Regarding the need for good old fashioned community organization, I hope you all heard Nader on Amy’s program yesterday.  Quote:  “A few hundred letters freaks them out.”  He’s far enough into the center of things to know, what with all his experience working with political organization.  Irony is over most people’s heads.  Cynicism turns them off. Hysteria scares them. What’s left?  Cooperation, Analysis, Synthesis, Action.

Financial Reforms Endgame by Paul Krugman:

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/03/01-4

The only people being ignored is the populace, that the Right-Wing always ignore unless they are trying to use them, as is happening with media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin:

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/03/01-3

I think John Ellis says it all.

By John Ellis, March 1 at 5:48 pm #

SLOW THINKERS

But surely, politics like brains, wealth, class and sex-appeal, surely they all pass from father to son.

(That’s why we had bankers and ice haulers.}

For my clan traces its roots to when a ship captain name Ellis had on his sail boat to (sic)  (he means two) orphan kids, two (he got it right this time) bond-slaves they were being shipped over from England to slave-labor the rich nobility.  (What does that say about great grandpa Ellis?) So they both were given the last name of Ellis, had the same rich family to serve as bond slaves unto death, were married to each other and started our family tree.

(I can see it. Not much of a gene pool to begin with.)

So my great grandfather carried ice on his back,  (Should’ve used the wheel.) grand father Ellis until killed by a train (drunk, no doubt) hauled railroad ties on his back,9yeah, right.) father Ellis hauled hides and furs on his back, and for 30 years before retiring I did haul a 35 lb planting bag of seedling pines on my back (once?).  Up and down those steep hills from Alabama to Canada, Oh my aching back.  (You’ve more than that on me aching right now.  Are we near the end of this?)
Oh, thank you for stopping.  I was going to jump in and start telling how my great-great-great grandfather fought in the revoltion so slave traders like your ancestors could eventually learn a spritual lesson in the evils of slavery.

Thank you John.  Now sit sown and shut up.  We’ve had enough of you and your kind.

The Right-Wing doesn’t have 50% of the populace, IMHO.  I know the polls always show running neck and neck, but running neck and neck means that the Right-Wing 10% is included.  Therefore, there are only 40% of the populace or even less who have been deceived into thinking that Republicans represent the populace, while Republicans actually ONLY represent the Noble Aristocracy.

Glenn Beck is a toady to the Noble Aristocracy and so is Sarah Palin a toady to the Noble Aristocracy.

http://www.alternet.org/story/145816/glenn_beck,_radical_hit_man_for_the_tea_partiers,_is_breeding_potential_violence__

People need to get some bull horns and get out and start notifying the populace similar to these guys in this video:

http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/812.html

You are sorely mistaken.  Amy Goodman is a wonderful benefit to the political Left.

Why Are Democrats Ignoring the Next New Dealers?  Dionne’s queston.  hmmmmmmm!

It might come as a surprise to most of you that Amy Goodman’s, DemocrocyNow!, broadcast is a veiled propaganda outlet of the Foundation, particularly the Ford Foundation.  (All that dough you’ve been giving is just a form of masturbations.)

These are the megalomaniacs that want to keep us riled up.

Today on her show, she feature the black student reaction to finding a noose in the college library.  Sure signs of trouble.  Yet they fail to release the identity of the student’s identity who hanged the noose.  I ask the question, “Who is behind all this shit?”

Ms. Goodman’s first ten minutes have been given the blessing on Bill Moyers.  And he’s right, “You won’t get that anywhere else.”  I watch it.

Yet, American citizens who are out of work, waiting to be laid off, or waiting for some outrageous demand from some faceless employer are hoping to be told the goddamn truth and they are sitting stupified. 

Do you think we are that stupid?

Do you not care about anything, except your lawn?

I think the line in the sand between free speech and unprotected speech is crystal clear:

“Disrespecting” the President is free speech. 
Calling for violent action against him is a felony.

I may decry some of the WORST attacks on President Obama, but unless they cross that line they are STILL protected free speech.

I regret the insults I may have hurled at Bush. I don’t regret telling the truth: He was an ignorant, arrogant, bullying, close-minded coward who panicked in each of the great challenges to the nation during his administration. Sooner or later he threw just about every ally and friend he had under the bus, including even Rumsfeld, Cheney, and Rove.  He used and abused his power as president under the bizarre and totally un-Constitutional concept of the “unitary Presidency” to act like a dictator—and even joked about doing so.

His positives were few and minor—I can even list them here:
1) He NEVER gave in to the Right’s racist anti- “illegal” immigrant demands. (his best action).
2) He made the Mariana Trench protected against exploitation.
3) He set a fine example by having one of the “greenest” homes in America by a prominent politician (in Crawford)
4) He did NOT grant a full pardon to Scooter Libby, directly defying the wishes of his VP, Darth Cheney.
5) He threw a number of the worst members of his administration “under the bus” (But he threw the best he had under as well).
6) On a personal level he was clearly without racism. His policies may have been functionally racist, but I never saw any signs he was.
7) He, as every President before him who completed his term, left office peacefully, rather than seizing power (as Cheney had suggested—Darth wanted to “postpone” the 2004 elections)

Other than that, by every measure I know of, Bush ranks as the worst President in our history, beating out some inept clowns like Warren G. Harding, Ulysses S. Grant, James Buchanan, and John Tyler, not to mention Nixon and Reagan.

