There are larger looming issues than social security... larger than health care or same sex marriage. The more we piecemeal these issues, the farther we get from what is at the core: our very liberty.
And let me be clear ladies and gentlemen: Elvis has left the building... yes, folks, most of the brand Democrats, whether in Washington or in your state, are gamers. They have, long ago, left the idea of service to one's country. They are not serving our best interests.
The question that remains is this: will a place with the sway of Daily Kos keep posting pointless diatribes against Republicans? or will this place evolve to capture and simply and clearly articulate the few issues of our time... like accountability of those elected to uphold our laws and Constitution? or the accountability of those who crashed a world economy and stashed their 54 trillion in offshore tax havens???
We still have a chance to mitigate damage if it is possible to agree on the one/two maybe three issues that, if we can influence, will help us to achieve sustainable environmental/energy policy, civil rights, sane (although not pie-in-the-sky) health & senior care, as well as strong public education. These issues are not stand-alone... they are connected to the law, accountability, a way thinking, a strategy, a whole and ethical view of our world, its finite resources, and our responsibility to each other and all our fellow earthlings.
At some point, we have to be willing to move beyond voting Democrat. This isn't about third parties. I think we need to do what Ralph Reed did in the 1990s and change politics at local levels and then reach state_ward.
It is my opinion that we need to drop labels, focus on issues, and find people who are service minded, secular, and sane. People interested in moderating and mediating complex relationships among citizens, industries, economy, environment, other countries, and fellow earthlings.
I know the dangers of advocating these things... I left one blog in 2008 because I advocated moving beyond Democrats and trying something new.
Screaming about social security isn't productive, not while we are posed to strike Iran or North Korea in order to keep the military industrial complex thriving. Similarly, while we were enveloped and euphoric over civil rights and same sex unions, Monsanto/ag business came closer to stealing our rights to grow food.
Forming new platforms of power and influence, regaining Main Street and finding a way for the middle class to create small business is what we ought to be working on. Secular governance (I'm still not over Obama having Rick Warren at his 1st swearing in)... well... I could go on. But either we get it or we stay mired in a system against which we can not win, will not influence, and will not change.
We need to change the game, the board upon which it played, and the rules.
Look, Daily Kos helped me to develop my voice and I am grateful beyond words to have found this after BushCo took power... and I hope it can help to develop local and regional platforms of power and divert energy from national campaigns and look towards the strategies of states like Maine and Montana, fighting against NDAA et al.
We are beyond changing the current system. It is time to create a new one.