It's time to give the "the country has moved right" thing a rest

[Ken Burch]

Repeating that statement serves no purpose(and it may not even be true).

Especially when it's used as an argument for moving this party further right on economic issues(the only ones that actually affect most Democratic voters).

We can't stop right-wing extremists by perpetually tacking in their direction, conceding them control of the debate(as this party did even in the last Congress) and surrendering to them on the issues. That's failed every time it's been tried since 1966(If it worked, Pat Brown, the blandest of bland centrists, would have kept Reagan out of the California statehouse in 1966, or Jesse Unruh, who was blander than bland, would have denied Reagan a second term in 1970, or Jimmy Carter would have kept Reagan out of the White House in 1980, or Mondale, whose campaign was somewhere between centrist and comatose, would have defeated him in 1984, or Dukakis, Gore or Kerry would have won).

You defeat them by STANDING UP to them and challenging everything they say!

And by defending OUR core values and the people Republicans demonize and exclude.

None of this is rocket science.

Why do our leaders STILL REFUSE to accept this?

[LooseWilly]

1. Refuse to fight the rightward trend because it makes it hard to raise donations...

The money flows when a politician drifts right... and all the DLC post-Clinton "gurus" of "left" politics argue exactly that too...

Face it. Being Left is like being a fucking leper in this country... Re-examine all the confusing details with that in mind... and it all starts to make sense.

[ThomCat]

2. It is long past time that our party resisted the pull to the right

and had a countering-pull back to the left. Instead of repeatedly using that pull the the right as an excuse for not fighting, and then giving in to some urge to add to that rightward pull. Giving in, or worse, moving further to the right doesn't help, no matter what excuses are used.

On top of it all, I am so sick of being told that we are supposed to be proud of our "successes" when negotiations disproportionately benefit the wealthy and undermine our goals, and small bit of success came to us, usually enough to treat water for a while.

But treading water is so important that it gets called a great victory, we did what had to be done to survive for a bit longer, Woo Hoo! Don't mine that we let the wealthy people and their corporations get that much more powerful and get that much more entrenched so that all we can do is tread water. Somehow I don't see how that was a success. That was accepting the scraps from the master's table, preening and cheering about how great we are for capturing a stale crust.

2 years controlling government we sure as hell would have moved to the left, re-installed Glass-Steagall, implemented a government run mortgage relief, created a few real jobs programs other than just military enlistments, and we would have had the courage to champion one of the Democratic health care reform programs that really would have helped far more Americans in more substantial ways instead of the pushing the republican plan that has been nothing but minimal results minimal for us but such a giveaway to corporations. We would have accomplished real results if the people in power in our party honestly worked for "we the people" instead of for Goldman Sachs and Wall Street.

Yet after all the failures, the lesson learned is apparently that our party should compromise more and move even more to the right. How fucked up is that? :(

[AndyTiedye]

3. The MEDIA Continually Moves to the Right

and drags with it the people who believe what the tee vee tells them.

[SoCalDem]

4. Yep.. the media has moved right and has a vested interest in making everyone

think the whole country is like what they tell us... It is NOT.. but then WE don't have hours-long, daily broadcasts, & paychecks for spinning yarns & propagating propaganda.

[Hannah Bell]

5. americans prefer a totally equal distribution of income or a swedish distribution to an american one

that's how damn right-wing they are.

[TheKentuckian]

6. Shit, the Democrats are pushing the TeaPubliKlans to the extreme

What space is to occupy otherwise, save flipping the script and going liberal.

This meeting in the middle bullshit is never happening because the TeaPubliKlans aren't playing the same game.

[rucky]

7. The country has moved right

and it's leading us off a cliff.

[stillwaiting]

8. "Our leaders" are "their leaders".

They just have to give pretty speeches to us while they serve their true constituents.

The more charismatic the leader the easier it is for them to screw us over.

[xchrom]

9. +1

[Odin2005]

10. Our POLITICS has moved to the Right, but the American People have been moving LEFT.

[lunatica]

11. Maybe we are the ones who don't get it

If our leaders have moved to the Right then we should accept it. They aren't adrift or rudderless. It's deliberate. So it's we who need to accept the facts. They're doing what they want to.

[Bandit]

13. Money not only "talks" but it yells.

Politicians will go where the money is..Power to the People is only a sound bite...

[KharmaTrain]

12. Beltway Perceptions and Projections...

The Center-Right claptrap is based on the world those wrote write and pontificate it live. When you're surrounded by people who make six and seven figures and relative job security in their bubble, they will view things a lot differently than someone whose unemployed and barely making it through the month. The difference...they have microphones and bylines that create the perception. The little guy suffers silently.

Someone scanning our television or radio dials would think this country is far right, not even center. The voices of those with the money and influence always trump those who are locked out and thus the narrative is created and perpetuated.

[ljm2002]

14. "Why do our leaders STILL REFUSE to accept this?"

Primarily because they are bought off.

Secondarily because they are part of the DC Bubble, which allows them to believe the "center-right" BS and to rationalize their positions based on that.