POLITICAL CIVIL WAR....

[rateyes]

Cross posting this thread:

WE'RE MAD AS HELL, AND WE AREN'T TAKING IT ANYMORE!

Please vote up the following thread: I MEAN IT DAMMIT:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=276348&mesg_id=276348

I don't ask for much, but I'm begging for this: We either decide to FIGHT to get our party back, or I'm out the damned door.

ON EDIT: THANK YOU! IT'S ON THE GREATEST PAGE!

DU: YOU ROCK!!

[wiggle-room]

1. no. no civil war.

it is not the answer

[rateyes]

2. What we're doing isn't working...

I'm tired of Jim Marshall and Zell Miller here in GA taking my damned vote for granted. They have voted with the Repubs on every bit of major legislation....so what's the difference?

[sproutster]

5. WHO IS RUNNING AGAINST HIM?

I will no longer go through the middle man coz they don't serve me. Screw the corrupt. All they want is our money.

[bertha katzenengel]

3. War? Can't you find a better metaphor? And CIVIL War?

Christ. I'll leave the Democratic Party before I choose sides in some "political civil war."

[rateyes]

10. Revolution, Revolt....what?

I am saying that our views are not being represented. When we had the power to stop this guy, and we didn't use it. I'm tired of being shot at from folk in my own party.

[bertha katzenengel]

11. You have two choices: leave it or change it from within.

Revolution is a far better metaphor than WAR, IMO. Revolution does not imply bloodshed.

"that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it and to institute new government"

It's in the D.o.I., but it can be applied to the DNC, I suppose, if you want to. Knock yourself out.

[rateyes]

12. How about "coup de tat."

I'm using hyperbole. And, I'm not above using a little civil disobedience--instead of throwing tea into Boston Harbor, how about Diebold machines?

The DoI says it is our DUTY to oppose tyrrany. I'm talking about fighting within the tent. To mix metaphors here...it's time to get the foxes out the hen house.

[rateyes]

15. self-delete

[The Whiskey Priest]

4. Lets all get in circle and start shooting.....

Boy, that will get us back in power....in politics you give some and you get some...its called log rolling....you can win it all....some in our party get their panties in a knot if they dont get everything they want, and that is why we continue to get our butts kicked, election, after election...please name the last socialist elected to the congress, senate, as president.......

Before a civil war, it might help if we got a little smarter.

[sproutster]

6. Oh I know!! Let's email, mail, and fax!! ... *sigh*

[The Whiskey Priest]

8. No...lets get out to town hall meetings, cacuses,

Lets put some shoeleather on the street, press the flesh, get to know the people. That is the way. You want change you have to work for it and you have to be smart. That means unrealistic expectations must be modified in order to win...you dont win, then all you can do is stand outside in the rain and bitch because you are getting wet...get in the tent, that is where things get changed.

[kevinbgoode]

7. Right....and we can start by having Gov. Kaine

from the scalawag state of Falwell/Robertson christo-fascist industry, give us a lecture tomorrow night about the need for bi-partisanship. Of course, this is after the Repukes launched the most divisive campaign in the nation's modern history and continue using the same fear-and-smear tactics. I have soooooooo much confidence that Gov. Kaine represents the principles that bind me to the Democratic Party.

[sproutster]

9. Let's hold hands and pray for the aids victims -

maybe GWB will give us a couple mill so we can finance our political leaders?

[Dogmudgeon]

13. What? Planned action?

We want drama! Sexy action! Poker tournaments! Brad and Angelina! And we want Rock and Roll to be The Soundtrack To Our Lives!

It's all an emotional high to most people. Half of them were calling John Kerry names; today, he is their Maximum Hero. And hundreds of them are dogpiling on Barack Obama tonight.

Let's see if they come around for the Election. Oh, wait, they've decided to quit the party so they can say, "I didn't leave the Democrats, the Democrats left me!" and talk about their consciences, as if theirs are the only ones that matter.

They can't face the fact that we lost on Alito because they've taken the last three elections and shut us out of the actual lawmaking process. They'd rather blame someone than realize that we've come to depend that "those bastards" cater to our whims, as if we were high-ticket consumers instead of citizens of a republic (with a lower-case R).

They all want to be Bart Simpson but want Mr. Smith (who Went to Washington) to rep them in Congress.

The time to go for blood is this coming Autumn. Nothing says "tantrum" better than screaming "WHORE!" and "TRAITOR!" after a cloture vote. As a party, we don't even fucking make plans for leading anymore.

You want blood? Guts? Action? Consider this -- that we commit ourselves to:

• Gaining SIXTY seats in the House and FIFTEEN in the Senate this year;


• Gaining THIRTY seats more in 2008 and 2010 in the House, and EIGHT each in the Senate in 2008 and 2010;


• Taking the PRESIDENCY in 2008 with a 70% voter turnout and 40% of the electoral votes from the "Red states";


• Increasing the size of the Supreme Court to THIRTEEN and "re-stocking" it with FOUR litmus-test Liberals;


• Writing, introducing, and PASSING a new Equal Rights Amendment that fully enfranchises women -- and sexual minorities, as well -- by 2011.

As a resident of Pennsylvania, I've got dibs on a piece of Mr. Santorectum's ass (and I've got a nice, rusty knife all picked out).

You want something to sink your teeth into? Take the Nuk-brand pacifier OUT and turn your choppers on an agenda like the one I outlined above. Or propose your own -- I might even like yours better.

Now THAT's Politics!

--p!

[rateyes]

14. All good battles in the Civil War....

But, electing people like Joe Lieberman or Zig-zag-zell who apologized last week for his pro-choice stances, etc. isn't going to get us any closer to those goals.

Just how important is a Senator's vote on Supreme Court Justice confirmation? If, when it's important, they don't stand their ground, what makes you think they'll stand their ground on the other stuff?

[Dogmudgeon]

16. You're right

But with a large number of new Democrats elected by liberal and progressive voters, those problems won't be as critical. We won't have to depend on every last vote -- we can let the Republicans worry about details like those.

In our current situation, every major vote means a Democratic national nervous breakdown -- in public.

Until we control the political climate, we're going to be forced into a reactive stance a lot more often than we'd like. No amount of screaming is going to affect that one bit. But in a progressive era -- an era that may only be a few years away -- we can get damn near anything we want, and people like Lieberman and Miller will either be marginalized or (better yet) booted out.

Please keep in mind that I'm not suggesting that we play dead until Election Day. Not at all! The flow of e-mails, faxes, phone calls, and other pressure from the base is very helpful -- it just can't help in a jam, when we need numbers we don't have. I do think that if we put even part of the energy into planning (and follow-through) as we put into screaming when we come up short of votes, we'd get a lot farther a lot faster.

It's not a matter of surrender. It's a matter of maximizing what we've got. I think we're doing well, with as much of a disadvantage as we have. Sure, we could do better, and we need to clean house. But the tortured screams of "TREASON!" and "WHORE!" every time there's a loss are counter-productive and publically embarassing.

--p!