change in the lives of Black people or women.
"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
You never know
Once people stop believing the propaganda machine (new media), virtually anything is possible (both good and bad).
I am a proud Naderite from 2000
And I have never regretted it, in spite of the bizarre and dumb "explanation" advanced by mainstream Dems that it was Nader's fault that poor Al Gore lost the election. This was an election, mind you, in which the effing Vice President, for godsake, was pitted against a draft-dodging, dim-witted frat boy who could not string six words together to make a coherent sentence without violating at least 3 rules of English grammar and pronunciation.
The reason for my allegiance to Nader then was that he identified the same problem Hedges identified here:
I'm still amazed at how
little dems objected when Al Gore won Florida as well as the popular vote.
dfarrah
@dfarrah I know, right? They're
I know, right? They're all pouring into the streets *now*. Sure wish they'd seen fit to do that 16 years ago. I was out there, where were they?
"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
Yeah,
who knew dems could screech so much? They just rolled over for Reagan.
dfarrah
@dfarrah This time it's
This time it's different. This time it's an evil Republican that the donor class DIDN'T want.
"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
Me too,
I was a Florida Nader voter, and most of us held fast. Gore held last minute rallies in the I-4 corridor, but he wanted nothing to do with us.
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
@solublefish Gore's campaign was,
Gore's campaign was, admittedly, the worst winning campaign I've ever seen. However, he was absolutely cheated. We got Bush because his brother purged voters off the Florida rolls and threw away votes until W won.
I keep saying that every chance I get b/c that narrative has been rewritten, and even in some leftie circles, the alternative explanations have taken hold.
"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
No doubt!
I remember it well. It was a farce from start to (Supreme Court coup) finish. I also remember that Gore hardly put up a fight, and was the first in line (after the Republicans) to tell the Democrats to forget the whole thing and go home. This strikes me as a persistent problem with Democrats, particularly those who are wealthy: because they are safely ensconced behind the walls of their privilege, when push comes to shove they always prefer to be civil rather than to stand their ground against rank abuse and injustice.
Yep
Same was true of Kerry and the likely election fraud in Ohio in 2004. Don't even seem to want to win.
Excellent Summary of the Democratic Party
As long as the Democrats keep running away from the party of FDR, they will continue to be the Zombie party. The Democratic party made a very poor decision when they rejected Bernie Sanders, an FDR Democrat, and they and the "little guy" will suffer the consequences. It was the best opportunity for the party to shed its neoliberal policies of the last 25 years and they blew it.
Yes, especially now that
DT is making a play for our voters.
DT may achieve the political re-alignment that could have and should have the dems' re-alignment, had the dems actually supported historically dem policies.
dfarrah
I have been ranting about the Corporate party
for years now, and by saying that I'm not claiming to be so smart or prescient - just cynical, always have been, always will be. But to see it proved out so damned blatantly during this election cycle blew even me away. Maybe that's why my friends don't take it seriously now, because I've always pretty much felt that way and said as much?! I've cried wolf too many times, LOL? Just being smart assy but I really don't know how more don't see it, it's always been right out there just more subtle than now I guess.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
I Woke Up
When Bernie Sanders ran as a "real Democrat" and a true progressive, quite a few people woke up. I know I did. For years I was disgusted with the Dem elites, but was conditioned to blame the Repubs for the country's economic ills. (After Lincoln and prior to FDR, this was mostly true. Teddy Roosevelt was an exception.) If one can't see it now, it's probably a lost cause.
Nothing to add but this...
Great synopsis. As always.
Enjoy some 80's Gold courtesy of the Hooters:
[video:https://youtu.be/2LE0KpcP05I]
I watched that film with Bob Hope recently---
very light and silly. Unlike the Democratic party which died under it's own weight.
Great synopsis, gjohnsit.
"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones."
John Cage
As a long time never a democrat,
I knew this a long time ago. The two party system has got to go.
Brains!
Always interesting to me when somebody else
sees things in the same imagery I do. To me, not only the Democratic party, but the march a couple days ago, brought zombie imagery to mind.
