Reply #29: I woke up really, really angry this morning... [View All]

[Peace Patriot]

...so here's what I said to the DNC, on their questionnaire:

(How did you participate in this election?)

Donations to many groups and candidates; Sinclair Broadcasting campaign and other blog campaigns in support of Kerry and to improve public awareness; numerous letters, blogs, e-mailings on the issues--motivating people to vote; voter registration and GOTV work (canvassing and phonebanking).


(Is this the first time you have participated in election activism?)

44 years of political activism. 1st campaign for JFK in 1960 when I was 16.


(How would you like to continue staying involved? (volunteering, phonebanking, fundraising, local organizing, etc.))

Never again!


(Do you feel the actions you took were effective?)

Yes. We won, by a landslide. But you had failed us catastrophically, by allowing rightwing Republican Bush "Pioneers" to gain control of our election system through highly insecure electronic voting machines with SECRET, proprietary source code and no paper trail. You did almost nothing to stop this disastrous privatization of our voting system. You then failed to warn voters how easily the election could be stolen. Now you are failing us AGAIN by not investigating and challenging this fraudulent election.


(Was it a good experience for you?)

Up until Kerry's concession, it was the best political event in my lifetime.


(How would you make it better?)

I'm working on the recounts and challenging this fraudulent election as best I can, while you Fat Cats eat your Fat Cat lunches in DC. I'm so sick of the Democratic Party. Compromisers! Liars! You repeatedly promised, "Every vote would be counted." Over and over and over again. Where are you now?

And the worst thing--the worst thing of all--is your failure to fight for the right of black citizens to vote. The absence of DNC and Congressional leadership at the Conyers hearing was utterly disgraceful.

How can I make it better? If this situation continues--if you fail to investigate and challenge this election, and fail to oppose Congressional certification of this election--I will join the Greens, or help form a new coalition party.

If you fail to challenge this election, there is no way that YOU can "make it better."

If you fail to challenge this election, there is no way *I* can "make it better" except by helping to destroy this sick and useless farce, the Democratic Party.


(Please share other thoughts and comments you have about the 2004 election and what Democrats and the Democratic Party should do going forward.)

What should the Democratic Party do going forward? Nothing. Get out of the way!

You have compromised yourselves into irrelevancy. On the Iraq war. On the Patriot Act. On "no paper trail" voting and secret electronic source code privately owned by Bush "Pioneers." And before that on globalization and job outsourcing. Why should we--the loyal grass roots, the poor, the minorities, the workers, the environmentalists, the humanitarians--support you any longer?

You won't even fight for our right to vote.

__________

DUers, please note: The smarmy language of this DNC questionnaire. “How did you…”, “How would you like to…”, “How do you feel…”, How to “make it better…”. This pandering attitude tells you just what they’re going to do with this information--glean it for donors and slaves, and completely ignore righteous criticism.

__________

To tell you the truth, it pains me not to be able to say anything positive--to feel that there is no avenue of appeal to their better selves, to feel that there is no way to inspire them to be courageous and principled, and to be the Party that they could be--the Party that supported civil rights for black citizens (at great political cost!); the Party that fought for labor unions, and a minimum wage and that CREATED Social Security; the only one of the two parties that has supported women's rights; the "big tent" Party that welcomed people of all kinds, the "rainbow" party, the party that I was a member of when I was young, and that I've been a member of and have loyally supported for 44 years.

Where has that Party gone? They can't even protect our right to vote--and they won't even try!

This is an unusually downer moment for me. Please don't let it get YOU down. Democracy is a long, long road. We're never really finished walking that road. And I know this to be true: With human beings, there is ALWAYS a chance that they will redeem themselves. Always.

But, just as when you're dealing with an alcoholic, say, in your personal life--or an abusive spouse--there comes a moment when your support of them is no longer the best thing to do, for their sake or your own.

And that's the point I've reached with the Democratic Party. It's not a downer, really. It's a turning point. If democracy is to be reborn in this venerable land--our country, once the heart and the home of freedom--we will likely have to create a new political vehicle for it. If the Democratic Party does not come forward on this fraudulent election--and they still have the chance to do so, through Jan. 6 and certification of the election by Congress--then we must find another way.

That is my date for cancelling my 44 year membership in the Democratic Party and re-registering as a Green. Jan. 6, 2005.

Perhaps we should make that THE date and THE action--a massive defection from the Democratic Party.

(I will think about this, as a proposal, and give it a main post for comment, in the next day or so.)