I wrote the following letter to the DLCC, DSCC, DCCC, and amended it slightly and sent it to Senators Schumer and Gillibrand.
My support for democrats hung by a thread throughout this year for various reasons such as their utter lack of movement on LGBT issues and their general unwillingness to take on the corporate members within their party and the republicans.
More after the jump.
**UPDATE**
Thanks for the rec list. I just wish writing these kinds of letters wasn't necessary. I wish even after all of the fighting and the pushing that these kinds of actions weren't necessary.
Why can't politicians learn that they will get rewarded if they do what they promised to do on the campaign trail?
I just don't understand how the mere act of going to work in Washington D.C. drains the common sense and intellect of so many.
After this week with the final evisceration of the medicare buy-in and the public option in the Senate, as well as rumblings that there will be no "controversial" politics in 2010 and no movement by the White House on LGBT issues in 2010 (not much of a stretch given the events of 2009), I've had enough.
The following was my letter:
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To whom it may concern,
I contacted the offices of Senator Schumer and Gillibrand this week regarding their vote to ban Prescription Drug reimportation in the healthcare bill. A measure that would have saved $100 billion for tax payers over the next 10 years.
They voted for this ban despite saying that they were supposedly for reimportation. As someone whose grandmother is currently on prescription drugs after nearly dying from rectal cancer last year, a cancer that took the life of my grandfather, I am THOROUGHLY disgusted with their corporate politics.
Their complete and utter disregard for the wellbeing of american citizens in an attempt to please the White House and their private deal with the Pharmaceutical industry has left a bitter taste in my mouth.
That said, it isn't just them. It’s also the DCCC, the DLCC, the DSCC, the democrats in general throughout the congress and in the White House.
I'm unsubscribing because of
- President Obama's complete and utter lack of leadership on healthcare.
- The Stupak amendment.
- Complete and utter capitulation to Joe Lieberman, Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu, and Olympia Snowe.
- Forcing americans to purchase health insurance without having any public option or medicare buy-in to offset private insurance abuses.
- President Obama's hostility toward the LGBT community in 2009. Ex: DOMA brief, complete and utter lack of movement on DADT.
When democrats start acting like democrats and delivering the promises made during their campaigns, I'll sign up again and start donating again.
I donated over $2,000 during the previous two election cycles and raised twice that from friends and family. I canvassed for democrats and phone banked as well.
I'm a registered independent voter and will do no such thing in 2010, or going forward.
I'm sick of seeing democrats get the power needed to change this country for the better, and capitulate at every turn to the corporate democrats within your party and the republicans.
I've had enough.
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**UPDATE II**
To those saying "I hope you enjoy President Palin, House Leader Boehner and Senate Leader McConnell", I only have this to say from a comment I posted downthread:
I no longer feel trapped by that false dichotomy.
[Democrats] deliver on their promises, I work and donate and vote. They don't, I don't.
It truly is as simple as that. Until we start thinking in those terms collectively, they will continue to shit on us.
All imo of course.
**UPDATE III**
To those thinking that I or anyone else is in cheer mode or wanting the democrats to fail so we can say "I told you so":
I'm definitely not cheering the demise of the (0 / 0)
democratic party. To the contrary, I'm pissed because I see the [capitulation of the past year] leading to the demise of the democratic party.
And I'm even more pissed because I feel like all of the hard work I and millions of others put in [over the past half decade to take back the levers of power] has been wasted.
If not now with 60 senators, 258 reps, the white house, i.e., the strongest democratic mandate in 40 years, when?
**UPDATE IV**
Give me a real progressive in place of people like Schumer and Gillibrand, and I'm there.
Until such time, I am under no measure of force to vote for them and donate to them and phone bank for them.
That said, I did vote against Edolphus Towns last year because of his support for the no-strings-attached bank bailout. I also called his office and wrote to him to let him know precisely what I was going to do and why.
They disagreed with my stance and tried to change my mind, but I let them know what I wanted from Towns as my representative.
THAT is how you hold people accountable imo. Not by voting for them anyway when push comes to shove.
He won with 90% of the vote in my district regardless (I was new to this district last year so I had no idea he's that entrenched), but I also notice that this year he's been very good on all of the issues that I care about like healthcare, the environment, lgbt issues, and good governance.
Issues that I stressed as reasons for my support during my discussions with his office last year.
For those of you who are asking whether I'd really pull the trigger on this threat, there you go.