Populist Reform of the Democratic Party

[demwing]

I'd like to test the water to see if there is support for a Populist Reform Group on DU.

A potential Statement of Purpose:

"To discuss and debate issues, candidates, and strategies related to the promotion of progressive, populist reforms within the Democratic Party"

We have a great reservoir of talent and experience on DU. I'd like a safe environment where we can collectively define, discuss, and debate progressive populism.

59 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	I support a group to discuss populist reforms within the Democratic Party
	58 (98%)
	I do not support a group to discuss populist reforms within the Democratic Party
	1 (2%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[demwing]

1. please vote, kick, and rec this poll for visibility. Thanks! /NT

[fadedrose]

63. What's the name of the new group, and is it set up yet?

K

[demwing]

64. Still waiting for a response from Skinner

But the rest of your questions are answered by my OP

[fadedrose]

65. If the title is as written,

"Populist Reform of the Democratic Party," it seems a bit long for me. Maybe for younger people it's easier to say and type, but I looked up plain old "populism" in the Dictionary, and I love the definitions. Am putting them here to share with anybody who doesn't know what a cool word it is (all lower case):

1. the political philosophy of the People's party.

2. Any of various, often antiestablishment or anti-intellectual political movements or philosophies that offer unorthodox solutions or policies and appeal to the common person rather than according with traditional party or partisan ideologies.

3. Grass-roots democracy; working-class activism; egalitarianism.

4. Rrepresentation or extolling of the common person, the working class, the underdog, etc.: "populism in the arts."

Hope you hear from the Boss soon.

[demwing]

68. My working name is "Populist Reform Group"

of PRG - which is cool because it's easy to say, and it looks like an abbreviation for "progressive"

[fadedrose]

69. Very Good

and easy to remember...

And, "liberal" and "progressive" are scary words on the left...

[suffragette]

71. PRG is good, but PRoD would also be a great acronym

[Kingofalldems]

2. Kick back to the top.

[Doctor_J]

3. I kick, rec, and vote "yes", but IMO it's hopeless

Between the party apparatchiks being owned by the same people who own the Repukes, and enough formerly sane Dems who think who all of the criticism of the president is because he's black (I guess they forgot the 2008 election), fighting the new "base" of the party will be tough. Overcoming the far right's money and media advantages will require a great deal of focus, energy, and creative thinking, which can't happen while DUers are arguing amongst each other whether DU is really a "cesspool of misogyny".

[demwing]

4. well, ty for the vote

one issue at a time, I guess

[aspirant]

52. Where is the base?

Can you please define who the base is? Is the national dem party in the ivory towers and bubbles in D.C. part of the base? Are the dem think tanks,supposedly like DU and others part of the base? Are the poor and homeless still another part of the base? Aren't we all the base and shouldn't we stop talking as if the base is somewhere over there.

[djean111]

81. Maybe you have not been here long enough to notice, but liberals/Progressives

are called things like Tealibs. The Left Wing of the Democratic Party, fucking retards (Rahm), - stuff like that.
The base, right now, would be anyone who is interested in signing up and investigating.
Gotta start somewhere.

[scarletwoman]

5. Here's my kick, rec, & yes vote to help you out. nt

[840high]

6. kick

[99Forever]

7. K&R

[bigwillq]

8. PRG!

[demwing]

10. OK, maybe PPRG?

Populist Progressive Reforms Group?

[bigwillq]

15. PRG is fine.

I was kind of making a bad joke.

[demwing]

16. I didn't even consider the acronym at first

and assume the joke was about the French Socialists, right?

[bigwillq]

17. No

PRG would be "our" BOG.

I almost posted "POP"

but not sure if you would have gotten that either.

Like I said, bad joke.

[riqster]

23. The Canucks had the Canadian Reform Alliance Party.

For a very short time, until somebody told thèm what the acronym spelled.

[bigwillq]

24. Bwah!

[riqster]

25. It could be worse.

A co-worker once attended high school in a new school district, a combination of two previous districts: the Franklin Union district. When it came time to choose a team name and mascot, one wag proposed the Charging Knights.

The school board approved it, until the letter jacket vendor called them and said, "Uh, guys, about these initials"...

[bigwillq]

28. Oh, man.

[Zorra]

9. Good idea! nt

[Odin2005]

11. We already have a Socialist Progressives sub-forum.

[cprise]

34. But you used the S-word, which Democrats run away from

Might as well change the name of the existing forum if people are going to be so obtuse.

Just remember DUers, the conservatives will call you Socialists anyway and they will gain points for it because no one in the establishment (esp. Democrats) will defend the term.

[EEO]

12. Time to shed light on the conservatives in Democratic clothing and promote Roosevelt Liberals.

Otherwise, the Democratic Party will only keep using liberals on election day and screwing us over when they get into office. Hillary may well be worse than Obama if she is elected.

[elzenmahn]

26. You can bet on it...

...she's more of a hawk, and is way too cozy with the banks for my liking.

