the case the Democratic Party is incompetent

The Democratic Party loses winnable elections. And when it loses, there's a lack of accountability for people who caused the loss & there's a lack of learning from losses.

Also, the Democratic Party fails to govern itself competently.

The Democratic Party is a mess in so many ways

Part of why the fights about the Democratic Party haven't died down since the 2016 Dem Primary is that the Dem Party is a mess in so many ways.

Below is the outline of the topics I intend to cover. It's too much for one blog entry.

I would like to revisit the wisdom of Dan Cohen. He noted fights about tactics are often sublimated fights about goals.

Much of the fighting within the Dem Party coalition is a fight between people who believe the Clinton-Obama formula of running elections & governing can work and those who disagree.

The outline of the topics I will cover:

If Democrats want to win the House of Representatives, they can.

The path to winning will annoy the 1%. But they really haven't been paying their fair share, hey they?

Democrats should promise to pass a bill that will atone for the suffering caused by the Great Recession.

For ten years, Americans who vote will get from $500-1,500 on their birthdays. This will start in 2018 for Americans who vote in the 2016 election.

two things I want regarding gay marriage in Illinois

1. A list of Democratic representatives who refused to publicly commit to supporting gay marriage.

2. Polling data on each one of these representatives.

With these two things, the people can begin to organize themselves.

Wisconsin recall defeat is the Waterloo of progressive politics in America

The failure to recall Scott Walker as governor of Wisconsin is a major turning point in American democracy.

The plutocrats (economic elites) have defeated collective bargaining for public sector workers in Wisconsin, an industrial state. And they have shown they can do this with acceptable backlash. And as the Indiana example shows, once Republicans get a chance they will eliminate private sector collective bargaining too.

Decency and self-restraint is not going to keep the plutocrats from attacking organized labor on all fronts. And with organized labor weakened, every progressive gain since the Civil War is in jeopardy. With criminalizing poverty and privatizing prisons, slavery is probably going to make a comeback too.

The Democratic activists trying to put a happy face on this say polling shows Republicans successfully made the debate about whether the recall process was "legitimate". That's one way to look at it. Another way to look at it is: the legislature and the governor took away the collective bargaining rights of Wisconsin citizens and the citizens declined to punish the guy who did it.

Dear Peace Movement: what's the plan?

Last weekend I attend the NATO Counter Summit (Friday and Saturday, blog entries) and then marched with Occupy Chicago to oppose NATO and the occupation of Afghanistan.

While it will probably antagonize some people who were at the Counter Summit, I would say that much of the weekend seemed to lack context. How have society's power dynamics shifted against the peace movement? What should be done to address this shift?

There's a certain temptation when peace activists gather for them to prove their commitment to peace by avoiding conflict with each other.

The weekend seemed to lack a critique of why society is the way it is (aside from the same critique that goes back to the Vietnam War), an acknowledgement the peace movement has gotten its ass kicked badly for a decade or a conversation about modifying the strategies and tactics.

two contradictory truths about the Democratic Party

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines." Apparently, Emerson was referring to the challenge of people committed to respecting the past updating their point of view when new information becomes available.

I would emphasize that the human mind has to be able to believe contradictory things to function in society. We have to have a framework for understanding society even though there are exceptions to our framework. We have to believe people in power are behaving reasonably and ethically or the legitimacy of society is open to question.

I am going to grapple with one of my own inconsistencies. I believe the following about the Democratic Party.

1. It is an essential bulwark against the immoral policies of the Republican Party.
2. It is a tool for enabling the elites to control dissent and movements that challenge the existing power structures. Further the Democratic Party exists to kill progressive reform.