MarthaA, February 28 at 7:44 pm #

Insulting the President of the United States, who represents the entire country, by calling him a fringe player, ardee, only shows your ignorance.  You are a far cry from being able to accomplish anything the president is doing or has done, therefore your insults and undermining of the president actually mean nothing.

Yeah ,Hag, that free speech stuff is just so annoying isnt it? Which, I wonder , serves this nation better, righteous anger and honest criticism of a President who lied his way into office and has betrayed his every campaign promise or your head up your rectum blind loyalty?

” President Obama is the President of the United States having to follow the Bush reign of terror.”

Follow, emulate and carry on those policies.

?HUH?  You may slander who you want but no one else
    may???/

The alcoholic President Bush was appointed by the Supreme Court.  The Right dishonored and disrespected the populace and the electors and placed Bush into office, then expected the populace to be stupid and have respect for the unrespectable after being countermanded unrespectably.  President Bush being called president was all the respect he got, because he didn’t deserve respect.  President Bush was a puppet.

WHEREAS, President Obama was honorably and respectably elected by the populace and the electors and deserves respect as the President of the United States.  There is a HUGE difference.  President Obama is the President of the United States having to follow the Bush reign of terror.

it is as if this is set up to be a name slingging
contest rather than an issue solving forum.

George Bush was the most insulted president ever and
is still getting insulted by the very same ones
that are crying about Barrack being insulted

Insulting the President of the United States, who represents the entire country, by calling him a fringe player, ardee, only shows your ignorance.  You are a far cry from being able to accomplish anything the president is doing or has done, therefore your insults and undermining of the president actually mean nothing.

Why Are Democrats Ignoring the Next New Dealers?
Posted on Feb 24, 2010
By E.J. Dionne

This is another standard Washpo, E.J. Dionne example
of fecal
vomiting. Hasn’t E.J. Dionne heard that “Democracy is
just a
useful fiction”? Nevertheless, pretending there is a
two party
system is so blatantly disingenuous, that it’s
nauseating. But
alas, he’s just doing what his paycheck calls for.

Inherit The Wind, February 28 at 5:01 pm

Hey, Inherit…..I was sort of troubled that you would not take my post in the spirit in which it was intended. I bear you no malice obviously, regardless of whether we agree or disagree.

Impeachment was certainly possible, conviction another tale entirely. But the investigation, the testimony, the light shining on the despicable actions of that administration would have been invaluable as a tool to educate the public as well as a vindication that we are still concerned with justice in this nation.

The Democratic Party, which you continue to believe is the only path out of the swamp, and I continue to believe is sinking rather quickly into that swamp, is by any criteria an abject failure, and for a rather long time now. You claim that it is only the fringe elements of that Party making things impossible, and I point out that this must mean you believe our President a fringe player as well.

I do not wish to rehash that ground we have been over so many times before, the escalation of war, the continuation of the torture policies, the welfare state support for the largest and crookedest corporations while sacrificing the people of the nation on that alter of greed and corruption. So I wont….oops!

To say that the GOP is worse so vote for the less worse ( godawful syntax there you betcha) really makes little sense, and I think that you know that.The bent of both parties, regardless that the GOP has been usurped by the furthest right wing ideologues among them, is to run this nation for the wealthy. I, for one, will never support this sprint towards fascism and I think that there must be a little voice deep down inside you that knows this full well and decries it as well. Come into the light,we await you here.

MarthaA your refusal to take the bait has given me pause, and I apologize . I also note the history of your attacks on any and all lives on in my memory, including the little episode when you suggested shooting us lefties who stood in the way of a successful Democratic Party resurgence. However, I will no longer directly insult you until and unless you revert to type.

I would, once again, ask you for specifics on regaining control of your cherished Party, having noted not a single concrete suggestion other than the use of the primary. I would remind you that those primaries are just mechanisms for choosing between candidates chosen from above.

With a Democratic President, a bulletproof majority ( briefly) in the Senate and an Attorney General straining at the leash to do his job and uphold that poor maligned lady, “justice”, we saw a refusal to uphold the constitution from our democratic party and a dismissal of the need to investigate the numerous war crimes and constitutional violations of the Cheney administration.

********************************

Oh, c’mon, Ardee, be fair! You know DAMN well I would like Holder’s investigations to proceed.

But it’s time to stop being childish and grow up! Politics is the art of the POSSIBLE and impeachment was IMPOSSIBLE, as desirable as it would have been.

The Democratic Party needs a Mikhail Gorbachev to perform perestroika in the Democratic Party:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perestroika

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Gorbachev

Short of bloody revolution, there is no other way.

Despite ITW’s crocodile tears of his “disagreements” with the politics of Martha they are the two most loyal democrats on this site I think.

The way we see impeachment dismissed in this post, as if the search for justice depended upon numbers rather than being a constant striving, is an impetus for this rebuttal .