IF she's the nominee (again, IF), then yes, I'll vote for her to keep the like of Jeb Son-Of-A Bush or Crispy Cream Christie out of the White House. But that's the only reason.

[truedelphi]

50. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^n/t

[NorthCarolina]

13. K&R

[tosh]

14. Yes. K&R.

[whereisjustice]

18. lol - too bad we have to create a special group for this. Just shows how liberals have been

pushed to the margins by conservatives.

It should be the other way around.

[Wounded Bear]

19. K & R...for exposure...nt

[MisterP]

20. and *real* reforms and follow-through--not "we got Gingrich's plans passed, pulled out of Iraq

(a little), saw a surge in no-income jobs, and gave a trillion to Wall Street criminals in exchange for a bandaid they may well have written themselves! and you swine are STILL not satisfied?"

[L0oniX]

21. Message hidden by jury decision

I was going to say something about the BOG.

[rhett o rick]

33. I was juror #5. I would add that I think the BOG is a good model. nm

[riqster]

22. Kick. Good idea.

[baldguy]

27. Don't assume "populist" means "liberal" or "correct"

Huey Long was a populist, and so is Ron Paul.

[demwing]

30. Agreed, which is why I made sure

That the post specified "progressive Populist reforms"

[silverweb]

31. The group would clarify that.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]That's what it's for: to discuss and debate.

[baldguy]

43. I'm afraid what we'd get is a bunch of people offering the public nothing but sand to drink

because we'd have purged anyone who had the slighted chance of being smeared as "3rd way" or "centrist" or "DLC" - you know, anyone who's had more than 2 yrs experience at public service supporting liberal causes.

The more-liberal-than-thou crew are on the hunt to find a tree for their lynching party, and they're ready to string up Hillary, Obama, and any other "centrist" they can.

[demwing]

44. That's WCS

(worst case scenario)...why assume the worst?

[baldguy]

46. Because that's exactly what's being advocated for right now on DU.

[truedelphi]

51. Are you sure you are right about this? I mean, can I ask you then how it

is that 6 yrs ago, the nation saw some 62.5% of all registered voters turned out for election day, 2008, to vote in a black man, who no one knew all that well, but who had chosen to run in the two months prior to his election to the Presidency as a progressive?

Even my Teabagger neighbor voted for him. He was populist, as in "Bring in some restrictions on the banks."

He was populist as in "Bring on the public option." View the Youtube that is pertinent:

It was only his decision to become an oligarch himself, and to choose people like Rahm Emanuel and Hillary Clinton, for the top jobs in his government (along with many many Bush cronies) rather than the much wiser decision to remain true to his base that has put us into the quandry of not having any progressive people who are well known and available to run in 2016.

If he had put in Dennis Kucinich, Neal Barofsky or Brooksley Born to head up the US Treasury, if he had put in John Garamendi to have oversight on National Lands, rather than Mike Thompson, if he had put Barbara Boxer in as the Secretary of State, the United States would be a far different place right now, and we would have progressives who would have taken the nation in a different and much fairer direction, so that we would not now be the land of endless war, outsourced jobs, and Big Financial Firms Uber Alles.

[demwing]

54. I'd add Howard Dean as Secretary of Health and Human Services

Switch Kucinich to Labor, and add Robert Reich at the Treasury.

Boxer is an interesting choice at State, why her?

[truedelphi]

62. Robert Reich is someone I have found continually mis-estimating reality -

The guy also was a huge proponent of NAFTA. I want him left in his Academic and Ivory Tower, where his believers can continue to believe him, but his ideas of reality won't continue to make things worse.

But Howard Dean is an awesome suggestion.

Barbara Boxer can go from not knowing a thing about an issue, but then once informed, goes from zero to 60 mph in a flash. She knew little about the Pesticide Issue until Anti-Pesticide activists got a hold of her, and then she became a major thorn in that Industry's side.

And she became totally informed about what is happening with the voting situation. She was the only Senator we have had in the last twenty years of bogus elections to take on a challenge and side with the Black Caucus from the House of Representatives. (2004-2005.) She refused to allow the certifying of George W's "re-election" without a fight, and if we had had just a few more senators like her, maybe we wouldn't have had those four extra years. And then too, maybe we would have had the Senate and the House educated about the gerrymandering plague the Republicans inflicted on the nation, as well as the fact that these days, the news media calls the election, with only 56% of the vote in!! (As was done for many politicians with an R after their name running in the South, just last Tuesday.)

Would Boxer have thad to educate herself about the duties of State? Sure, yes, she would have - but since Obama's number two spot at State was filled by an experienced neo-con and Bush war-monger (forget the lady's name) then Boxer could have had that woman's input, while also consulting with many others who know far more than either the Bush people or the Obama people about how to bring peace to the world, and create a sustainable mutually enhancing position on the world's stage. If we could have avoided the situation of offering up free of charge tens of billions of dollars of weaponry to Middle East nations, circa mid 2010 to 2011, who then gave those weapons to rebels now known as ISIS/ISIL, I think we would all be better off!

