We need a return to Democratic Populism

[cheezus]

I live on the North Dakota / Minnesota border, and I will tell you this:

I am the Non-Partisan League in the North Dakota Dem-NPL
I am the Farm-Labor in the Minnesota DFL

We can fight the culture war at our bbqs, in our churches, on our campuses, but not in politics. We need to return to fighting the CLASS WAR. We need to win back the working class base of the Democratic party.

They want an US against THEM situation. Fine. It's US (those who work for a living) versus them (those who use money to make money). It's about the worker over the corporation. It's about getting paid well for working hard, and getting some time off after a job well done.

No more letting THEM frame the debate.

[msturgis524]

1. Absolutely

Frame the moral debate in new terms.

[GRLMGC]

2. Class warfare!

hehe, I can see fucking Repugs yelling this. I don't think there's anything wrong w/ class warfare. If the Repugs are only interested in the rich, people should have this in their face. It's been discussed but for some reason, it hasn't had an effect.

[cheezus]

6. they've been waging war against the working class for years

we just have the guts to actually call it a class war.

bring it on!

[Atman]

14. So when they cry "Class Warfare" embrace it!

Because it IS. They took "liberal" and made it a dirty word. Take "Class Warfare" and hang them with it.

[cheezus]

3. exactly, their moral "issues" are non-issues that affect almost no one

My formerly republican (hey, it's the home team around here) in-laws are democrats now because of John Edwards. They're also Catholics, and our moral issues are the ones they actually CARE about.

[BearFlagDemocrat]

4. Watch out, you're starting to sound Communist.

Not that it bothers me, but you know that's what their response is going to be. :) Personally, I think we need a GD: Devil's Advocate forum where we can hash out some messages and possible objections. Opposition research.

[cheezus]

10. no, it's called Populism

my state has a state owned bank (because the banks out east wouldn't take risks on farmers) and a state owned grain elevator (because the big ag businesses couldn't be bothered with the cost-- and it was too expensive for our farmers to transport their goods to saint paul)

we have 11 state colleges/universities for state with a population of around half a million

many North Dakotans rely on co-ops for their farms, stores, and electricity.

We're a people who understand the need to help eachother out, and we do it.

I dare you to call up a North Dakotan on the phone and call him a communist.

[LibInternationalist]

5. Right On!

I hope John Edwards hasn't given up his chance too soon.

[Owlet]

7. Good idea, but..

..we have to stop giving millionaire Yalies our party's nomination.

[ulTRAX]

8. The Right is COMMITTED in class warfare yet Dems refuse to take them on

It is curious that the Dems seem so reluctant to fight class warfare that the Right is committed to. Yet the Right gets away with it and the Dems back down.

As Hightower says forget about Left and Right... focus on top to bottom. Here's some ammo: http://www.lcurve.org/

[jdj]

12. I'm not big mama tit.

And you can't take on their preachers when they were brainwashed as children.

[sidwill]

9. Class warfare will work

but only when a larger segment of the population starts to feel the pain of.

[GreenPartyVoter]

11. Yep. Fix the election system then get back to serving the PEOPLE!

-----------------------------------------------------------
FIGHT! Take this country back one town and state at a time!
http://www.geocities.com/greenpartyvoter/electionreform.htm

[Skidmore]

13. Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!

Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!Yes! Yes!


Did I say "Yes!"?

[donsu]

15. we need to destroy the riggable voting machines

nothing will change if we keep on voting on them.


paper ballots, hand counted with an audience

[cheezus]

23. Canada does it that way, why can't we?

we'd need more voting places, but it still seems less capital intensive than the way we do it

[fertilizeonarbusto]

16. THANK YOU

exactly

[sandnsea]

17. Not CLASS warfare

Corporatism. Just corporatism. I won't even get into why class warfare won't work anymore, because nobody believes me anyway.