With a Democratic President, a bulletproof majority ( briefly) in the Senate and an Attorney General straining at the leash to do his job and uphold that poor maligned lady, “justice”, we saw a refusal to uphold the constitution from our democratic party and a dismissal of the need to investigate the numerous war crimes and constitutional violations of the Cheney administration.

This one fact, evidence of complicity with and continuation of, the policies of Bush regarding war, torture, secrecy and all the other similarities notwithstanding, makes me refuse to ever consider voting for a democrat.

Martha will, of course, as she always does, the poor dear, call me an agent of the GOP or some such. ITW will not I think, not demonstrating the batshit craziness of his ally and fellow democratic apologist ( ever wonder what happened to her imaginary brother, playmate, friend and ally who once posted here in exactly the same style, syntax and methodology?) but he will believe, I think,that I have misunderstood him yet again.

What I do not misunderstand is that this Duopoly under which we struggle for rights, for honesty, for nobility if you will for our nation, and lately for jobs, answers, not to the electorate, cares not for the American family but only for the size of the campaign check their corporate rulers will write in reward for their total obeisance.

Further, I understand that things will never change in this regard until we the people abandon both those sham parties and create one that shuns the evils of corporate financing and second careers as millionaire lobbyists.

Balkas:

There is not one great power whose history isn’t filled with horrors and atrocities. The USA is no different in that regard.  Our history is no more bloody than Spain’s or France’s, Britain’s or even Belgium’s and Holland’s.  (Read how a million in the Congo were murdered by King Leopold of Belgium in the late 1800’s—Parliament was FORCED to take the Congo away from him. Or read how the Dutch treated natives in South Africa—“Apartheid” is a Dutch word, not an English one.) You think Canada didn’t slaughter Native Americans in ITS march westward?  Or Mexico hasn’t got a bitterly bloody history of corruption and civil war?

I don’t rationalize our national sins, nor do I want them repeated.  But they are not unique to the USA, either.

I frequently don’t agree with MarthaA but I think she’s got it right here.
Simply, as bad as the Dims are (and they are pretty bad) the Re-Thugs are far, FAR worse.

That should be blatantly obvious.

But Dims have had an instant-gratification fixation since 1977, when they began attacking Jimmy Carter, calling him “impossible” as if he was Nixon.  They helped undermine Carter, making him vulnerable to the attacks from the Right, that gave us that GIANT of destroying American Democracy: Ronald Reagan.

They turned on Bill Clinton the same way, and now on Barack Obama. Notice the Re-thugs are smart enough NOT to turn on THEIR Presidents immediately—they rarely do it at all, and, even then, do it discretely. It’s just good tactics and good politics.

As soon as the Congress was re-captured in 2006, the Left began demanding a HUGE agenda of changes that could NOT be made, including the impeachment of Bush and Cheney.  While I personally would have been FULLY in favor of a SUCCESSFUL impeachment (resulting in conviction and ouster) I recognized fully (as did Speaker Pelosi) that it was as doomed to fail as the impeachment of Bill Clinton, even if more justified.

Plus, the ULTIMATE result was the same: Dims won the Presidency and major majorities in both Houses.

But the toleration of the fringe Dims, ie the DINOs like Nelson and Lieberman, have shown how INEPT the Dims are at leading.  With Reid’s TOTAL failure to get anything done, at least Obama has been trying tactics to get it moving: Either the GOP actually WORKS at bi-partisanship, or their obstructionism is now blatantly obvious even to those who prefer American Idol to the news.

If you aren’t a Republican populace cuckold, you will vote Democratic.  Bunning could not have made it more plain that Republicans aren’t for the populace.

Bunning to Jobless -  Tough S**t:
http://capwiz.com/iamaw/issues/alert/?alertid=14734541

The US is seemingly the only place where right-wing elites can openly share their distaste for the working poor:
http://www.alternet.org/story/145819/ayn_rand,_hugely_popular_author_and_inspiration_to_right-wing_leaders,_was_a_big_admirer_of_serial_killer

Another desperate plea to vote democrat using the
same scare tactics that their competition for power
utilizes.

You know, we older Progs really shouldn’t keep dispiriting political possibilities all the time. The least we can do is to support young people’s goals and actions whenever and however we can.  It’s mostly the young who dare to get out into the streets in Seattle or Pittsburgh or wherever and face the tasers and if necessary go to jail.  They work together in affinity groups to organize, take a stand, and are effective enough that entire police departments are mobilized with horses and scream-machines just to keep them from being more effective than they are.  Their goals are usually broadly progrssive—end wars (so they don’t have to kill people), provide decent employment opportunities, improve education and lower costs of college, take measures toward a greener world, etc. etc. Reach out to the rest of the world however you can.

Tea party agitators are usually old fuds whose message is eternally negative, or very naive youngsters enamored with false religious dreams.

Where are we older progs so far as helping younger people when they protest the horrors of our time? Not even writing comments to encourage them?  Or don’t they read comment columns?  Doesn’t anyone tell them that some of us still think the human race is not doomed?  Some of us want to know how we can help, even though most of us can’t or don’t twitter a lot.

