So who is "we" and why bother? This diary is intended to speak to us all to some degree, us Democrats and us Kossaks, but it will have a leftward slant because I am a lefty. I'll get into this a bit more later.
Why are WE here?
To elect more and better Democrats.
Ahh, but how? And, at this specific juncture, some are also asking "but why bother?". Unfortunately, my how and my why are inextricably conjoined in what follows. (There are no simple solutions 'cause "it's a mixed up muddled up shook up world.")
Out the door, different strokes for different folks. Some may simply throw money into such races as they deem worthy of their money. Some may contribute to the DNC, DCCC, etc. Some may even do both. There is certainly nothing wrong with aiding in the funding of campaigns, and it is something we can all participate to the extent that our finances permit. DK and Act Blue can help to highlight and illuminate candidates and races worth considering. That is not, however, where I plan to go with this.
So lets trickle down to the rest of the diary and maybe I'll get started.
Some are really big on GOTV, but some don't feel cut out for that. The same holds true for precinct walking. I saw a recent diary in which doing these things for OFA was extolled as a perfect example of of "participatory democracy". That's well and good, I guess, but I thought we had a "representative democracy." Those we elect are supposed to bloody damn well concern themselves with what we think and want and suggest, to try to determine what those things are, and try to enact them or convince us that we are wrong. All this without demanding that we first show up, sign up and put in umptyfoo hours doing shit they want done. That is something to maybe discuss in detail somewhere else and some other time but that isn't what this diary is about. I assume that if that is your bag then you will do it without the need for this diary. I also assume that if you wish to exhort people to join in such actions that you will have the courtesy to write your own diary for that purpose and not to disrupt this one.
NCrissieB, JanF and the rest of the morning crew have a thing about talking to people face to face, especially Fred. This is to occur whenever and wherever & is close to where I'm going, My bad luck or whatever, but I haven't run into Fred all that much lately. There is a lot of good stuff on selling Fred and others, that can be useful to us all, and I heartily recommend searching for and reading the diaries on that subject. That too, however, simply isn't really where I want to go with this diary.
While this diary is intended to speak to us all to some degree, us Democrats and Kossaks, it is somewhat aimed at lefties. FWIW, though there is a lot of sturm und drang on the site about not voting (and who is not voting) and all that, most of those who still are here will probably eventually wind up holding their nose and voting Dem. I hope to encourage that and much more. Be advised, I do get it. I am not of the "vote for any Democrat" crowd. I understand that if Palin or any of numerous others decided to run as a Democrat, one would have to withhold their vote. I understand that there are limits, but hope that they can be discussed some other time, later and elsewhere. That is a whole diary in itself. That's well and good, but it ain't where I want to go today.
Given that focus, I nonetheless think some of what I intend to present can be of use to the centrists and conservatives as well. There will be some rambling and digression, (DUH) but that's somewhat how this has been evolving in my head, since some of it is, in part, responses to many other things.
Talking to people, any and all people, and not just precinct walking. At the grocery, the bar, the pool hall, at work if you have a job, wherever you volunteer, butting into other's conversations even, as deemed fit and wise. I've been trying to sell others on my ethical, moral, philosophical, socio-political, ecological and political beliefs for almost as long as I can remember. I started arguing civil rights at the end of the fifties and the dawn of the sixties, and still am. Back then, in high school, I also volunteered for JFK, a Democrat and tried to help various CA democrats as best as I was able.
Civil rights then was largely racial equality, and I find today there are still a lot not on board with that issue, especially when you expand it to be more than simply black and white. Then there was the whole sexual equality thing. Just as racial/ethnic equality is much broader than simply black and white, so is sexual equality much broader than merely men and women. Keep that in mind.
Something we can and should try to sell, at least the lefties among us, is civil rights. And, without going all fear tactic, the Democratic party has, of late, a marginally better track record than the GOP. This is likely to be the case for the foreseeable future too. If we want or believe in civil rights, we should support Dems because there is a better chance of moving the ball forward, at least a little bit, with Dems in office than with the GOP in power. This then is something we can sell to all non-Dems (excepting those who oppose civil rights and equality and stuff like that), and to wavering Dems (with the same exceptions, of course.) Are we at all likely to move that ball very far vary fast? Can I have a resounding SHIT NO! Nonetheless, here is the 8th plank of the Democratic Party Platform:
Reclaiming Our Civil Rights & Liberties
We believe in the essential American ideal that we are not constrained by the circumstances of birth but can make of our lives what we will.
Unfortunately, for too many, that ideal is not a reality. We have more work to do. Democrats will fight to end discrimination based on race, sex, ethnicity, national origin, language, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, and disability in every corner of our country, because that's the America we believe in.
We all have to do our part to lift up this country, and that means changing hearts and changing minds, and making sure that every American is treated equally under the law. We will restore professionalism over partisanship at the Department of Justice, and staff the civil rights division with civil rights lawyers, not ideologues. We will restore vigorous federal enforcement of civil rights laws in order to provide every American an equal chance at employment, housing, health, contracts, and pay. We are committed to banning racial, ethnic, and religious profiling and requiring federal, state, and local enforcement agencies to take steps to eliminate the practice.
