Letters to the Editor
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conventional wisdom is conventionally wrong
Ms. Welsome makes the usual mistake in assessing candidates likelihood of winning the nomination 2+ years out. Since the 1956 campaign, frontrunners 2 years out did not get the democratic nomination(I'm excluding sitting presidents and vp's succeeding the sitting president)with one exsception: Mondale in 84. As Casey Stengel used to say, "you could look it up". Kennedy wasn't the front runner in 58, nor McGovern in 66, Jimmy Carter in 74, never heard of him. Ditto for dukakis in 86, clinton in 90, and kerry in 06. Front runners don't get the nomination. This far out, polling voters is a worthless predictor of likely nominees. I forecast things for a living. Betting on hillary as the nominee is a bad bet.
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DLC vs. Democrats
Hmm...So again we have a slate of "Democrats" who espouse ideals that many other "Democrats" reject.
So why are you still a "Democrat"? Look at it this way. The Democrats, prior to 1960, were the party of Jim Crow, Lynchings, and Creationism. The Democrats in the 1990's were the party of cutting the social safety net, increased misadvised adventures abroad (though clearly not as ill advised as our current misadventures) and of global trade.
For a few years in the 1930's and forties, the democrats where the party of the New Deal, but only because the president at the time forced them to be so. Likewise in the 1960's the Democrats became the party of progressive politics, a second golden age of progressives to be sure, but just as likely to fail.
I see people clamoring to reclaim the soul of the Democratic Party, but why do you supposed the soul is on the left? In it's 200 plus years of existence the Democratic Party's position as the party of the left has only been true for at most a third of that time, and has never had a consistent left leaning stance or message across itself.
So why be a Democrat? If every true left democrat left the party to the DLC types, and joined one of the real opposition parties (like the Greens for example) a real power left would emerge.
By insisting on fighting for crumbs from the DLC and the Republicans, the true left does more of a disservice to its ideals, than Joe Lieberman does.
If you feel a broad base party is necessary for power, than embrace Lieberman as the embodiment of the broad base. If by contrast you feel that ideological purity is the path to power, then leave the hopelessly corrupt party of Jackson (the very model of the imperialistic President) and join the party of Nader, a man who has always and still does fight the good fight for America.
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Mmmm... Republican Lite!
Same great taste but only half the casualties!!
It's no wonder the single-thread Republicans continue to beat out the Dems... we cannot speak without getting wrapped around the axle on any given issue. Yes - of course - issues are complex and rarely, if ever black and white... but that's now excuse to scare away people by talking out of both sides of your mouth.
We (Dems) should declare war as bad, peace as desirable, lack of education as unacceptable, and health care as a responsibility.
Pretty simple.
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Enough With The Green Garbage
While I am sure you are intelligent people,you just don't seem to get the fact that this country will always be a two party system.But you can keep dreaming if you like,just don't rub your patchouli on me.I think the point of "progressives" working within the Democratic Party is the same as the Christian Right working within the Republican Party-they(we)have an agenda that is only possible to bring to the attention of the many by the avenues available.While the Dems have fluctuated from the left to the center over the last fourty years or so,I don't really think that we are going to reembrace segregation any time soon,do you?The Republicans have taken over all that as their own,and frankly they can keep it.So stop blubbering around the drum circle and come join us over here,we really do want the same things you do-we just don't trust Mr Nader to the rest of the world...
And really-does counting the amount of chips in Chips Ahoy really qualify you for Global Politics?
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It's over
The problem all politicians face in the developed world, and especially in the United States, is that the illusion of endless affluence is becoming harder and harder to sustain.
Everyone in America wants to believe they can be Donald Trump. That was fine as long as you could sustain that idea on some theoretical basis.
Now, you can't. Peak-oil is close, and even if most Americans haven't the faintest idea what that is, they feel it in their bones without knowing what it is.. Americans are very nervous, because they sense the gravy train left the station some time ago, and the chances they can move up in the world are increasingly zero.
The sole way any politician will get elected to high office is to lie. And lie. And lie some more. Because the truth is altogether too ugly, or even terrifying, to contemplate.
That the fossil fuels that power everything are about to begin decline. That the great aquifer under the plains will soon be in obvious decline. That our water is limited, our air is filthy, our food supply is in danger and the fossil fuels are about to decline. That global warming really is here..
These are all truths we must grapple with, but they are truths almost no American wants to hear, and they will punish anyone who tries to tell them hard truths. This has been proven again and again.
The Republicans figured this out before the Dems did, and that's why they're in charge..and why they may continue in charge. The party that lies more, and better, will get the goodies.
This is very hard for people like us, who read Salon, to accept, but it is true, it is real, and people like Hilary know it well. You *cannot* tell the truth, because the truth will put you six-feet-under, politically, your career will be over.
Iraq falls into the same category of a truth no American wants to hear. So the Dems avoid it, and the GOP just lies about it.
You wanna blame someone for all this? Good, that's ok. Blame the American Voter, who is, as a class, is so goddamned stupid they deserve what they're gonna get.
The-Universal-Ordering-Principle help us all.