Iron Fist Democrats

“They’re trying to kill me,” Yossarian told him calmly.

“No one’s trying to kill you,” Clevinger cried.

“Then why are they shooting at me?  Yossarian asked.

“They’re shooting at everyone,” Clevinger answered.  “They’re trying to kill everyone.”

“And what difference does that make?”

          — Catch-22

When I was out in San Francisco fighting the good fight in the 70’s, I was repeatedly told by reputable Democratic Party figures that the Democratic Party did not exist.  We tenant activists tried to strengthen the wording of a Rent Control initiative, and we were smashed.  Successful campaign events were met with rage.  We tried to create grassroots committees in the working class districts, and they were destroyed.  The Democratic clubs, ILWU Local 6 (a CP union) and Local 2 of the Hotel Workers union, all joined in.  They preferred to destroy the campaign to keep us in check.  No Democratic Party my ass, the iron fist was plainly revealed.

From time to time over the years, I’ve wondered what their investment was in the non-existence of the Democratic Party.  Lately, it’s been starting to make more sense.

How do progressives view the Democratic Party?  Nobody writes a post that begins, “I define the DP as …”  But “how it is viewed” is different from “how it is defined,” and may be the more important factor.  So here are some examples:

The Democratic Party consists of our elected officials.  It is discussed in terms of what bills are supported by whom, mainly in Congress, since the blogosphere tends to view things more nationally than locally.

The Democratic Party can be reduced to Democrat-supported candidates.  This is characterized by newly-declared independents who say, “I’m never voting for another Democrat!”

And at times it is related to as a complete abstraction.

It can also be seen as the web of elected officials at every level of government, consultants, functionaries, campaign committees, DNC, which is also closer to a definition.  But here is a simple example of DP slight-of-hand.  If you asked offhand what organizations like MoveOn, NOW, NAACP, SEIU, etc., are in the aggregate, one likely answer might be that they are organizations that SUPPORT the Democratic Party.  I would contend that these organizations are in fact PART of the Democratic Party.

I consider the distinction important.  The former accepts the DP as defined on an org chart.  The latter sees it as a social institution wielding power in the world.  I consider the latter to be the relevant perspective.

This was what I was working to clarify in my piece of a few weeks ago, Jane Hamsher revisited, which pointed out the political tension between a leading left-wing Democrat Hamsher and the Accountability Now crowd that she actively supports in the context of a struggle between major factions within the DP which I characterized as between Corporate Dems and Surrender Monkeys.  A truly fascinating piece on Huffington Post (Power Struggle:  Inside The Battle For The Soul Of The Democratic Party) takes this much further.  It analyzes the pathetic fight over the public option in the bloody stump of a healthcare bill, and how the Congressional Progressive Caucus (Surrender Monkeys) finances the Blue Dogs, how it is constantly out-maneuvered by the White House, the Blue Dogs and their cohorts, and how it will continue to be out-maneuvered.

The piece is slightly insane as it is interspersed with bold but brief bugle calls about how the progressives have learned their lesson and will be building institutions and going outside and, and … while relying on the usual suspects who have been doing the same old shit since 1941.  It also fails to see any progressive forces operating within the Democratic Party OTHER than the Corporate Dems and Surrender Monkeys.  But its examination of the mechanics is truly excellent.  I recommend to all that they read this piece and indeed study it.

Because the point is that it makes the Democratic Party more concrete.

I am a Democrat

I would take it further.  The Democratic Party is made up of millions of individuals.  I am a Democrat, i.e., part of the Democratic Party.  I am registered such, I voted proudly for Obama in 2008 (smirk if you must).  I believe in running candidates in Democratic primaries.  Why am I a Democrat?  Because I think it’s the best location for fighting FOR certain principles, and for fighting AGAINST the corrupt policies of the DP.  My current loathing of the DP does not absolve me from being one.

Thus are so many of us part of the Democratic Party.  Our names do not appear on the org chart, though probably on the voter rolls.  We are generally not on TV like Rachel Maddow.  Our paychecks are not signed “Democratic Party Imperialism Central.”  We do not carry membership cards in our wallets and most of us don’t wear Democratic Party secret decoder rings.  The Democratic Party is as invisible as the air we breathe.  That’s how the party wants it.

In the 60’s there were many attempts to create non-authoritarian ways of being and relating, and we came to learn a concept known as the “tyranny of the leaderless group.”  In the leaderless group, leadership still operated, but with its existence denied, it was able to operate through manipulation without accountability.  Where leadership was explicit, the group members could actually better express themselves.

(Thus my demanding accountability from Jane Hamsher was in fact my recognition of her as a progressive leader.)

The Iron Fist

This invisibility is what I want to break down.  It certainly broke down for me 2 weeks ago.  First I published the piece on Jane Hamsher referenced above.  The first commenter on Docudharma demanded to know who was on the Full Court Press staff, and what their activities were.  Sorry, that question is totally inappropriate, and can be construed as nothing other than an attack.

