(A big thank you to Howard Dean! :D - promoted by poligirl)
I remember after the loss of 04, listening to Howard Dean talking about his vision for the future of our party and vehemently supporting him for the Chair of the DNC. His message was quite different than the strategies that were used by the DLC in the Clinton years. Dr. Dean believed that we should fight in every state in the union and if we showed up to fight, we win. As DNC chair, he fought for that strategy and netted huge results despite constant critisizm and calls for his removal.
I had stuff to do and places to be Wednesday, so this the first opportunity I've had to do any real writing. The results were, with one possible exception, disappointing. First, the glimmer of good news.
In the 5th District, civil rights icon and steadfast Bush opponent John Lewis was re-elected easily with 69.1%, defeating Markel Hutchins and "Able" Mable Thomas. There is no Republican in this race. I am sorry, but Lewis' decision to endorse Hillary Clinton does not negate his sterling voting record.
There's a progressive movement afoot in America, one that has existed off and on since at least the late nineteenth century. We believe in certain things: health care for all; decent wages; a clean environment; a good education for our young; clean and adequate shelter, clothing, water and food; and much more. We believe in peace and justice, both here and abroad. We believe in making the corporations behave, and not engage in the excesses of greed that create socio-economic inequality and injustice.
The problem is, how to promote these ideas in a system where the two major political parties are owned by the corporations? This is why we need a viable, PROGRESSIVE third party. The movement cannot accomplish much of anything until it has gathered around a political party through which it may implement its agenda. The biggest problem is that too many of us on the left are frightened of leaving our neglectful spouse, the Democratic Party. Too many of us think it's safer to simply do as we're told and hope for things to get better, afraid to acknowledge that until or unless we do something things never shall improve. This is why I think hope is the most pointless emotion one can have; by embracing it, we cede control over our own lives and destinies to outside forces -- forces that, more often than not, we can control if only we have the will.
I've been trying, in my humble way, to help jump-start a renewed Progressive Party presence. But a question that is often asked of me is why not just join the Green Party. I could go into a long and detailed explanation, but the short of it is that I don't think they're very organized and some of their campaigning methods rub me the wrong way. (For the record, the reason I don't say much about the Libertarian and Socialist Parties is because I don't know enough about their organizational structure or their methods of campaigning to make an informed assessment.)
First, my distaste for the Green Party's methods in campaigning. As reported by CBS News, they accepted money and assistance in 2006 from then-senator Rick Santorum of the Republican Party in order to get on the ballot. The state's high court threw candidate Carl Romanelli off the ballot citing insufficient signatures, but the story exposed an even deeper rot within the Greens' political machine in Pennsylvania: the willingness to be compromised just to try to stick it to the Democrats, whom Greens consider little or no better than the GOP.
There is, of course, a valid argument to be made in claiming there is difference between the two major political parties. One need only look at the voting records of the two Prima Donna Democrats competing for their party's nomination to run for president, and the complicit cowardice by most Congressional members in either chamber, to see the truth in this point of view. But for the Greens to accept help from a GOPer so vile as to have had post-anal sex discharge named after him reveals both a lack of integrity and a sickening display of hypocrisy. Such actions add otherwise undeserved legitimacy to charges by Democrats that greens are somehow bent on "stealing" votes they feel belong to their party.
Then there is the organization of their campaigns for national office. Or, rather, the lack of organization. As I have pointed out in my recent three-part series on Progressives, Liberals, Movements and Political Parties, trying to run presidential candidates before having secured enough state-level offices (especially state secretary, judicial, and legislative positions) waste resources that are better spent building up presences in the various states so as to achieve the ability to gain traction at the national level. What good does it do to run candidates for president when the Green Party hasn't even made headway winning state legislative and executive offices first?
That's why I think it's better to rally the Progressive Movement through its own namesake political party. I'm not saying we can't or shouldn't work with Greens; since their platform so closely matches that of the overall Progressive Movement, they make natural political allies and might even be tempted to switch over. But I think as long as some elements in the party are willing to help Republicans, and as long as the party leadership insists on trying to build the party in a more top-down manner, their effectiveness as a political party is severely limited.
Down ticket all the way down, building the Progressive Movement (and the Democratic Party) from the ground up!!
Today, is a quite lovely day in San Jose, CA, and I am preparing a fundraiser for one of the best down ticket candidates one could find, for Santa Clara County Supervisor, Richard Hobbs..
Now, Santa Clara County is known world-wide for the Silicon Chip and all that has gone with it. (Sadly, forgotten are the old orchards that made it the Garden of Heart's Delight some years ago.) What is not known maybe as widely is that we have lots of poverty here, too, many, many in the working poor (right alongside and in the shadow of the Silicon Valley giants) as well as discrimination, high rates of incarceration, pollution, and too much civic disengagement as well, because of how busy people are here running around in this valley industry, where the working poor hold two jobs (to the detriment of their children) and the working affluent work 60 - 70 hours + (to the detriment of their children.)
Now, here comes Richard Hobbs, running because of his strong advocacy for the working poor, for human rights and justice in all matters, the celebration and protection of diversity, for clean campaign money and transparency, for cleaning up our environment and for being a voice for peace in the world, from a County pulpit. In other words, Richard is for the common good. (Sound familiar, Edwards Democrats?)
It is imperative to get Richard Hobbs elected as County Supervisor in Santa Clara County, and all the other Richard Hobbs running for local offices, and on up the ticket. That is the way to build our progressive movement and to take our government back for the common good. Therefore, I encourage all Edwards Democrats, to look around at what (true) progressives might be running for City Council or County Supervisor or even County Party Councils and give them a boost by helping their campaigns. Thus, will we begin to take back our Party, and our Country. Think globally, act locally, and eventually, I believe we will prevail.
