The Democratic Party is a machine to elect Democrats, not to do the will of the American people who elect them. The Democrats are a corporate backed and run party. They work for the good of their financiers. It's well known, and often brought up, that the GOP work for their financiers, corporations. The Democrats are financed by corporations, as well, and it is unrealistic to think that where the GOP supports their donors, the Democrats do not. Democrats have had fund raising parity with the GOP since Clinton. They constantly work towards that goals of those financiers no matter what the people who elected them think and/or want. They give us just enough of what we need to make us feel they are our
only chance. We MUST break out of the Dem/GOP paradigm if we are to have ANY chance to save our country and our planet.
The Democrats have nothing to offer to progressives but promises they don't keep. They are the corporatists' plan "B"...slower than the GOP, plan "A", but just as effective at getting the plans of their financiers accomplished. That is the whole point. To keep one of them in power. Which one, makes very little difference to the people who actually run the show. How do you expect one corporate party to do what the other corporate party does not do? You cannot change the Democratic Party from within. It doesn't WANT to change, and as long as people keep voting for them, they have zero incentive to change. Why would they? "Change, or I'll....vote for you....again..." is a HORRIBLE strategy for affecting change. We HAVE to start from outside the major parties.
Do you know what would've happened with the ACA if the party actually CARED about the people they ostensibly serve? We would have single payer health care and every single American would have that care as a right. It is often argued by those who support the ACA that it was the best we could do because Democrats had to "compromise with the GOP" to get anything at all done. That is simply not true. There was no compromise with the GOP. How do we know this? Not a single Republican in either chamber voted for the ACA, and 34 house Democrats voted "no". So, tell me...what was the compromise? Senator Tom Harkin who helped write and pass the ACA has said this,"“We had the power to do it in a way that would have simplified healthcare, made it more efficient and made it less costly, and we didn’t do it. So I look back and say we should have either done it the correct way or not done anything at all. What we did is we muddle[d] through and we got a system that is complex, convoluted,
needs probably some corrections and still rewards the insurance companies extensively." To which he added that Democrats should have pursued “single-payer right from the get-go or at least put a public option. ... We had the votes to do that and we blew it." Now, this is a Democratic senator who was on the inside of the process. Still, people believe it was the fault of GOP obstruction.
Democratic politicians are a part of the Democratic Party machine, as the GOP part of theirs. They're allowed to pontificate and even vote progressively when their vote in not necessary, in order to keep progressive voting cred back home (gotta still win elections). The party needs people like them to keep Democratic voters from leaving in DROVES (see the horrid turnout by Democratic voters in the midterm.) Politicians who run under a certain party banner, must follow the wishes of party leaders (or their financiers) or they will be punished. Punishment can include not having their legislation brought to the floor, not being seated on committees,refusal of party funds for campaigning, keeping them out of the debates (see Kucinich), the use of Super Delegates to make SURE they lose no matter what the vote actually is and even party funded campaigns against them (see Howard Dean). If Democratic politicians buck the party, they're not Democratic politicians for long.
Finally, among the numerous betrayals the Democrats have perpetrated upon the American people are three extremely important issues that were put in place by “progressive” president Bill Clinton. Not only did he sign both NAFTA and the Welfare "Reform" bill, he also oversaw the dismantling of Glass-Steagall which had been put in place to help ensure that the same circumstances that brought the Great Depression would never happen again. What happened as a result? We got the economic crash of 2008. While the Democrats may be infinitesimally better on social issues (at least in their rhetoric) they are managing to serve the interests of those who have bought our government instead of its people.
I agree with those who say the vote must not be split...Democrats should not run a fake progressive nor should their dancing partners, The GOP run a fake "compassionate conservative" who will dilute the vote for true progressive and conservative INDEPENDENT candidates on both ends of the spectrum.
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