In spite of all the partisan rhetoric, our democratic president is just a little left of center on our political spectrum, not far left as the Republicans claim. Our political spectrum is far to the right on the greater global spectrum, which shifts our Democratic president to the right on the global spectrum. Obama supports the agenda of the corporatists, but I believe he does so with good conscience, thinking that he is doing what is best for the American people. I also believe he is horribly wrong, but I don’t believe he is sinister and intentionally turning this country over to the corporatists, but I believe his current policies: will destroy his presidency and reduce the political influence of the left and its agenda, as well as the power of the Democratic Party, and will be detrimental to the welfare of the American people and the peoples of the world. I believe his policies are not promoting world peace, but vice a versa. I believe that if his policies are continued in total, they will lead to a return of power to those who advocate policies even more harmful than his.
 
The question that is common to political polling is, “Do you think the country is headed in the right direction”? My answer would be a most emphatic no. I believe we are headed in a right direction, but not the right direction. I believe we need to head to the left, away from corporatism, and not to the right towards corporatism. It’s not just a matter of domestic concerns; our nation is a super power and our elite, and their government comrades, have an unshakable faith in American exceptionalism, and the right to empire. As has always been the case, quest for empire is couched with virtue, and those who seek empire, are unrepentant when considering the costs of building empire. Was it Isaac Newton who said that for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction? The laws of physics don’t directly apply to political and social phenomena, but I’ll suggest that our actions have caused reactions, which are far from desirable. Therefore it becomes imperative that we not let ourselves be made irrelevant.

There has been much debate about the virtue, or lack of virtue, in the concept of bipartisanship. My personal belief is that the current attempts at bipartisanship, advocated by some, are futile and counter productive. The right believes that a lack of bipartisanship serves their political aspirations and advances their agendas, but I don’t believe that bipartisanship is always futile, and that sometimes it becomes, distasteful, but necessary in order to promote a greater agenda. Currently, progressives lack sufficient political power in the Democratic Party, and congress, to achieve their objectives, and it seems that historically speaking, progressives have always been in the minority, but their agendas have been adopted, over time, and the work of progressives has resulted in an improvement in the human condition.  It’s clear that progressivism has been in decline, and that the policies of the reactionary right have been dominant for several decades, the consequences of that dominance are evident, and there is an urgent need for turning away from those reactionary policies, but progressives currently lack the political power to, alone, stop, or impede, this reactionary shift.

Progressives must accept political realities, and coalesce with their less progressive colleagues in the Democratic Party. This has been the historical, and successful, strategy of progressives. Of course we need more progressive legislators, but the reality is that we don’t have them, at the present time.

I am well aware that many in the Democratic Party have been corrupted, according to progressive values and democratic principles, but progressives, and opponents of corporatism, guarantee the triumph of corporatism when they withdraw from political activity, and fail to see political realities.

A big part of the Democratic con game is to constantly try to blame all the problems on the right.

The Democrats have had one of the largest concentrations of power in one party in recent history.  They’ve controlled both houses of Congress and the White House.  For a stretch of time, they had a fillibuster-proof majority in the Senate (something Bush/Cheney never had).

The Democrats are in control of this government.  We see the policies they promote and support.  Please don’t listen when they try to say that its all Sarah Palin’s fault.

The problem is the Democrats.  The problem is the strange fact that the left continues to support this pro-war, pro-corporate, right-wing political party.

Obviously the ‘left’, the ‘new new dealers’, the ‘progressives’, whatever you want to call us, need candidates running in the next elections.  If we don’t have a ‘leftist’ candidate in the election, we automatically lose the election.  That’s obvious.

Just as obviously, the Democrats are not these candidates.  In fact, the Democrats have established way too large a track record of running lying con-artists who pretend to be from the left for any Democratic candidate to be trusted.

We know now from both this administration and the last Congress what the Democrats will do when elected.  Escalate and expand the wars, keep the torture prisons open, spy on Americans, send trillions to Wall St in bailouts, worry more about the profits of health care corporations than the health of Americans.

So, we need our own candidates, outside the Democratic Party. 

And, since grassroots campaigns take longer to organize, the time to begin is NOW!

Gerard

I believe that Democrats need to get back to their traditional core values and that, after this last campaign and recent political developments; voters may not be receptive to campaigns by democrats promising positive ideas.

It may seem counter intuitive to you, but I feel the most positive thing we can do at present, is campaign against the policies of the right. The right has been very good at escaping blame for the current state of affairs, because the issue has been complicated by Democrats endorsing right wing policies. There needs to be clarification as to what has caused our current difficulties, and democrats need to promise a return to tried and true policies of the past in order to repair the damage done by right wing policies.

Discussing strategies and tactics brings to mind the DLC, Rahm Emanuel, Carl Rove and others. What we need to do is focus on policies, not strategies and tactics. I think we need to point out policies that have been harmful, and advocate a return to those that have been successful.

I’m wondering if the millennials and others, voted for change to something, or change away from something.