"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
Before we bring in the new
We must usher out the old. I feel so liberated after leaving the Democratic party -- it's like finally stopping bashing my head against a brick wall, and feeling a not-headache for the first time. I've ducked out of most political thinking, almost all political journalism, and focused on work, the dogs and sports (of all things.) It's been a wonderful palate cleanser.
Once Trump really digs in and starts screwing things up in earnest, I'll be more attentive to what serious citizens are up to in opposing him. Had a conversation today with a woman who's never been more politically active since Trump was elected, she said, but clearly didn't know what to do. I told her the Democratic party was a dead end, and explained the concept of the veal pen to her. I encouraged her to stay active, but with groups that didn't tie themselves up in the spiderweb the Democratic party spins to ensnare them.
Trump's announcement of withdrawing from the TPP and renegotiating NAFTA -- even if he doesn't do it -- has probably cemented the upper Midwest for him if he survives his first 4 years. People there were clearly tired of being taken for granted by Democrats, and even a phony pitch from a "populist" Republican will win until they see a real alternative. Which the Dems clearly have no intention of offering.
Please help support caucus99percent!
Wow. Even Chris Hedges believes that that rally will
be the start of a movement that's worth something. The idea that people are going to somehow start questioning their fundamental beliefs in Hillary Clinton and the Democrats because they turn up at big marches organized by supporters of Hillary Clinton is very strange.
"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
Getting people out in the streets is a good first step
People should be angry and demonstrating. Once they're out there -- or thinking about being out there -- I think an opportunity is created to help them consider the argument that neither party is their friend, and what they're marching against isn't just Trump but Clinton too. It took me a long time to get there, and I'm willing to be patient with others. But that seems like where my next efforts will probably gravitate to.
Please help support caucus99percent!
Sorry, I disagree.
We are way past first steps now.
dfarrah
One of my friends went to a march
and took her 10 year old daughter to it. While she did eventually vote for the Shills, mostly due to the FEAR generated over Rump, even she wasn't out there just for Hillary or the Democrats. People don't know what to do yet but many feel they have to DO something. I don't see those actions as merely negative, and they may help wake more up.
As for it being too late for this now, well sure it is, but what in hell else should people do? Sit home and bitch or go on the Internet? I don't know what the answer is, but I do tend to think that any action is better than none.
For me, if I go to one ever, I will hold a sign that makes very crystal clear just why I'm there - the open bigotry and hate, the economics that drove so many to vote according to that hate, and how getting the money grubbers out is our only hope. While I hate like hell to see Democrats try to co-opt that, I understand the sentiment completely of people who DID something, anything, to register their disgust.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
Social Justice = Wage Arbitrage
One inconvenient truth about social justice movements is that allowing more workers into the labor pool depresses wages for everyone.
Don't get me wrong: I fully support equal opportunities for women to compete for jobs with men, but if there also aren't more overall jobs being created, the result is inevitably smaller wages and longer hours for all workers.
- a big reason TPTB never mind a good women's march, but send in the troops when anyone has the temerity to protest the economic consequences of more workers for fewer jobs.
BTW: great minds.
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?
Chris Hedges is a person I worship.
If he weren't speaking and writing this past year, I don't know if I could have kept my bearings. Just knowing he's here in the world, with all his courage to speak the truth, keeps me hopeful.
But I kind of disagree with him about the CIA and Trump. I think the CIA is a force for evil, an agency that runs death squads, torturers, paramilitary terrorist armies, and atrocious dictatorships. It has done so since the beginning under Allen Dulles, and it is doing so now. I think there are also good people in the CIA, some who have become whistleblowers, some who still believe the agency is a force for good. But the leadership of the CIA is evil. I think, with all his fluctuations and lack of poise, Donald Trump sees this and can't prevent himself from saying it.
And I think the problem the CIA has with him is that he doesn't automatically bow his head whenever he's around them, not because he's brilliant, but because he sees their work as a despicable failure. From his perspective, everything they've done in the Middle East is a catastrophe. Trump isn't sophisticated enough to believe there's a complex reason for this man-made disaster beyond the fact that it is a failure. So he doesn't cringe when he's around them, he sneers. He's disgusted. And somehow, he's not afraid of them. I think when he spoke of his support this week, he was speaking to the agents and researchers who do the work there, not the leadership.
