OK, progressive Democrats, we have played a major role in helping to seize control of the White House, AND a super-majority (or damn close to it) in the Congress.
Now it's time to seize control of the party.
The fight has only begun.
We all knew this was going to be necessary, so lets get on with it!
Purge the Blue Dogs, from the "bottom" to the "top"
All out, to take back the Democratic Party for the people, locally, regionally, nationally!
All Power to the People!
I'd like to invite everyone to consider and discuss how you would define those terms, "Blue Dog" and "Progressive", the implications of such delineations, and the tactical and strategic ramifications, in the comments below the fold.
I know, I know, these concepts have probly been kicked around a lot already on dkos, but now, as we really, finally, move into a new phase, a new era as it were, with the smell of victory fresh in our nostrils, picking up a tantalizing whiff of the prospects for actual real democracy on the horizon, if not yet fully realized, heh...how about it?
Links to the best previous diaries and comments on this topic totally welcome...
Now is the time to launch all out campaigns to wrest control of the party from the Blue Dogs, which is going to require grassroots action on an unprecedented scale, building on, but transcending this election cycle.
Our present situation is what you get, when you focus the entire electoral struggle on trying to win over "swing voters" and "undecideds", who are too stupid or unprincipled to make up their minds about what party they want to support.
Now it's time to really take it to the rest of the progressives who have been holding back, that vast pool of people who strongly support the traditional rhetoric and programs of the Democratic party, but so many of whom still adamantly refuse to vote, out of disgust, shame, and contempt for the Blue Dogs who now control the party, and their virtually total capitulation to, and complicity in, the many treasons of the Republicans.
You can't really blame them for not wanting to be played for a sucker, by participating in a totally contrived, bogus, corrupt, commercial bourgeis electoral "process".
What is it going to take, to win those people over from the ranks of the "alternative" parties, the alienated, the fringes and the disillusioned, to convince everyone to get on the bus, and help us kick some Blue Dog ass?
We already have record numbers of youth, and virtually all people of color engaged in the political process, to a degree that has never been seen before. How do we build on that, and bring them forward, to take it to the next level, and push it over the top?
Obviously we need quality Progressive candidates to step up, and to be pushed forward in their communities, to contend vigorously in every election from now on, from the local, to county, to state, to national levels.
Like any grassroots struggle seeking mass popular democratic participation, there has to be an actual fight going on, to mobilize and maintain support and participation.
And it has to be clearly the best, and the most viable option, to convince those who are reluctant or too cynical, to abandon whatever other coping, avoidance, or diversionary pursuits that have kept them from joining us, to now make up their mind to throw down, and join the revolution.
Now is the time to organize that fight, and to get on with it, by relentlessly pressing the contradictions within the Democratic Party, in a material way...by offering better candidates, and keeping up and expanding on the momentum that we have so successfully sparked in this election cycle..
So...What is a "Blue Dog", anyway? And what is a "Progressive"?
What are the implications, the benefits and the hazards of such delineations, and what are the tactical and strategic ramifications of such a struggle for power within the Democratic Party...and when and how should that ensue and be manifested?
Your favorite links to previous Diaries and Comments, or other sources on this topic are most welcome.
A favorite of mine, which I will put forward once more is an excellent analysis of public opinion polls in the US over the last 30 years or so, clearly demonstrating that we have won the revolution, and that all that remains is mopping up the Republicans and purging of the Blue Dogs, to thoroughly suppress the counter-revolution, and move forward on the urgent issues we face, for justice and peace, to save the planet.
http://mediamatters.org/...
Again I'd remind you, that the results of of this report are DESPITE the huge resources that have brought to bear by the counter-revolution to attempt to turn back the historic tide of change...
Is it Utopia yet? NOT! But my nose is open, and I can smell it...despite the lingering stench of treason and sabotage...and bitter sour grapes rumblings about the prospect of civil war...
Democracy is the Most Fundamental Revolutionary Concept!
Death to the Blue Dogs!
(metaphorically, politically speaking, of course)
All Power to the People!