Not one response, so I’ll try again before assuming the negatives.  By gerard, February 25 at 4:02 pm #

My feeling is that young people probably respond better to positive appeals.  They are more likely to vote FOR than AGAINST. Too much AGAINST is apt to turn them so far off that they don’t vote at all.
Therefore:  Democrats or any third party will probably do better by NOT spending time working against the tea-baggers or the Republican mainliners.
Better concentrate on jobs, education, peace/freedom initiatives and the environment (meaning the future).

Problem:  Democrats had a FOR party when Obama was elected.  Unfortunately, he hasn’t worked out well, so now a lot of Dems and others are AGAINST Obama, which will show in voting next time, unfortunately.
(means negatives will have to be counteracted somehow, because Dems now have a double problem—No votes because of disillusionment and No votes for punishment.

Possible answer:  A powerful Positive campaign from both Democrats and a Third Party if any is formed.
Even if the liberal vote splits in the midterms, the total of the two parties would tell us something, and would be a significant step toward a winning combination in the next presidential election.

This does not consider the elephant—reform of campaign financing, which IMO is going to take a lot more than two years to change and is also a kind of “in-Congress-Constitution-Court” fight demanding reform propelled as much from within as from the voting public.  Am I crazy? 

What do you think?  Alternatives?

To John Ellis:

I am aware that the ‘1% richest own 90% of the wealth’, etc., etc. Everyone is aware of it. What do these figures have to do with the fact that 28% of ‘Millenials’ consider themselves conservatives, and 29% liberals? What point are you trying to make?

Conservative EXTREMIST Rupert Murdoch has been using conservative sophism and propaganda in all his media outlets against the liberal, progressive populace of the United States ever since he purchased Fox News in 1995 and the world also, as England is tired of Glenn Beck’s faux populist conservative Right-Wing ranting against race, unions, liberals, progressives and socialist, just like many people in the United States.  Glenn Beck has NO advertisers in England and nearly none in the United States, but as long as he will rant against race, unions, liberals, progressives and socialist, like Adolph Hitler did, he will be paid by Rupert Murdoch, who will probably not live to see his plan go down, but his plan must go down.  Glenn Beck must be stopped from deceiving the populace, like Night-Gaunt, who really think he is a God or something, as well as all the other Conservative EXTREMIST ranters against progressives on the FOX Network and other media outlets that Rupert Murdoch owns.

Dionne says ‘Americans under 30 include the largest proportion of self-described liberals and the smallest proportion of self-described conservatives of any age group in the country: 29 percent of the under 30s called themselves liberal compared with 28 percent who called themselves conservative’. This is supposed to encourage us? Have we so dumbed down in this country that no one can count? This is only a one per cent difference!!! It suggests that young ‘Millenials’ are equally divided between liberals and conservatives, just as their elders are. Not only is a one per cent difference statistically insignificant, but remember that these polls usually carry a disclaimer stating there is a ten per cent margin for error.

There is no next New Dealers, especially from the Right.  The only deal the right will make is on how to get your money from your hand to theirs.

Mr. Dionne seems like a smart man.  So, he can’t really be this stupid.

The Democrat’s policy is set by the contributors who give them millions.  What the base or the voters want is irrelevant to the cash men\women at the top of the party.  They put the government and its policy up for sale to the highest bidder.

When we get closer to the election, the Democrats will try to cover this by having their candidate lie their rears off about how progressive and wonderful they’ll suddenly become if they win this election.  And of course they’ll spend some of the corporate millions on grainy black and white attack ads about how nasty the Republicans are. After the success of Obama, some of the candidates will try to spend some of those millions trying to create a ‘rock-star’ image for themselves.

But, after the election, the people who gave them the millions will be calling the tunes in Washington.

There’s no way a smart guy like Dionne who’s been in Washington for years can not understand this.  So, the piece is really just part of the ongoing mis-direction campaign from the WaPo about how the Democrats are failing for every reason except the real one.  The one thing the American people are not to be thinking about is how much money is being paid to politicians and how much money is being earned in return.

For instance, what would having a bill passed that makes everyone a mandated customer be worth to a business?  Pay tens or even hundreds of millions out, but make billions in return.

Why would the left wing of the Republican party
support the New Dealers, I say that because we have
but one party in this country.  That is the
Republican one. We have a left wing at times known as
the Democrats and/or the conservative Democrats, and
the right wing known as Republicans or conservatives. 
The two of them support our failed foreign policy no
matter which branch is in power. Look how fast they
teamed together to pass the no ask no reveal bail-out
of the Banks and Brokers, and, insurance Companies.
Not to mention the speed to which they provided close
to a trillion dollars to continue our ill-fated Wars
in the Middle East. This same party is now pretending
to debate a health bill and when it has been watered
down to the point of useless, the left wing will come
up with the excuse of, oh well we tried but just
could not do a thing because the conservative party
of NO would not help us.  Then it should be quite
clear to the poor, the working poor, and the middle
class just whom this political group ( CLUB ) is
working for, it sure as Hell is not them.

