Here's my dream:

[Brigid]

You know how the RW lunatic fringe hijacked the Republican Party? Why can't we do the same with the Democratic Party -- make it once again an instrument for those of us who actually work for a living? After the failure of single-payer health reform (not that it was ever on the table to begin with), it is clear that despite a few llike Alan Grayson, we do not have a voice anymore. How do we gain back our voice?

[Cleita]

1. Stop sending them money.

Send money directly to the candidates and only those candidates you really believe in. Money from the various Democratic organizations that are supposed to back candidates in different states and races seem to have been moving up the corporate DINOs and leaving behind the progressives.

[Brigid]

2. Now there's the ticket.

You've got the right idea on that one.

[EFerrari]

3. I don't think that works. Our money is only window dressing

that makes their real money respectable. :shrug:

[Cleita]

4. I'm afraid you are right to a point, but

candidates who are not getting big donations like Dennis Kucinich need those extra dollars that people like you and me have been sending to the fund raisers. I lately have been sending back the envelopes with little notes telling them that I'm disgusted with the mainstream Democratic Party these days and that I will be donating directly to the candidates of my choice not their choice. And how about removing that respectability?

[EFerrari]

5. The difficult thing about exposing how sold our reps are

is that people don't want to know. It's too overwhelming,imho. People can't take it in.

We're Honduras with a more insistent PR sector or, that's what I'm thinking lately.

ETA: Sorry to be a downer, hermanita. But there it is.

[Cleita]

6. We are resembling our neighbors to the south more and more in corruption

and dirty politics. But considering our government nurtured those political systems since the instigation of the Monroe Doctrine, it stand to reason that eventually we would become victim to that political philosophy too. I'm really trying to figure out how the common people can get the money and power back from those corrupted nation wreckers to use for the common good, the way it should be. Any ideas?

[EFerrari]

7. I think of it as an unintended consequence of globalization.

What Honduras suffers, our government largely created. Look out -- here comes globalization. Now our government is also owned by larger controlling forces and our own people reduced to the good will of politicians whose price we can't pay.

I'm ashamed to say I don't really have an idea to offer tonight. If withholding our pennnies doesn't work, it's hard to know what might work because imo our system is now all about the money. It seems real to me that in the next ten years people will rebel against their own misery and it's a shame that things have to get so bad, difficult, painful before our people look up and weigh in

It's like getting an out of control teenager back into the fold of the family after you've made the mistake of giving them an income and wheels and enough self-confidence to lie to your face. :shrug:

Maybe it will turn out to be an aggregate -- not polite calls to congressional offices but popular blogs totting up infractions. Not only withholding donations but also publicly enumerating corporate connections. Our size works against us. We're so big and disparate and diverse that the corporati know it's hard to stay together.

I don't know. Have to think about it.

[Angry Dragon]

8. Ask yourself this question

Are the grassroot republicans happy with their elected?? I say no. The only way to get real change is to combine forces and attack the money. I do not see any other way. You thought an election would get what you wanted and all I hear on this site and many others is that you feel let down by Obama.

Combine forces and attack then now. They promised accountability, hold them to it. Stop the money flow. Make congress account for the money they receive.

[Brigid]

9. Hmmm . . .

Could ordinary Republicans and Democrats put aside their differences so easily? Maybe we do need to work on finding common ground. Then the moneyed interests would really have something to worry about.

[Angry Dragon]

10. In answer to your question

I have a simple mind so I think in simple and basic thoughts.

Who is hurting right now?? The people at the bottom.

Why?? The top is a very small group with lots of money and power. The only way to combat that is with as many people as can be organized. The bottom crosses many diverse groups. The top can only win if the bottom stays fragmented. By organizing everyone at the bottom can one hope to challenge the top. It has to be a direct frontal attack. You attack the money and power.

There are many things that the bottom is concerned about. Gay rights, jobs, housing, good schools, fair pay, you name it and it will be a concern. Until you can gain the power back you will always settle for the crumbs that the top will offer you. It will come down to giving up these concerns for a while until you can control the top. My feeling is that once control is gained the bottom will become either complacent again or at the very least less hate filled and both side may determine that they can work together to make this country better. One will always have to be on the lookout for the top trying to control again.