The corporate media and the treasonous Gang of 19 sellout corporate whore Democrats may think there will be no repercussions for last night's sellout on the cloture vote, but they are wrong. This is the tipping point for me, the straw the finally brock the loyal Democratic camel's back. If Democrats, 44 of them plus one pro-Dem independent would have just stuck together, Bush would not have that smirk on his face tonight when he gives his SOTU fear-mongering the sky is falling unless you let us do whatever we want speech.
The Democrats have failed the country completely and to a degree there is absolutely no turning back. Through their cowardice and collusion they have now allowed the one remaining independent branch of government fail into neocon fascist hands. It is now time to, as the Bible puts it, "come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord Almighty."
There are many voices in here that think we should just field challengers in the Democratic primaries. This is not going to work, if it ever does, for years. We will have to await for the treasonous 19 to come up for re-election. When they do, they will have millions upon millions of dollars from their corporate pimps, and the progressive challengers will have no way to compete.
The already disengaged public, which cares more about who Brad Pitt is dating or who won on "American Idol" knows, that for the most part, as George Wallace once so famously said, "There's not a dime's worth of difference between the Democrats and Republicans." The public associates the Democrats with a bunch of spineless hypocritiacl losers who fail to stand up for their consituencies and who are the #2 party of Big Business that is devastating their communities and lives.
The public will not stand up and take notice while professional bloggers and progressives "work from within" in the Democratic party to try to bring back progressive principles.
A fresh start, a complete break with the rotten past, is now required. The brave Democrats who voted no on cloture should now demand that Harry Reid publicly and severely discipline the traitors. They cannot continue to trust or work with those who sold out the people in their time of need.
If they do this, they would be welcome to become the leaders in the new progressive party. We could name it the Reformed Democratic Party, the True Democratic Party, the New Deal Democratic Party, whatever. We should adopt a clear progressive platform that all must sign onto in order to continue their party membership in this new party. Sure, there needs to be a diversity of opinion, but unless a party stands for something, then it stands for nothing. Among the non-negotiable items in the progressive platform of this new party are
- An immediate withdrawal of US troops from Iraq in the most timely, orderly manner possible for the safety of our troops.
- A universal, single-payer national health care system which includes every American with comprehensive medical, dental and vision care.
- A Living Wage Law which mandates that all who work for a living are paid a wage which will enable them to afford the necessities housing and food.
- Universal Public Quality education from preschool to college, with free taxpayer funded daycare and after-school care for children of working parents.
- A new non-militaristic, non-interventionist US foreign policy which forbids the secret operations of the CIA, NSA or military secret forces from interfering with the domestic political activities of sovereing nations.
- A new Environmental Emergency Cabinet Agency which will take immediate action to stop the continued destruction of our few remaining wilderness areas, prevent urban sprawl and take immediate action against Global Warming.
- Severe criminal and tax penalties for corporations or companies moving offshore or outsourcing to avoid paying US income tax or obeying worker safety and enviromental laws.
- Provisions in the tax code to reward keeping operations in the United States with penalties for companies moving operations overseas.
- The repeal of the US Patriot Act
- Criminal penalties for employers hiring illegal immigrants to avoid paying a living wage to US citizens.
To this I personally would add enforcement of the border and severe curtailment of the massive immigration into the United States, with all illegals being deported immmediately and severe reductions in the amoung of legal immigration, since 1960 our nation's population has almost doubled, from 180 million to near 300 million as of 2006. The country does not have room for all those wishing to come here, and the millions of immigrants are crowding our cities, straining our social safety net, and further eroding national comraderie. I realize this is the most controversial among progressives, but it is an issue which needs to be addressed. Unlike the massive immigration of the early 19th century, the American economy does not have a need for millions of unskilled laborers, nor is their an endless frontier or open space to absorb them all.
Most of the European Union nations have recently taken action to curtail massive immigration, and the Unites States should do so also, restricting immigration to those most in need-political refugees or uniting children with their parents.
I look forward to feedback on the radical proposals contained in this diary, but the time for continuing the status quo in now past, for our country will not survive much longer unless drastic action is taken immediately.