As GreatGrandFather to several “Millennials,” this Old Indian has the distinct impression they already know they’ve got a lot better things to do than waste their lives trying to “transform (anybody’s) politics”....which, after all, is just one more ‘commodity’ traded-upon by such as this article’s author anyhow.  When no one is any longer buying the bullshit pundits, politicos, and propagandists peddle, there’ll be some more precious Human attention freed-up for our given organic function as components in the natural immune system of our Mother Earth.

Old Grandma used to say, “Mess-around in politics, and the politicians will sure-as-hell mess you up but-good.”

HokaHey!

The Dionne-vaunted “Millenials” will soon become a ridiculously irrelevant global group compared to their contemporaries in the Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños, or, in Portuguese Comunidade de Estados Latino-Americanos e Caribenhos which includes every sovereign country on the mainland between the Magelhaes (Magellan) Straits and the US-Mexican border. The hundreds of millions of “Millenials” in these countries, which includes Cuba (!), will determine the future of the Western Hemisphere and not our own pitiful, spoiled-rotten “Millenials”. Once again Mr. Dionne has demonstrated his myopia. For him nothing matters but the Obama administration. Nothing exists for him outside the White House.

Remember the guys who put pushed Senator McCarhty to the fore in the 1950s and gave us the McCarthy era?  It was mainly the Catholic Cardinal of New York.  I’ve forgotten his name. Well, they are back and this time they have bonded with right-wing Southern Baptists Evangelists on abotion and gay marriage and they intend to thwart any New-Deal-like legislation and return a certain level of power to the Catholic Church and the conservative Protestant blocs. 

Antonin Scalia went to Georgetown, Clarence Thomas went to Holy Cross, John Boehner went to Xavier, Thomas Hoenig, the President of the Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas and possibly the next Secretary of Treasury, went to Benedictive in Kansas.
A look at John Boehner’s rise in the corporate world might reveal some traits.  He graduated Xavier at 22 and went to work for Nucite Sales, a small sales business in the packaging and plastics industry.  Five years later at the age of 27 he became president of the firm.
I think he was either being prepped to run for Congress all along or he had a drinking buddy who was a higher up.  If it’s the latter then he shows signs of a curse that he soon won’t be able to deny.

The Democrats want to give up the Millenials.  They want to fail.  They are going to shit-can the social safety net, i.e., Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and force the underclass and working poor and the fallen middle class to rely on the Church.

Mark Shields, a Roman Catholic who graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1959, tried to allay any fear by saying on PBS last Friday night that we shouldn’t worry.  Grandma is not going to be thrown into a snow bank.  (He shouldda been a priest.)
Wait’ll Fr. O’Dooley, the good father, comes around with a stack of donation envelopes and asks why the family wasn’t seen in church last Sunday.  And when’s the Mr. going to sign up for the Lady’s Sodality.

It’s that or ex-communication and discombobulation.  You’ll sit on your stoop and wonder, “In this day of age, why is this happening to me?”

Okay-we can all agree that Obama devastated those of us who actually hoped, against hope, that he might be able to do something to improve our way of governing.  For the Millenials, this hope was especially high and they worked hard to get this man elected.  But, and here is the rub as they say, we all expected him to do it alone - even when it was obvious that he was being undermined by the DNC even before his election!  Very few of us have actually taken the time to examine what we could do to help make changes in our communities or in our states.  We have languished on our sofas expecting someone else to do the heavy work and when it was not done, we did nothing to change that fact.  We sat silently by and let the BushCo cartel destroy our freedoms and our country and we did nothing for over 8 years.  Now we wonder why our children are disappointed because one man did not miraculously change things!?!  THEY DO NOT KNOW HOW TO CREATE CHANGE BECAUSE WE NEVER TAUGHT THEM HOW!

Stop blaming the politicians and get out there and teach your children how to create change.  Take them to school board meetings and demand better education for your children and grandchildren.  Education that includes civics, government, history, and basic living skills like mechanics, cooking, sewing, budgeting, not just computers doing math and science for them.  Demand that our children be taught to think critically.  And then go a few steps further - become active in your communities.  Run for local office, start Transition Initiatives (TransitionUS.org will show you how) to create sustainable communities, join local civic organizations or political committees.  Create a model that the Millenials and others can follow and learn from.

We have become a nation of people who depend on everyone but ourselves for the most part.  It is time for that to change.  When we stand up for ourselves and start working together as members of strong, independent communities we can teach our children by example the importance of civic engagement.  Our Forefathers believed in civic virtue as being a guiding light for each generation in a strong nation.  We were encouraged to forget this and to abandon those principles for too long, and now we need to embrace them once again.

This next generation - the Millenials - will determine how this nation grows and thrives or how it will die.  If we do not show them how to nurture it at the grassroots, then we will let it die.  It is up to us, their parents and grandparents, to make the effort to teach them and to encourage them to make a difference, not just by voting their conscience, but by putting that vote to good purpose by following up with action to support it.  We elected President Obama on his promise of change, but we failed to follow up sufficiently to make our voices heard again by our actions and our efforts.  This President was co-opted by the DNC and others in DC who have isolated him and control the access he has to the people.  So we must act without him now, and we start this election cycle by working for non-party, independent candidates and we start at the local level to create real lasting change.  We show the Millenials how it is done, or we sit back and let whatever happens, happen.  The choice is not just the Millenials, it is ours - and we had better make the right one if we want to continue living in a decent nation.

