Posts tagged ‘Democratic Party’

An answer for Aaron

by , posted on Wednesday, October 21st, 2020 at 6:31 pm

Cousin Aaron is a hoot. Pretty much every day he posts something on Facebook that makes me smile. Today, however, he posed a more serious question to his Facebook friends.

This was my answer for Aaron:

At the risk of taking your question too seriously, here goes … I am a political historian by training and I’ve been politically active for a good 45 years now, and I think Biden is the worst nominee the Democratic Party has put forth since at least before FDR. And I detest Pelosi, Schumer, and the entire Democratic establishment, too. But from their left, not their right. So, as bad as I think Biden & Co. are, I think Trump is worse. If I lived in a swing state where there was a risk that Trump might grab the electoral votes, I’d hold my nose and vote for Biden as the lesser evil. But I don’t live in a swing state, so I’m free to make a principled vote for what I believe in, not caring that my candidate won’t win, because, given the reality that either Trump or Biden will win, this election is already lost as far as I’m concerned. There is no winning with such a choice, only damage control.

And for me, damage control means doing as little as possible to strengthen Biden’s hand, and those like him within the Democratic Party, even though I want Trump voted out. The reason why I try to thread such a needle is because I think the only reason someone like Trump gets elected in the first place is because the faction of the Democratic Party that has been in charge for the last forty years or so has so abandoned and alienated the working people of this country that many of them had long since concluded that that type of Democrat had nothing to offer them but the same old b.s. that had already failed them, and so, if they hadn’t given up on politics altogether by then, they had become desperate enough to buy into Trump’s con job. So, while I want to see Trump lose, I believe that the only hope we have for things to change for the better in the future is for the Democratic elites who are in the pockets of Wall Street, and all the hacks and grifters who are their enablers, to be driven out of power within the party, so that the Democratic Party can begin to represent the interests of the folks on Main Street once again, instead of taking them for granted. I know that isn’t going to happen in 2020, but I just want this election to be over so I can put my shoulder to the wheel again, trying to help clean up the mess that is today’s Democratic Party.

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The enemy of our enemy is not necessarily our friend

by , posted on Saturday, April 25th, 2020 at 2:50 pm

The Democratic establishment is not composed of democrats, it’s made up of elites who, not unlike our “Founders” were, are opposed to an excess of democracy (which the so-called Founders considered to be as big a threat as monarchy). And U.S. political history has been a never-ending contest between the forces of reform who have sought to democratize our republic — the anti-slavery movement, the women;s rights movement, the labor movement, the civil rights movement, etc., — vs. those who defended the status quo or, worse, sought to roll back progress whenever it was made.

The Democratic Party was once the party of those democratizing impulses, but that hasn’t been true for a good forty years or more now. Trump must be defeated, but our problems didn’t begin with Trump’s ascension to power and they won’t end with his defeat. The removal from power of the not-particularly-democratic Democratic establishment is also a necessary condition for progress, if not for survival of the species itself, every bit as much as the defeat of even greater evils farther to the right are, and that’s why we have to remember that even when we share a common goal, like defeating Trump, with the Democratic establishment and it’s enablers, the enemy of our enemy is not necessarily our friend, and the path we take in hopes of reaching that common destination, the strategic and tactical choices we make that frustrte and anger establishment Dems and their loyal followers, will necessarily differ from that of our intraparty rivals.

cross-posted from Facebook

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The Three Republicans Who Are Running as “Democrats” in the March 20th Primary Election

by , posted on Saturday, February 17th, 2018 at 11:12 pm

The Kane County Board is composed of 24 district-elected members (10 Democrats and 14 Republicans) and one at-large executive (Chris Lauzen – Republican). In the March 20,  Democratic Primary Election, Democrats in at least three districts will have, sadly, an opportunity to vote for a Lauzen-backed Republican who is running as a Democrat.  In a 4th county board district race in Elgin, a progressive Democrat is challenging a regular Democrat who votes with Lauzen for his austerity budget.

Republican Chris Lauzen has not shied away from his overt effort to infiltrate the Democratic Party with Republican candidates.  There have been at least two newspaper articles on the topic. The Daily Herald reports, “Chairman Lauzen backing some Democrats in Kane Board Races.”  The Beacon News (Trib affiliate) hits the nail a little more squarely on the head with their story, “Lauzen helped recruit candidates challenging Democrats running in Kane County primary races.”

Here is a letter that Chris Lauzen wrote to Republicans and his supporters in the district’s that he is targeting to change.

Meet the real Democrats and their Republican challengers below.

(more…)

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Oliver Stone and historian Peter Kuznick on the Untold History of the United States from the Atomic Age to Obama’s Drone War

by , posted on Friday, November 16th, 2012 at 5:29 pm

from Democracy Now!

Part One

Academy Award-winning Oliver Stone has teamed up with historian Peter Kuznick to produce a 10-part Showtime series called, “Oliver Stone’s Untold History of the United States.” Drawing on archival findings and recently declassified documents, the filmmakers critically examine U.S. history — from the atomic bombing of Japan, to the Cold War, to the fall of Communism, and continuing all the way through to the Obama administration. Contrary to what’s taught in schools across the country, the filmmakers found the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were militarily unnecessary and morally indefensible.

Part Two

Stone and Kuznick also suggest the Soviet Union, not the United States, ultimately defeated the Germans in World War II. And, they assert the United States, not the Soviet Union, bore the lion’s share of responsibility for perpetuating the Cold War. The filmmakers also found U.S. presidents, especially in wartime, have frequently trampled on the Constitution and international law, and they note the United States has brought the world dangerously close to nuclear war by repeatedly brandishing nuclear threats. The first episode of the series aired Monday night on Showtime. For more about this series and the companion book, we are joined by Stone and Kuznick

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Ralph Nader: 30 Million Workers Would Benefit From Raising Minimum Wage to 1968 Level

by , posted on Friday, June 15th, 2012 at 6:50 pm

from Democracy Now!

In 2008, Barack Obama pledged to raise the minimum wage every year once elected, but the hourly rate of $7.25 hasn’t increased since 2007. Low-wage workers now make far less than they did four decades ago. Last week Illinois Democratic Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. introduced The Catching Up to 1968 Act of 2012. It draws its name from the idea that the federal minimum wage would be $10.55 an hour now if it had kept up with inflation over the past 40 years. While the bill has about 20 co-sponsors so far President Obama has yet to endorse it. We speak to longtime consumer advocate and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader.

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