This is similar to the mode of attack against an April 1 piece on FireDogLake supporting the Greens posted by El Duderino (he was repeatedly and insistently challenged to reveal whether he had paid his federal income tax).  Or a piece by Scrowder called Elections Heads Up in FireDogLake and posted on Docudharma on February 20 along with a post of mine supporting his effort.  He was trying to build an organization of researchers who would analyze primary races state-by-state and try to drum up progressive challengers where he felt them needed.  This was brusquely answered by CarolynC967, who wrote:

Accountabilitynowpac.com  Go to the website and become acquainted with a progressive effort to find, support and fund viable challengers to conservadems.  They are currently trying to replace Jim Cooper.  Read about their efforts and throw your support behind their good work.

She is of course entitled to her opinion.  She registered on Docudharma that very day, solely to chide Scrowder, and has never commented there since.  How did she know to appear there?

Anyway, I refused to answer an inappropriate question (he was trying to establish that the Full Court Press was small?  Quelle surprise!)  My refusal was then given various 1 ratings by a self-proclaimed independent, and my remarks to this self-proclaimed independent were given 1 ratings by another self-proclaimed independent who kept wanting me to work to defeat Bart Stupak (RIP).  Apparently some toes had been stepped on to generate such abuse of the rating system.

All in a day’s work.

The next day, I was visiting OpenLeft.  Chris Bowers was proclaiming how progressives had to change their tune, since Obama had been more persuasive in winning people over, and that was how he rammed the healthcare bill down our throats.  I got in the first comment:

It’s not a matter of arguments (4.00 / 19)

It’s a matter of power.  If I stand before you and say the moon is made of green cheese, you would likely dismiss that argument.  If I stand before you — while whacking a lead pipe into my hand — you might well reconsider.  Our arguments are pretty good.  What’s lacking is the power to enforce them.

Down the thread, I surmised that Kucinich had finally caved on the healthcare bill not because of Obama’s threats against him personally, but rather that Obama had threatened his constituents, and that cuts in funding for services (a standard threat in congressional politics) could lead to people already living on the edge dying.

Bang!  I was banned for “bad faith.”  I quickly used my wife Rose’s log-in to announce that I had been banned (how else to let people know?) and Kerpow!  Within minutes she was banned.  My initial comment got 19 recommends, many, I suppose, in protest.

Another hard day’s work.

Tuesday’s good news was an e-mail from Rick Sloan, acting director of the UCubed Union of the Unemployed:

You have been blocked from UCubed. UCubed was created to HELP the unemployed organize and mobilize.  Your personal political agenda, as explained in your own words on Corrente on your own website fullcourtpress.com, can only HARM the jobless.

Your objective is to primary every Democratic Member of Congress that does not agree with you.  As you wrote on Corrente, “Jobs needs to be our number one issue. There are desperate, angry people, coalitions talking loud but acting small. Unemployment is constant front-page news. And creating a WPA-style jobs program is our number one demand. I’ve modified the introduction to our standard pitch to reflect that. I’ve copied that below my signature.” The next paragraph in that Corrente post deals with solicitation of money, incorporation, opening a full court press bank account and dealing with the IRS.

So, in fact, you are simply using the jobless to promote your own personal political and fundraising agenda. But you may not use Ur Union of Unemployed or UCubed for such purposes. Nor may you use the trademarked symbols or copyrighted terms associated with Ur Union of Unemployed or UCubed.

Rick

Rick Sloan

IAM Communications Director

Since Sloan is not likely a Corrente reader, was he tipped?  And if so, who tipped him?  It is interesting that the piece that Hamsher referenced in directing me to mull over my failures was the same piece that Sloan referenced in purging me.  His whole line of attack is that the Full Court Press is pushing the jobs issue, not anything I did as a member of UCubed.

The next day, the Union of the Unemployed Thinktank gets a new pseudo-leftist member telling us to stop our bickering (the Thinktank has been remarkably free of bickering) and do what she says.  We don’t and she takes that as a personal attack and acts like we’re harassing her and quits.  I’m not fond of conspiracy theories, but this person perfectly fits the profile of a provocateur trying to manufacture charges on the Thinktank at the behest of Rick Sloan.

Any one part of the above can be construed as perfectly innocent, or unconnected to anything else.  But what emerges here is the iron fist of the Democratic Party.  Whether or not any of this cast of characters (FDL, Docudharma, Bowers, Sloan and his provocateur) had any contact with any other is irrelevant.  Can’t prove anything.  Don’t care.  Hit me like a well-oiled machine.  And a well-oiled machine operates automatically, systematically.  

“They’re shooting at everyone,” Clevinger answered.  “They’re trying to kill everyone.”

“And what difference does that make?”

I have a couple lines of thought here:

(1)  Why me?  I am so small, and by their lights, utterly insignificant.  If I was consciously singled out, it would be because I represent an organization, however ridiculously small (as does El Duderino supporting the much stronger Greens, whose attacks on him had an extreme degree of viciousness), and that is a different degree of threat to the DP than the extreme rhetoric of “vote them all out, general strike, take to the streets” with nothing to back it up.

