Posts tagged ‘strategy and tactics’

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 landscape of what we think is possible

by , posted on Friday, January 4th, 2019 at 6:32 pm

When you are in the minority, and you can’t legislate, you concentrate on messaging. And progressives are in the minority in the House Democratic Caucus. They shouldn’t be looking for a seat at the table alongside the leadership; they should be focused on supporting the candidacies of movement-oriented progressives everywhere they can, so that they can increase the leverage they have when sitting across the table from the leadership, until one day they have the votes in the Democratic Caucus to win the leadership themselves. They should be paying their dues to Progressive Caucus PAC, Justice Democrats PAC, PCCC PAC, not the damn DCCC, where their money will be given disproportionately to candidates who will vote against them in the Democratic Caucus. And, in the meantime, within the House, as long as they don’t have the numbers to force the issue(s), “shaping the landscape of what we think is possible,” as AOC puts it here, is EXACTLY what they should be doing.

I’m with her.

Cross-posted from Facebook

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What’s the anti-Pelosi endgame?

by , posted on Wednesday, November 28th, 2018 at 1:46 pm

So, there’s this question a lot of us are asking ourselves: Why is Bill Foster doing this? Why are any of them doing this? What’s the endgame? I finally began to think I could see the logic, if you want to call it that, when I read something at CNN.com.

Clearly, the strategy has never been to challenge Pelosi in the Democratic Caucus. It’s to hold the line against her getting 218 on the floor, in hopes of creating a stalemate that ultimately forces Pelosi to withdraw from consideration, creating the possibility of a compromise candidate being put forth to end the crisis. But who? Steny? Maybe. He gets them where they want to go ideologically, which is to the right. But this little detail caught my Illinois-centric eye:

“‘It doesn’t seem like there’s an alternative as part of their strategy,’ said Rep. Cheri Bustos, an Illinois Democrat, who acknowledged that some Pelosi critics reached out to her to urge her to consider running for speaker.”
(more…)

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This is why we can’t have nice things

by , posted on Monday, November 19th, 2018 at 10:46 pm

Instead of mounting a progressive challenge to corporate Democrat Steny Hoyer as Majority Leader, Congressional Progressive Caucus Vice Chairs Ruben Gallego, Sheila Jackson Lee, Jamie Raskin, Jan Schakowsky, and Mark Takano, and rank-and-file CPC members Alma Adams, Nanette Diaz Barragán, Don Beyer, Lisa Blunt Rochester, André Carson, Judy Chu, Katherine Clark, Wm. Lacy Clay, Steve Cohen, Elijah Cummings, Danny Davis, Rosa DeLauro, Mark DeSaulnier, Debbie Dingell, Lloyd Doggett, Adriano Espaillat, Dwight Evans, Lois Frankel, Jimmy Gomez, Eddie Bernice Johnson, Joe Kennedy III, Brenda Lawrence, John Lewis, Ted Lieu, Dave Loebsack, Alan Lowenthal, Carolyn Maloney, Jim McGovern, Gwen Moore, Jerry Nadler, Grace Napolitano, Donald Norcross, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Frank Pallone, Lucille Roybal-Allard, José Serrano, Adam Smith, Darren Soto, Jackie Speier, Nydia Velázquez, Maxine Waters, Peter Welch, Frederica Wilson and John Yarmuth all signed a “Dear Colleague” letter [.pdf] on November 13th endorsing Hoyer, who is unopposed, for Majority Leader.

I wonder how many of them supported Levi Tillemann‘s campaign.

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1996 Labor Party Convention – Video from Labor Beat

by , posted on Saturday, January 5th, 2013 at 10:40 pm

As the Democratic Party is back to pushing anti-union austerity proposals in Springfield this veto session, I find this video to be relevant. It also provides some important lessons.

The text below the fold was written by Larry Duncan (Labor Beat). Their work is important and deserves your financial support.

(more…)

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Katrina vanden Heuvel: Facing the Alternative to Obama

by , posted on Monday, October 15th, 2012 at 9:18 pm

from The Nation

After four years, many voters haven’t quite seen the “change” they were hoping for from an Obama presidency. But a Republican takeover of the oval office would mean the reversal of every policy battle progressives have won—from the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell to the Affordable Care Act. Nation editor and publisher Katrina vanden Heuvel lays out why voting to keep Obama in office doesn’t mean compromising voter values, but rather preserving the opportunity to keep fighting.

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Will Obama, the Fed’s QE3 or Romney’s “Smaller Government” Create Jobs?

by , posted on Tuesday, September 25th, 2012 at 11:12 am

from The Real News Network

Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin (authors of The Making of Global Capitalism: The Political Economy of American Empire): As long as effective demand remains low and banks demand austerity to protect their assets, the crisis will deepen.

Part Two: The Crisis and Who Has the Power

Major structural change or effective short term reforms requires addressing democratic decision making starting with making banks a public utility.

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What does labor need to do to make a comeback?

by , posted on Wednesday, September 19th, 2012 at 3:27 pm

from The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann (RT)

Bill Fletcher, Jr., AFGE/activist, joins Thom Hartmann. Ronald Reagan may be a Republican hero – but he’s played the role of the villain to American workers for over three decades. How has the American worker suffered over the last 30 plus years – and how can we stop the war on unions that’s been plaguing America?

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American Autumn: An Occudoc

by , posted on Monday, September 17th, 2012 at 8:06 am

from The Real News Network

Filmmaker Dennis Trainer Jr. on his new film and the challenges facing the Occupy Movement.

http://www.Occudoc.org
written, produced & directed by Dennis Trainor, Jr
contact dennistrainorjr (at) gmail (dot) com
http://www.twitter.com/dennistrainorjr
http://www.facebook.com/dennistrainorjr

Associate producer/ co-editor/ graphics/ color & titles: AJ Russo
https://vimeo.com/ajrsuper8

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“Be Honest About the History of Our Country”: Remembering the Historian Howard Zinn at 90

by , posted on Friday, August 24th, 2012 at 1:40 pm

from Democracy Now!

“People have the power. If they begin to organize, if they protest, if they create a strong enough movement, they can change things.” — Howard Zinn

The late historian, writer and activist Howard Zinn would have turned 90 years old today. Zinn died of a heart attack at the age of 87 on January 27, 2010. After serving as a bombardier in World War II, Zinn went on to become a lifelong dissident and peace activist. He was active in the civil rights movement and many of the struggles for social justice over the past 50 years. In 1980, Howard Zinn published his classic book, “A People’s History of the United States,” which would go on to sell more than a million copies and change the way we look at history in America. We air an excerpt of a Zinn interview on Democracy Now! from May 2009, and another from one of his last speeches later that year, just two months before his death.

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