Anyway, I think the CIA's hatred of him is not just in that he isn't afraid of them, but that he appears to be calling out the stupidity of their planning for a nuclear war. At least I hope he is. Ashton Carter and the CIA are trying to make our nuclear weapons "more usable," because if they're not usable we might as well not have that industry anymore, and it's a very expensive, very entrenched, and very crucial industry in the field of bamboozling the American people with fear.
So there's a lot at stake when we're talking about questioning the CIA's credibility, their "success"-rate, their patriotism, or their fucking sanity. Big bucks. Big power. Even big law enforcement, who knows?
As a lifelong pacifist, I guess I never saw it coming that the clear thinking it takes to question our foreign policy would come, not from Ralph Nader becoming president, or Paul Wellstone, or Barbara Lee, or even Bernie Sanders, but from Donald Trump. Who saw this coming?
What Chris Hedges said during the Women's March
in this video, really calms me. Unfortunately the first things I read about about the march was totally discouraging me and I was so confused. He puts my mind into the right frame again. I must have fallen for some kind of manipulation attempt. Thank God, Hedges sane words are so much needed in this insane world right now.
[video:https://youtu.be/6F-YIsiBZjw]
Chris Hedges Speaks at The Women's March in Washington DC
https://www.euronews.com/live
That is a very good video, but dems will co-opt movement
What Hedges says is great advice and observation. Start where people are at. Hedges in the video also understands how the democratic party may co-opt any movement down in a party rat hole.
I think in fact the democratic party will co-opt the movement which claims to be spontaneous and independent. But the end result may not be totally bad. Hopefully as Hedges says, as people stay involved they will see the truth about the corporate party known as democrats. And there could be enough pressure on some fronts to have Trump and gop retrench. And maybe new progressives will learn how to organize and agitate.
But mostly the democratic party will use and guide the movement to build a base for the 2018 mid-terms. They seem to be using Clinton's themes which may fizzle out as they were not effective during the campaign. Here is what we may be looking at for the next march: a demand for Trump's tax returns--straight out of Hillary's campaign:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/april-15-tax-day-trump-protest_us_58...?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/01/24/1624418/-The-15-April-Tax-March...
The good part will be some of Trump's agenda may be stopped, but in return we get more corporate democrats.
You know, there comes the time when nobody cares
anymore, who is trying to co-opt whom, a time when people stop reading blogs and a time when people understand that life is something else than online virtuality. May be there comes a time, when people won't need the internet anymore to produce themselves and take their selfies. Just imagine what Trump would be without twitter. And Clinton without emails. And all of us without online communication?
https://www.euronews.com/live
Hedges on the DP - "Not an actual political party."
Everyone - please watch this ... or at least go to about 8:00 in the video. Chris Hedges states it well. The Democratic Party does not actually exist.
He is dead on the money.
Yes!
"It's not a party, it's a facade." In effect, nothing but the very best window dressing that can be put up - a Potemkin project hiding empty shores.
Here is something that looks promising
http://www.inquisitr.com/3914377/justice-democrats-cenk-uygur-the-young-...
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
TYT -- back?
The Pirate in me is attracted to the idea of boarding the Dems' ship, taking it over, and turning all the booty over to the People.....
And methinks the actuality of "President Donald J. Trump" has brought TYT back to what it should be!
There may be hope for this country yet.....
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Yeah um...
To begin...that is a terrible name.
I'm sorry, but that truly is a god awful name. "Justice Democrats"? Bleh gross.
But second, again, lulling people back into the Dem veal pen. You can try to run these Justice guys (seriously sounds like a comic book thing), but mostly will just slowly drain away the spirit like a vampire.
Hey what's in a name, it's skin deep
I'm thinking he wants out from the D party as is and that's a good thing.
Trump is going to go down in flames and the D party as constituted doesn't cut
the mustard.
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