[Eleanors38]

77. DU "purging?" We don't have the power to puke

our own guts out. If we don't like someone in charge of the Party at any level, we vote 'em out. They can stay in general membership and help do the sweat equity work.

[silverweb]

29. K&R

[ReRe]

32. K&R

We da People!

[madinmaryland]

35. K&R

[Enthusiast]

36. Kicked and recommended a whole bunch!

[Oldtimeralso]

37. Proud to be voter 100

[blkmusclmachine]

38. Third Way is absolutely entrenched in the DEM Party apparatus. See Obama as an example. So, good

luck in negotiating with them. The only people they want to talk to are the Republicans, to find out their list of demands for an immediate, unconditional surrender.

[BlueJac]

39. Liberals must be proud...

I known there is a movement to the left if we quit seeking the middle ground. Being agreeable WILL NOT WORK, do you know a conservative? I do. They thought we would be communists by now at the then end of the Obama administration and they thought they would be told where to go to church. Fox news for sure. Fucking fools that need to be led. Time to dig in and fight, not give in and reach across the aisle and have your hand bit, like Obama. Making promises and then bailing, it never works. DLC Democrats are a failure. The time has finally come for a liberal movement. Time for government for the people to take over and fuck this bullshit with the marriage of business and government! The war is on!!!!!!!!!!!!

[aspirant]

53. Let my people go

THEN DON'T YOU THINK IT'S TIME TO RE-ORGANIZE THIS BROKEN SYSTEM? wE MUST CHANGE IT OR WE WILL BE CHANGED FOREVER

[BlueJac]

72. Take the money out of it!

[kentuck]

40. Just remember...you don't have to out-run the bear...

You only have to out-run the person behind you.

[grahamhgreen]

41. OK, who voted no???

[RiverLover]

42. I'm guessing...

"wyldwolf" ?

Just a wyld guess.

[demwing]

45. you know how to see the names right?

or are you just funning?

[grahamhgreen]

47. No, I dont, actually!

Now I do! That was easy!!!

[TheKentuckian]

48. That Is what GD, Politics, and Good Reads should be about and the Turd Way baker's dozen

can go and sit in a group where they can spit curses at "the left", "the fringe", and "the leftier than thou" (aka anything other than Raygun minus the southern strategy) in peace and without causing lame disruption of sane thought.

[BrotherIvan]

49. You mean a "safe haven"?

Where you post in bold type that only posters who agree with you and fawn over all the photos get to post but then you get go all nuts everywhere else? Like that? Because I'M IN!

[demwing]

55. I'd like the PRG to be more than just an "Anti-BOG"

wouldn't you?

[BrotherIvan]

57. Well it would be nice to have an actual discussion without it being disrupted and derailed

But that is usually not possible. If that is what you envision, then that would be the reason why I found DU in the first place. There is no activism here, only constant nagging and haranguing and hippie punching.

[Eleanors38]

78. True, that.

[demwing]

56. I've submitted a request to the Admins, and would like your feedback on 2 issues:

#1. My proposed Statement of Purpose:

""To discuss and debate issues, candidates, and strategies related to the promotion of progressive, populist reforms within the Democratic Party"

Any changes required?


#2. Under which TOPIC should the PRG reside?

• Activism
• Democrats
• Government & Elections

or some other obvious Topic I may have missed?

FWIW, my personal preference would be the Democrats topic.

[LongTomH]

58. Your statement of purpose is fine; I would go with either Activism or Democrats as a topic heading

Oh yeah, while I'm at it: K&R

[Bohunk68]

59. Good to go with that. I'm in. nt

[Chathamization]

66. Hm...I'd probably choose activism, but my second choice would be Democrats.

Thanks for starting this.

[demwing]

60. One more push for the Weekday crowd

Let's get the Yes's to 200+

[Orsino]

61. That could be my new home page.

Why the fuck would I visit the rest of the forums?

So I vote no. Lets not settle for a group. Let's go wall-to-wall.

[4dsc]

67. kick

[demwing]

70. SKINNER APPROVED!

totally bad ass!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12597118#post1

[sabrina 1]

73. I think it's a good idea, but when I first came here that was the entire forum. Shows how many

Liberal Dems have left and how the influence of the Third Way has increased. I began to notice the attacks on Liberals on Dem forums around 2004. And the introduction of all those words and phrases aimed at the Left. Think Tank talking points.

[Eleanors38]

79. Yep. You and Orsino. ^^^

Me too.

[NYC_SKP]

74. Awesome Idea! K/R

[AngryOldDem]

75. Saw this in ATA

Hope it's not too late to give a big

[democrank]

76. K & R

This would be a welcome change....back to our roots.

[Eleanors38]

80. Next: How do we take control of the Party? nt