My letter to the CA Dem Chair: No more donations if you kill the progressive caucus

[Liberty Belle]

DU members: If you want to help stop this destruction of the democratic process in California's Democratic Party, please send your own letters to Chairman John Burton, [email protected] and to controller Hilary Crosby, [email protected]. They are about to consider throwing out the large and very active progressive caucus merely because the caucus has called for a primary challenger to the President. Here is my letter, just sent. Please reply if you send a letter of your own, or feel free to borrow all or any portion of this one that I wrote:

NO MORE DONATIONS FOR THE CDC IF YOU KILL THE PROGRESSIVE CAUCUS

I have given money for years to the CDC, been a delegate and central committee member as well. However I will never give another penny if the progressive caucus is thrown out for supporting the concept of a primary challenger in a presidential race. Instead, my donations will go directly to progressive candidates, including primary challengers in some races.

It doesn’t matter if one loves the current candidate or not. One should respect the democratic process, not act like Republicans who control their nomination process and shut out alternative views. That’s exactly what’s created such extremism in their party. (I’ve worked as a political reporter in the past, and have a very good handle on how the GOP works.)

While I don’t believe a challenger is likely to beat Obama, it’s undemocratic to tell party members who to vote for or support in a primary election! If you do that, you may as well admit that the corporations will be running the show. No incumbent will ever feel a need to support the Democratic base. They can kowtow to corporate donors instead.

The times we’re in are unprecedented. Republicans want to dismantle our social safety net. Corporations have been given carte blanche to buy and sell politicians at will. We should be ENCOURAGING ordinary people to run for office, not stifling dissent! This heavy-handed smack-down of progressive voices is intimidating and disgusting.

Primaries are healthy. You CAN and SHOULD urge contenders to focus criticism on Republicans, not each other. But you should NOT tell Democrats who to support in primaries and certainly should not punish those who feel they can’t support an incumbent in a primary (though all party delegates and officers should do so in the general).

In races with multiple Democratic candidates where all are amicable, bashing Republicans with on voice, there is a legion of candidates out there to spread the Democratic message more widely than a single candidate could do alone. You can disagree on policies, ie one might want to end the war sooner, or take a more strident stand against Tea Party tactics. Diverse views should be allowed within our party, making sure that important issues get discussed that would otherwise be ignored as incumbents shift ever further to the right.

If not, what’s the point of having a primary at all? We might as well just start anointing incumbents like kings.

I predict that if you kill the progressive caucus, which I believe is the largest caucus in the party, you will see Democrats leave the party in droves and maybe even form a new party in California.

How does that help anything, except the corporations who want to control the party?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Perfectly and beautifully said!

Alas, my credentials are nowhere nearly as good as yours. But I feel the same.

I hope you hear from both of these men...

Do let us know if you do, OK?

Proud to recommend.

[Liberty Belle]

2. Will do, though Hilary is a woman, not a man.

I have also been a campaign manager for a Congressional candidate in which the party endorsed her opponent BEFORE the primary election date, drying up her donations. The fix was in, even though my candidate was a black liberal anti-war woman running against a white pro-military non-progressive male DINO. She had support from the black Congressional caucus and other major groups, but her own party, the supposed party of opportunity for women and minorities, torpedoed her chances.

I was livid then, and even more livid now. The state party has no damn business endorsing in primaries except in rare cases where there's a candidate who doesn't stand for Democratic values (such as years ago when a KKK member won a Dem Congressional primary).

[Major Hogwash]

3. They demanded a challenger to the incumbent!! That's a whole different ball game.

Than someone coming forward to challenge Obama.

[LoZoccolo]

4. Yep, it means they were just throwing a tantrum.

There's no upside to promoting a challenger who doesn't exist, and plenty of downside.

[Liberty Belle]

5. The party leader could criticize their position without destroying the caucus.

The progressive caucus has been the conscious of the party, pushing it to oppose the war and take progressive views on a wealth of other issues. Do we throw everyone out just because you may disagree with one protest resolution they took? What's next? Tossing out any caucus that proposes a change to the party platform, just because party power brokers support the original language? Such tactics could have been used to stifle support for recent changes such as support for gay marriage, humane treatment of farm animals, and other progressive positions taken by the CA Democratic Party.

[Raine]

9. They DID NOT "demand", they proposed and want to explore the possibility

read the proposal for yourself ...

California Democratic Party May Dump Its Progressive Caucus for Proposing a Primary Chlnge to Obama - Democratic Underground
Address:http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1734555&mesg_id=1734555

[tblue]

6. Bravo!!! Agree 1000%!

Without a progressive caucus, what's left? You don't see Republicans kicking out the Tea Psrty caucus. Quite the contrary. Tell you what: I will go wherever the progressives go.

[sabrina 1]

7. Excellent letter. I hope you get a response.

It would be very foolish to do this. With the Unions furious with the Party and now this, I think your prediction of a new party could very well come true. That, or all those who have had it with the rightward direction this Party is taking, might want to just take over instead of allowing themselves to always be relegated to the back of the room, until election season when they need donations and volunteers. This Party is at a crossroads and something like this could just be the straw that broke the camel's back.

:kick:

[Raine]

8. THANKS for the link ... I certainly will! nt

:thumbsup:

[xchrom]

Recommend

[xchrom]

10. Recommend

[a2liberal]

11. "though all party delegates and officers should do so in the general"??

Why?? Shouldn't delegates and officers also be pushing whoever they think is the right direction for the party? Whether it happens to be the incumbent or not...

[boston bean]

12. OFA is fully integrated w/in the DNC and is pretty much in charge.

They will do what they think is good for Obama.

It's a wonderful plan.