Inconvenient truths about the New Democrats, the Third Way, Democratic Leadership Council, etc.

[bobthedrummer]

Like many other members of DU, I've participated in historic movements in my 4+ decades of political life.

I've literally put my life on the line for the advancement of basic Constitutionally protected rights for all citizens-when younger I confronted and fought against the extreme RW and their corrupt allies in places like Milwaukee, Madison, Chicago, Skokie, Minneapolis.

I've been shot at, beaten, jailed, put on various "lists" and economically harmed as a direct result of my political participation in various movements since 1965. I've walked the walk and experienced the reaction of opposition, some of the reactions so extreme as to make the simple truth about my political activism during the past 43 years sound like fiction-yet it is absolutely true.

At every point during my personal experiences the Democratic Party and Democratic politicians were also involved in the movement for the advancement and expansion of basic rights for all.

Most of the policies that supported that advancement had been the work of Democrats like FDR, Truman, JFK, RFK, Eugene McCarthy, George McGovern and many other Democrats nationally and regionally.

Volunteerism, financial contribution and, most of all, casting votes and organizing campaigning for other votes for these Democrats came from citizens like me that didn't belong to any political party.

I'm still not a member of any political party because I value the conceptual framework and philosophies of democracy embedded in our Constitution and Bill of Rights expressed as the rule of law by, for and of we, the people, first and foremost. That is democracy.

I'm not a starry-eyed idealist when it comes to that-I'm profoundly aware of the sacrifices made over the centuries to preserve, protect and defend what the criminals and traitors in the current installed administration have called "a Goddamn piece of paper" (which they have incrementally, secretively and corruptly been replacing with their own traitorous agendas since being installed in office).

That's enough about me and where I'm at politically. I'm beyond anger and frustration that when I "sent a message" by voting a straight Democratic ticket in Wisconsin in the 2006 midterm GE based on the promises of a "change in direction" that new leadership, Democratic leadership, would bring has resulted in very little outside of the feeling that the message has been ignored in Washington by the new leadership.

I'm beyond anger and frustration that the potential Democratic candidates for POTUS have dropped from 8 to 2 largely due to power struggles within the Democratic Party. I still voted for my choice in the Wisconsin primary a few weeks ago, one of the original 8 Democrats.

I've been taking a serious look at the composition and history of the factions involved in this internal power struggle of the Democratic Party in an attempt to understand why the leadership has been ignoring the many continuing urgent messages sent by the people that voted for them in 2006.

The balance of this OP are links about the powerful centrist/right factions in the Democratic Party that were founded in the 1980's around what is called the third way-factions that severed most connections with traditional Democratic support nationally with the goal of getting its membership into the Executive Branch.

It was confusing to me, at first, to read about organizations that use words like progressive, democratic or liberal in their titles-yet were funded and founded by individuals and organizations generally associated with opposition to such meanings in the context of political affiliation.

I want to share what I've been learning about the New Democrats, the Democratic Leadership Council and its think tank, the Progressive Policy Institute and some of their allies. The links below are for those of you that also would like to learn more.

I'm linking them without comment. I'd really like to hear what you have to say about all this.

Third Way Foundation (Source Watch page)
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Third_Way_Foundation

Will Marshall profile from Right Web
http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/1295.html

Democratic Leadership Council/DLC page from Source Watch
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Democratic_Leadership_Council

DLC profile from Right Web
http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/1463.html

"How the DLC Does It" by Robert Dreyfuss (American Prospect 4-22-2001)
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?articleId=4706

Progressive Policy Institute/PPI (the DLC's main think tank) links

PPI Source Watch page
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Progressive_Policy_Institute

PPI profile from Right Web
http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/1534.html

Grants to support PPI (from Media Transparency)
http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=2355

That's enough for this OP. I'd like to hear about some of the other organizations and individuals associated with the New Democrats from you-I'm still learning about Al From, Lewis Cullman, Andy and Deborah Rappaport, The New America Foundation, New Democrat Network, Dewey Square Group, etc.

I'll add a bit about them later.