General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The DemocraticUnderground can say things the Democratic Party cannot say. [View all]LWolf
(46,179 posts)This site was started in response to the 2000 selection. It welcomed Democrats AND OTHER PROGRESSIVES. It identified itself as a "left-wing" discussion site. Please note that, with DU3, that self-identification as "left-wing" has disappeared.
When I started reading DU in '02, I was quite moderate compared to much of what I was reading. These days I'm way too far left for the site, and the interesting thing is that my positions haven't changed. I've seen so many long-time posters from the left leave, voluntarily and not. There was always tension between the dual identification of "supportive of the Democratic Party" and "left-wing," because the Democratic Party is NOT left-wing. When push came to shove, the party always won. And still does.
While all primaries tended to be ugly, the '08 primary was the ugliest I've ever seen, pitting race against gender and leaving issues behind. So many supported Obama because "he's not dlc," when he's more of a neoliberal than HRC ever was. Still, the need to evict the pretender and get a Democrat into the WH overrode all of that ugliness; DU came together to elect Obama.
Once a Democrat was in the WH, the site quickly moved above ground and began to mirror the president; it became more and more centrist, more and more mainstream, and those of us from the left who were still speaking out from the left against the neoliberal actions of the new administration became the enemy. Some left. Some were evicted. Some of us stayed, and kept speaking out, but censored what we had to say a lot more strictly. It's only recently that more and more DUers have become disenchanted with their neoliberal office holders, and the voices against the neoliberal takeover of the party have been growing.
I see that as a good thing. I think you can be a Democrat, support the Democratic Party, AND FIGHT LIKE HELL TO REVERSE THAT TAKEOVER. A"D" next to a politician's name does not make him or her a good Democrat, and a party that cannot be held accountable to party members is dangerous.