We are committed to ensuring full equality for women: we reaffirm our support for the Equal Rights Amendment, recommit to enforcing Title IX, and will urge passage of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. We will pursue a unified foreign and domestic policy that promotes civil rights and human rights, for women and minorities, at home and abroad. We will pass the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act. We will restore and support the White House Initiative on Asian-American and Pacific Islanders, including enforcement on disaggregation of Census data. We will make the Census more culturally sensitive, including outreach, language assistance, and increased confidentiality protections to ensure accurate counting of the growing Latino and Asian American, and Pacific Islander populations, and continue working on efforts to be more inclusive. We will sign the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and restore the original intent of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
WTF?? We have a platform? Sure, it is that thing which is allegedly what WE are for and why you should be US and not THEM. Because we are "big tent" and "pragmatic(tm)" it gets ignored a lot, but it is there. This plank might be there for decades to come, unless they abandon it, because I don't see any great hurry to fulfill it. Nonetheless, it is part of the party platform. "We have more work to do." No shit! Lotsa work to do, so we need to keep hammering away at it. I really doubt that we will make any progress at all with GOP majorities. Hell, we aren't doing all that well with Dem majorities, so we need 1) Bigger majorities (more Dems) so that we can run right over the lame-ass Blue Dogs and other ConservaDems and 2) Better Dems (obviously). We get those by contributing and voting and by selling others to do likewise, including expecially Independents and those who are GOP because they vote their wallet even though they don't believe in or accept the GOP goals and actions. We sell these others the same way that we sell each other – our platform, such as that plank above, needs to be enacted, and we won't get any traction with the GOP having sizable minorities, let alone majorities. There's a part of it for nearly everybody except the conservatives.
We not only need to enact and implement that, we need to expand, enhance, enlarge and substantially clarify it. Lets start with this bit: "end discrimination based on ..., sex, ... employment, housing, health, contracts, and pay." Jobs, housing, blah, blah, blah. Waitaminit! I'm a guy. If I don't get my ass thrown in the slammer or the looney bin, I control my body and make my own medical decisions. Can any woman really say that? What about choice? The fundamental right to control your body and your medical care. Maybe that is under health. It is now, 'cause I'm putting it there. Choice is now a plank in our platform, because women will never have equality without it. Got that? Does the party get that? Let's make sure that the party gets it and that they get another shot at starting to move the ball forward instead of backward. Hint: The Hyde Amendment ISN'T routine, start leaving it out, or at least fighting against it.
I would argue that "sex" encompasses sexual orientation and gender identity, but I don't have to, it is in there. Its in the platform, but it sure as hell isn't on the legislative agenda. All the same, this is supposed to be what we're here for, so let's get with it. Lobby the Congress and the Executive and the candidates, but also get those communities and those who sympathize with those communities on our side. Get them out there funding, voting and doing whatever else they see fit to do. They ain't gonna move that ball forward with the GOP running things. How could anybody be a Log Cabin GOPer? Is their wallet that heavy and all important?
Look, they put religion in there. If it is in there, then it doesn't belong in the administration. Lets get rid of that damned office of governmental religion once and for all. This is our vehicle, and it is also the best vehicle for similarly inclined non Democrats. Forget that President Obama actually increased and expanded the scope and powers of the religion mongers in government, just start pushing to get rid of them and be done with it. If the party stands for freedom of religion then the government should be independent of religion, no prayer breakfast, etc, and those who support that goal should join forces with the Dems to move that ball forward because they won't move it anywhere with the GOP.
The argument is basically that these are vitally and critically important issues; that we, as a nation and society, must move forward on these issues, and the sooner the better. This is part of our platform, and must remain so, but it must be enacted and implemented and enforced. Most importantly, it will require significant Democratic majorities to bring that about, you won't get progress on civil rights from the GOP. I believe that is our argument because I believe that it is the truth. I don't think we should lie or spin shit. Yes, we haven't moved the ball forward ourselves, but there is at least some help that we will do so, whereas there is no hope at all that the GOP will.
This is even more important for what is not spelled out. All those sins of commission instead of mere omission that this Congress and this Administration have indulged in.
What do you see in there about expanded abuse of the state secrets doctrine, expanded domestic spying and expanded powers for domestic spying, knock and enter, assassination by fiat with no evidence or oversight, indefinite detention, torture, etc. There's this "restore vigorous federal enforcement of civil rights laws ", but what is that? How about all Civil Liberties and civil rights to the extent that those phrases are deemed different. That means rolling back patriot act, FISA and a ton of that kind of shit. It means outlawing torture and enforcing the Geneva Conventions and the various Nuremburg Doctrines. (No Deaniac83 et. al. we absolutely have not prohibited torture, not at all.) "
We will pursue a unified foreign and domestic policy that promotes civil rights and human rights, for women and minorities, at home and abroad
." This is weak too, except insofar as anybody is some sort of minority, and as such, then every person would be a member of a minority, and this should be read as a unified foreign and domestic policy promoting human rights for all. We need to get that clarified and rewritten, but even as it stands we haven't done what we need to for civil rights and civil liberties and, once again, there is some faint hope that we will, and none that the GOP will. Thus, again, the need to bang that damn drum for the Dems even though they really do not seem to know what is in this plank or even that it exists.
I'll be in and out, off and on, all day. But will slowly and surely get through the comments. That's some what and some why, now find somebody who isn't on board and sell them, or not, as you see fit. If unscripted persuasion isn't your thing, don't, I'm not issuing orders or trying to shame anybody.