“Why Are Democrats Ignoring the Next New Dealers?”
Simple: because they don’t have any money.

The populace needs more politicians in Congress like Congressman Weiner:

http://www.commondreams.org/video/2010/02/25

Good try Martha.,

but the results don’t bare out your optimism.

The populace needs Single Payer Public Medical Care, and the Obama administration isn’t pushing Single Payer Public Medical Care, in which I am dissappointed, but the Obama administration is trying to do more for the populace than his predecessor.  At least some of the populace will get a better form of medical insurance, if not all the populace; the Republicans didn’t even make an effort. 

What the Obama administration is doing is better than the Republicans did, or would do for the populace, unless there was a democratic Congress.

The Conservative Republicans, whether you know it or not, do not give a Rat’s A—whether you have medical care or not, if you are a member of the populace.  As far as Conservative Republicans are concerned that is a problem for the Left, not the Right.

The Conservative Republican EXTREMISTS only concerns are profits for the big corporations, big pharma, big insurance, and the elite and the problems that would slow down their profits.

Whatever a Conservative Republican EXTREMIST says pertaining to the populace is strictly hyperbole rhetoric, and sooner or later that is going to have to be understood by the populace.

Conservative Republicans’ are EXTREMISTS and their political business and only business is to keep the populace from getting anything anymore that is absolutely base for bare survival.  If it wasn’t for the Democrats, the Left would have nothing, not even a public library.

Here is how the Conservative Republican EXTREMIST Bush administration handled their time in office:

http://www.truthout.org/article/the-uh-ohs-a-decade-conservative-failure-terrance-heaths

Democrats no matter how you slice, even some of the Republicans Lite, are not as far to the EXTREME Right as the Conservative Republicans, but the populace must do their best to be done with all the Republicans Lite asap in the Primaries.

And there is probably a whole lot of truth to what
a previous poster said…

That is was more likly be design to keep the numbers
down at the polls the next election cycle.
For the powers that be of our one party system that
uses two different names knows what we all know…

The more they get disenfranchised ,  the fewer that
vote, keeping tack what Hedges now labels
totalitarian.

Yes, the democrats are ignoring us…lol.  The US isn’t a democracy; the two leading parties largely listen to their corporate lobbyist donors and their fellows in the political elite.  But yes, just like this period in time, including all the violence that is happening, is the least violent period in our human history, the younger generations now are more leftish than ever before.  Will that mean anything?  Only if we succeed in crushing the current political elite, including the democratic party, the washington post, and people like ej dionne.

The title of the article in itself is desingenuous !!
I got one of them younguns you speak of !!!!!!

They like all other Americans, are disgusted with
Wall Steet owning america , Capitol Hill and the
White House.

And the Oh??Bama presidency stole from them any
interest in participation.
Take you think tank poll numbers and put them where
the sun don’t shine !!!!!

Hank ven den Berg

I am so glad you commented !!!!!

I agree with you 110%

And this piece of journalism looks yellow….

Why are the Dems ignoring the new dealers?  Because they can.

I truly believe that Obama and the Democrats made a deal with the right wing cartel that allowed him to get elected. What would it look like if it were the Republicans ‘in charge’ and they let all the criminals of the previous administration, including Bush and Cheney, off the hook? There might actually have been a populist uprising against the shear brazenness and illegality.

But Obama and his regime could do it, because his supporters took their eye off the ball by believing that he really was the bill of goods he sold so well on the campaign trail.

Obama and the Rahm team knew that no one would hold their feet to the fire even as they worked against everything the American people wanted and voted for, because by the time Obama supporters woke up to the fact that he is actually the second coming of Bush, it would be too late. The most important issues of the day would already be decided in favor of the monied elite, and the courts, still packed with right wing ideologues, would have already destroyed the last of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

And the future? Well, the right wing wet dream would finally be on a solid road to reality: America, the land of corporate and Congressional plutocracy, with endless war and occupation; starving, homeless and sick masses who work cheap, and Jesus waiting right there to waterboard you if you whisper of word of dissent.

That’s the new deal they’ve already made.  Ain’t democracy grand?

My feeling is that young people probably respond better to positive appeals.  They are more likely to vote FOR than AGAINST. Too much AGAINST is apt to turn them so far off that they don’t vote at all.
Therefore:  Democrats or any third party will probably do better by NOT spending time working against the tea-baggers or the Republican mainliners.
Better concentrate on jobs, education, peace/freedom initiatives and the environment (meaning the future).

Problem:  Democrats had a FOR party when Obama was elected.  Unfortunately, he hasn’t worked out well, so now a lot of Dems and others are AGAINST Obama, which will show in voting next time, unfortunately.
(means negatives will have to be counteracted somehow, because Dems now have a double problem—No votes because of disillusionment and No votes for punishment.

Possible answer:  A powerful Positive campaign from both Democrats and a Third Party if any is formed.
Even if the liberal vote splits in the midterms, the total of the two parties would tell us something, and would be a significant step toward a winning combination in the next presidential election.