(2)  A general wave of repression and consolidation is running through the Democratic Party in general, and I stuck my head up at the “wrong” time.

I suspect a combination of the two, but with the greater emphasis on (2).  I’m not that grandiose.

The Democratic Party is going after those Democrats who didn’t support the healthcare bill.  Now it is true that some of the opposition to the bill was from the right, and I certainly believe that there are many congresspersons who deserve replacement if not jail.  But not for opposing the Make-the-Insurance-Companies-Richer bill.  Leading the charge are the so-called progressives.  In New York, the Working Families Party (WFP), which whole-heartedly supported the healthcare bill — was four-square in favor of it — is operating as a wing of the Democratic Party in going after Mike Arcuri, who in the past had been elected through WFP support.  As the March 19 Daily News reported:

The Working Families Party is already in talks with “several people” who might be interested in challenging Rep. Mike Arcuri in NY-24 this fall as labor exacts punishment on him for switching sides and voting “no” on the upcoming health care vote.

WFP Executive Director Dan Cantor refused to name names, but confirmed the party is “definitely talking” and fully intends to make good on its threat.  SEIU is also on board with this plan.

Does this make the WFP formally part of the Democratic Party?  Per Yossarian above, “what difference does that make?”  It is functioning as part of the machinery.

Then there’s the house (of representatives) that fell on Dennis Kucinich.  It was speculation on that which got me purged from OpenLeft.  Kucinich made some lame comments about the merits of the healthcare bill in his “why I caved” letter, but I believe the key passage is this:

I have to consider, when the vote is close, and however the final tally turns, but whether the bill passes by one vote or five votes or more, the question of momentum was something everyone was concerned about at that point. And people were concerned that if I continued to maintain my position of hammering away at the defects of the bill that I may cause its defeat.  That’s a legitimate criticism.  It’s something that I had to take into account in terms of my personal responsibility for the position that I held, and the impact that it would have on my constituents.

Momentum.  The “problem” wasn’t Kucinich’s lone vote.  There were other reps who could have been leaned on with much less effort.  But Kucinich stood out as a leader, whom others would follow, and for that reason he had to be torn down.

Still, the iron fist is not the Democratic Party tactic of choice.  More powerful than the fist is the projection of triumphalism that flooded the media after the healthcare bill passed.  Just as the DP panic after the Massachusetts defeat was largely media hysteria, the DP euphoria now is similarly fake.  Fake, but it works.  Democratic Party operative Bowers trumpets how Obama has out-smarted and out-persuaded the left, and the left had better improve (soften) its message if it wants to have hope, negating the fact that it wasn’t Obama’s smooth talk as much as his outright power that carried the day.  And out of the other side of his mouth Bowers blares:

By at least an order of magnitude, [Obama] has more supporters, a bigger email list, more volunteers, and more donors.  As just an example, in November of 2008 he had eight million more emails than even the ultimate online behemoth, MoveOn.org.  Because of this, he has more support among the membership of many progressive organizations than even the leaders of these organizations.

All resistance is futile,

“abandon all hope ye who enter here!”

By the way, did anyone wince that I referred to Bowers as a Democratic Party operative rather than a well-known blogger?  Of course he is a Democratic Party operative!  He brags about it.  So why is it impolite to mention?  See how we — in our very choice of language — are complicit in the DP rendering itself invisible?

Yet the left opposition has to be appeased.  Enter Connie Saltonstall.  She may be a great progressive (though she says nothing about Afghanistan, jobs or the Patriot Act), but her website, which announces in response to Stupak dropping out, “I want to thank Bart Stupak for his years of outstanding service, to not only the people of this district, but all the people of Michigan,” tells us very little other than her good character and support of women’s right to choose.  Which is not to be disparaged.

But how does she function in relation to the Democratic Party machinery?  The Democratic Party, in passing the healthcare bill, committed an atrocity against women.  No getting around that, whatever the laments about the 40,000 dead each year from lack of insurance.  But by touting the Saltonstall campaign, the Democratic Party covers its misogynistic ass at the price of having threatened one bad congressman.  And now that Stupak is out of the race, there are even rumblings that Saltonstall may be shunted aside to make way for some Democrat more “electable.”  Electability is the bottom line for all of them:  Accountability Now, ActBlue, Corporate Dems and Surrender Monkeys alike.  And those to the left of these blocs?  They want it both ways, more progressive positions AND candidates who can win.  As long as they can’t cut loose from electability logic, Huffington Post will continue to ignore them with ease.

So what’s the point of all this?  Not to make anyone paranoid, a Democrat behind every tree, but to make the Democratic Party concrete, as a national and local body with structure and positions and resources, and as an entity that envelops us at every step.  At times it operates as a brute unthinking machine.  At other times it plans and conspires and cynically manipulates through actual individuals and organizations.  It works best when invisible as the air we breathe, but the iron fist is always there.

Then there is the question of how WE as individuals function as Democrats as well, to what extent we even come to terms with that.

And just what is the significance of how they went after me?

As Yossarian put it, “What difference does that make?”