But we CAN attack corporatism alone. Outsourcing. Pollution. Billions of tax subsidies. Global corporate "security" that attacks local people. Subsidizing corporate labor costs through food stamps, medical, housing, etc. LOTS of things to attack and corporatism is our most dangerous threat anyway. Especially when they realize they have control of the press and politics by what books they sell in their chains. We have to unite around this cause, with our consumer dollars and more importantly, our investments.

[cheezus]

19. that sounds like a good first step

I do agree with you somewhat. People are convinced that their ship is going to come in and they'll benefit from all the great things we shower on the rich.

Perhaps the first and easiest step in fighting corporatism is simply buying as locally as possible?

[sandnsea]

26. No they don't

That really isn't what I hear from the broke-ass people who vote Republian year after year. What I hear is that they owe those people their jobs, don't have a problem with them having money, are glad to contribute their part to society, don't ever expect to get rich and don't think it's right to burden the wealthy with their problems. It's just the nature of things in their minds.

So, I really don't think we're going to make any progress by continuing on with the same old ramblings of class warfare. Working America rejected it a very long time ago.

Corporate welfare, that's a whole other ballgame. They are also faceless so nobody relates them to their boss. Most important is what they did in California, start telling people that Walmart workers are using state medical because they don't make enough money and don't have medical through the corporation. That's an argument working people would understand because it doesn't fit into what they've been taught about fair market economics. Bobby Kennedy, Jr., made the argument the best in his Rolling Stone interview a few months ago. We are so close to fascism as it is, we've got to stop these corporations.

[annabanana]

22. "Corporate Welfare".... turn the damn meme inside out......n/t

[annabanana]

18. THANK YOU!

They have been shoving the "class warfare" remark in our faces EVERY time we claim that there even IS such a thing as the 'common good" Thomas Hart Benton was the artist of the populist movement and I know his work still resonates throughout the Midwest.

[cheezus]

20. and it's how we can DOMINATE in the midwest

people here help other people, even those they don't know and those they don't like.

[LiberalAndProud]

21. Well said! Big Business vs. the Working Family

This should be our mantra.

[IrateCitizen]

24. Nobody likes the boss. Help the working man stand up to the boss.

That should be our rallying cry.

But this all brings me back to my big, big problems with Bill Clinton, and the shift he helped to bring about. Personally, I think that the Clinton years did more long-term damage to the Democratic Party than anything the Republicans could ever have dreamed up.

Bill Clinton put the final nails in the coffin for economic populism within the Democratic Party with his general embrace of big business, with choosing Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers as his Treasury Secretaries -- and taking their advice, with championing "free trade", and with actions like support of the 1996 telecom deregulation act. It wasn't any of the Wall Street types or the politicians who lost their livelihoods as a result of these policies -- it was the honest, hardworking Americans who believed that if they just kept their head down and worked hard, they would be rewarded. They were betrayed instead, and the Republicans were just waiting to sweep them up, with plenty of places for them to place blame.

The Democratic Party cannot straddle supporting both corporate interests AND working people. The two interests are diametrically opposed to one another. Since the Dems gave up economic populism in order to chase corporate cash, they gave up their one single trump card against cultural conservatism.

For the Dems to succeed, IMHO, they need to jettison those who espouse cozying up to corporations, and instead adopt the role of "being on the side of the working man against the boss". We can then point to the Republicans and say, "See those Republicans over there? They help the boss against you. They help the boss when he wants to cut your pay or send your job overseas. We will stand on your side and make sure you get the fair shake that you deserve, because it is YOU, the working men and women, not the BOSS, that have been the backbone of America throughout its history."

That's basic economic populism. Sure, they'll claim "class warfare", but we can always just shoot back that THEY chose to come down on the side of the boss, so somebody has to come down on the side of the people who, despite their honest hard work and trust, always bear the brunt of economic downturns, who have their jobs shipped overseas, who see their savings evaporate. That's just plain wrong, and if it's class warfare to say it's wrong, then we're proud to engage in it.

[cheezus]

25. agree with you on clinton - yes, and FUCK the boss

Bill Clinton: "best republican president we ever had"