This does not consider the elephant—reform of campaign financing, which IMO is going to take a lot more than two years to change and is also a kind of “in-Congress-Constitution-Court” fight demanding reform propelled as much from within as from the voting public.  Am I crazy? 

What do you think?  Alternatives?

My feeling is that young people probably respond better to positive appeals.  They are more likely to vote FOR than AGAINST. Too much AGAINST is apt to turn them so far off that they don’t vote at all.
Therefore:  Democrats or any third party will probably do better by NOT spending time working against the tea-baggers or the Republican mainliners.
Better concentrate on jobs, education, peace/freedom initiatives and the environment (meaning the future).

Problem:  Democrats had a FOR party when Obama was elected.  Unfortunately, he hasn’t worked out well, so now a lot of Dems and others are AGAINST Obama, which will show in voting next time, unfortunately.
(means negatives will have to be counteracted somehow, because Dems now have a double problem—No votes because of disillusionment and No votes for punishment.

Possible answer:  A powerful Positive campaign from both Democrats and a Third Party if any is formed.
Even if the liberal vote splits in the midterms, the total of the two parties would tell us something, and would be a significant step toward a winning combination in the next presidential election.

This does not consider the elephant—reform of campaign financing, which IMO is going to take a lot more than two years to change and is also a kind of “in-Congress-Constitution-Court” fight demanding reform propelled as much from within as from the voting public.  Am I crazy? 

What do you think?  Alternatives?

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) speaking of Republicans said: “They’re a wholly owned subsidiary of the insurance industry. That’s the fact!” To which the Republicans feigned outrage in order to keep up the two party façade.

What Weiner didn’t say is more important. The entire U.S. Congress, PROTUS, and SCOTUS are a wholly owned subsidiary of Big Corp. And therein lies the answer to the question posed in the title of this article.

The Dems are ignoring the next new dealers because they are a wholly owned subsidiary of Big Corp and have to follow the orders of their homasters –just like the republicans.

The U.S. Congress, PROTUS, and SCOTUS are there for theater. I can’t wait until ExxonMobil or Goldman Sachs eliminate the middle men and seek office directly. They’re just one or two steps away.

ExxonMobil for president 2012!

Dear john,
recall that i said a winning party or a party that is governing must obey the constitution. Constitution, being a set of laws or ‘laws’ as i use the label; which means despotism by the ruling class; its most visible part being congress or a mere mouth piece for whoever actually rules america.

However, in US as i see it, there is only one party. But, but, why not say there are two parties? Especially, when one is ‘good’ and the other ‘bad’ one. And when people evaluate that as true!!!
So, why not use the artifice?

Ur right if u mean to say that there is actually no party in US; just gangsters! But, note please: there is only one system of governance that stays the same.

Govt’s, congress people, editors, collumnists, judges, generals, et al come and go, but the system which demanded [and not just allowed]nuking hiroshima, extirpation of indigenes, slavery, civil war, lynchings and other terror against blacks after civil war, 180 minor and major wars stays even unnicked let alone dented or significantly changed.

This bodes unwell for many people. We ca expect at least 30 more wars by the system or if no wars then some terror and dozens and dozens of peoples crying uncle.
But this also hearalds worsening for many americans.

Some of them are also neo-indians and not just asians and afrikans. Ah, not much had changed since sargon the devine! A prez is also a godhead when it comes to dealing with neo- and old-indians. tnx

Once upon a time a disparate collection of people decided to govern themselves instead of being governed by a king.  They were so serious about it that they started a war against their former king. 

By being enough of a nuisance to the king, the people were able to break away.  They wrote documents full of goals and rules and even included ways to change the documents and the rules. 

For a while the people were happy to run their own lives and occasionally to change their own rules over time when new ideas and technology changed things. 

The people had many challenges from outside and inside and even fought each other in a bloody war.  They were one nation among many and became the place where other people most wanted to live.  They grew in population and wealth.

But after many years, the people got tired of governing and turned things over to “professionals” - those who only cared to make rules and make money.  And a number of those same professionals found it expedient to tell the people that they should hate their own rules, along with those to whom they turned over the reins. 

A nation of self-loathing cannot long survive.

Countries are governed by winning parties. It is their policies that are being carried out.

Nevertheless, even the parties that win elcetions must obey constitution.

Voices on the street do not govern to any degree nor influence any party. If one wants to be heard and have some impact, one better join the party.

And if one makes to many waves in a party, one may be egested. Politicking on street or with a polster doesn’t=politicking inside a party.

And politicking in a governing party owned by plutos is much, too much, of greater force than talking ab politics outside the party. tnx

I think the direct comparison of the various “generational” groups is somewhat less
than useful without controlling for the fact that, yes, younger people are generally more
liberal. This is especially important when attempting to forecast the long term political
ramifications of the Millenials’ political aptitudes. For instance, would it not be more
interesting to compare the overall political opinions of the “Boomers” when they were
the same age as the Millenials? Such data may not even exist, but might provide a
clearer picture of future political trends given that people trend more conservative as
they age.