Progressives Are On The Rise

[Me.]

Believe it or not, the progressive point of view is welcome in this country. It is attracting voters and gaining in popilstiy. We just don't see it very clearly becaise it is a one small step at a time situation and, the bad news, the sand being thrown in our eyes by the admin. the republic-cons and those dems who have forgotten what the constitution stands for. But never fear, under the radar, the message is being deliverd and received. As MLK jr. said, "No lie can live forever".


“Chris Bowers at OpenLeft and Simon Rosenberg at NDN both have some critical peeks at the electoral numbers from the last election cycle. And while the numbers and analysis may prove shocking to the David Broders of the punditocracy, they back up what we’ve been talking about across the broad spectrum of progressive blogs: the victory that brought Democrats into the majority in both houses of Congress in 2006 was a progressive victory, not a centrist one.

And the Democratic leadership and consultant classes ignore that vital piece of information at their own peril. “

http://www.firedoglake.com/



2006 As A Democratic Base Victory
by: Chris Bowers
Tue Aug 07, 2007 at 18:35:57 PM EDT

“By now, we have all heard about how the great Independent swing toward Democrats from 2004 to 2006 was the key to Democratic victory. This is something many of us saw coming for quite some time, and we even dubbed it the "Indycrat" phenomenon. The first article I saw on this was a June 2005 post by Jerome Armstrong. During the rest of that year, it was a topic that was discussed other places like Donkey Rising, Survey USA and many other election focused outlets.

However, at Yearly Kos I briefly chatted with Simon Rosenberg who asked me to look into whether, from 2004 to 2006, Democrats received a greater vote swing from self-identified Democrats or from self-identified Independents. The reason he asked me to do that is because he believed Democrats actually received more of a boost from self-identifying Dems than they did from self-identifying Independents. While I was skeptical of this at first, I just looked into it now, at it appears Simon was right. Comparing 2004 and 2006 exit polls, here is the estimated swing Democrats received according to partisan self-identification:

Overall Dem vote increase: 5.15%
Growth from Dem's: 2.41%
Growth from Ind's: 2.08%
Growth from Rep's: 0.66%

This is rather surprising, but it does seem to be the case that Democrats won 2006 just as much by exciting the rank and file as anything else. I am actually kicking myself right now for not realizing this sooner, as it is the sort of statistic I pride myself on digging up. This would have been extremely useful to combat the post-election narrative that Democrats won in 2006 by being centrist, conservative, or in anyway breaking from their own party. The independent swing was important, but the swing they managed to pull off through an excited base was just as important, if no more so. Democrats stuck with their own party more often than Republicans, and then turned out at higher rates. Without this swing from their own base, Republicans would certainly still be in the majority in the Senate, and probably still be in the majority in the House.”…cont.

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=630

[H2O Man]

1. Good articles.

Progressive people had let their guards down, to too large an extent, during the Clinton administration. That allowed the necroconservatives and their ilk to grab control in 2000. People have been organizing and exercising power since 2001, at the grass roots level. In time, Washington will catch up.

[Me.]

2. I Think It Helps To Know

that all is not what it seems

added: The Huston Plan may finally be losing its grip

[inna]

knowledge is power

IMO, the main reason why the conservatives have been dominating for such a long time is the fact that the MSM did a great job basically brainwashing people.

all i can say, thank god for the internet. being well informed correlates with being progressive.
the more people know, the less they will support the GOP.

[lvx35]

7. Yeah, and all it takes is time.

People will believe an oft repeated lie for awhile. But eventually, the truth just works better and people choose it, if only for selfish reasons. For instance conservative investers were long told that global warming was itself a myth. Now its turned out to be completely real, and the RW machine is now trying to claim its real, but not caused by people. But the investors now know that the progressives, who predicted it for years, are more reliable so if they want to make money, they need to listen to progressive thought more closely. Its a good thing.

[inna]

3. knowledge is power

IMO, the main reason why the conservatives have been dominating for such a long time is the fact that the MSM did a great job basically brainwashing people.

all i can say, thank god for the internet. being well informed correlates with being progressive.
the more people know, the less they will support the GOP.

[Me.]

5. Welcome

You're quite right about MSM being complicit and they are for 2 reasons, imho. First it serves a corporate agenda and second they have become too much a part of what they are supposed to be reporting. Instead of being on the outside looking in, they're inside looking out. That perspective has blurred their vision.

[Warpy]

4. I've said for YEARS that the Democrats need to play to the base

and that means working stiffs out there who live paycheck to paycheck and find themselves getting farther behind every month while they watch upper management get fatter and fatter.

The party took working class economic issues off the table in 1969 after Humphrey was defeated, not realizing it was the Vietnam War and not the war on poverty that was turning people toward the GOP.

The conservatives at the center of party politics have been tone deaf for over 38 years. You'd think they'd have caught a clue when Clinton ran as an economic populist (although he didn't govern that way), but no-o-oo. They even took universal health care off the table when Gore ran.

Obviously the disease in the Democratic Party started at the top, not the bottom. Until and unless the party wakes up and plays to the base, most of its members will stay home rather than make the effort to register and vote and presidential elections will be close enough to steal, while the House and Senate remain deadlocked.

[Me.]

6. You Would Think Wouldn't You?

Seems the purpose of people like us, is to be the alarm clock. And alarm is the operative word here.