Fire Under Their Seats - Pt 4: Progressives & The Democratic Party

It's time to get kick ass serious and (4.00 / 19)

light some very hot fires under their seats.

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by: Edger @ Sun Feb 07, 2010 at 21:13:32 PM CST

The Democrats will either (4.00 / 10)

sell fear of Republicans to stay in power without doing anything for their base, or their base will make Democrats fear losing their jobs, to get progressive results out of them.

Which is it going to be?

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by: Edger @ Sun Feb 07, 2010 at 21:19:13 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Crossposted to (4.00 / 2)

orange...

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by: Edger @ Mon Feb 08, 2010 at 06:20:55 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Went Over To Orange & Rec'd..... (4.00 / 3)

.....and a perusal of the diaries was mostly of the "Palin Is...",   "The GOP is..."
" Obama Is Schooling Repubs" etc, except for nyceve and a few others..

DD is a bastion of reality based thinking compared to the glut of self-serving drivel that dominates that other place.

Authoritarian political ideologies have a vested interest in promoting fear. ----Susan Sontag

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by: taoskier @ Mon Feb 08, 2010 at 08:28:37 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Yeah, it's pretty sad, isn't it? (4.00 / 5)

But as you say, there is the odd dawning of awareness happening, and I think it's growing.

Did you see The Party's Over, by Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner?

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by: Edger @ Mon Feb 08, 2010 at 08:38:43 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Thanks for the rec, too. (4.00 / 2)

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by: Edger @ Mon Feb 08, 2010 at 08:39:29 AM CST

[ Parent ]

who's he talking to? (4.00 / 1)

Cohen says a lot of good stuff, and then he calls on progressive leaders of groups like MoveOn to take leadership.  But they haven't.  And they won't.  So Cohen is left beating his head against a wall.  MoveOn calls on Congress to do this, do that, but Congress doesn't.  So how is Cohen qualitatively better than MoveOn?

Or is he really talking to us, that we should be calling on progressive leaders of groups like MoveOn to take leadership, i.e., beating OUR heads againsts that brick wall?

In previous parts, Cohen does call on people to start running more Dem primaries.  That's specific.  But then run in more primaries by who, and with what?

We have to break out of this trap of abstraction.  We call for things, but there is no transmission belt.  No connection between our words and action.  

In the 30's, similar-SOUNDING words had a different meaning, because there was a fighting union movement, there were unemployed councils blocking evictions, there was the Communist Party, there was John L. Lewis.

But MoveOn or NARAL or NOW don't fill the bill.  He mentions PDA, Progressive Democrats of America, almost in passing.  That meets my specificity test.  Better to say "Join the PDA chapter in your state."  They're a good organization.  But it needs to be hammered, not just mentioned.

We have to start engaging HOW we talk, not just what we talk about.  We have become used to decades of impotence.  But now that the times they are a'changin', our mode of discourse is still trapped in that mode of impotence.

How we talk has to have the possibility of being actualized.  So don't call for a general strike, call for a pro-union neighborhood council.  Don't just shout Repeal Hyde!  Primary a congressman who voted for Stupak.  Don't holler about the war in Afghanistan.  Urge they join Cindy Sheehan's tent city in DC this March, or if you can't go, get your neighbor to go, or send Sheehan money, or write a letter supporting Sheehan.

See the difference?  It's not the size of the action.  It's the specificity of the action.

Small change is better than big words with no change.

for a Full Court Press!

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by: jeffroby @ Mon Feb 08, 2010 at 19:32:33 PM CST

He's talking to you (4.00 / 1)

and every other progressive.

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by: Edger @ Mon Feb 08, 2010 at 19:37:27 PM CST

[ Parent ]