Hopefully the Occupy Wall Street and all affiliated 99% vs. 1% activist and street movements will continue to grow.
Having been active in lefty-progressive economic populist (and admittedly also the intellectual elite version) politics since my teens in the mid 1970s (and for what it matters blogging here since 2004), I would have one goal for the movement:
And that is for us to take over the Democratic Party.
Not to just vote for it. Not stay home.
Not complain about Obama or triangulation or Neoliberalism (fyi: at least since Carter).
Not to complain about the Tea Party or Fox or the rest of the corporate mainstream media.
Not to go off to ego stroking but does nothing third party-ism.
But not to give in to just "more and better Democrats" within the terms of the party as it is.
Take over the Democratic Party.
Work with fellow economic populists to run candidates and work for those candidates at every level, from local council and school board, county, city and state representatives, to the House and Senate.
Primary, and otherwise run as internal opposition, against every centrist, neoliberal or otherwise compromising Democrat in your home area.
The obvious model is the Religious right and the Norquistian plutocracy/kleptocracy and Randian sociopaths who took over the Republican party.
Precinct by precinct. District by district. County by county.
Any Democrat who does not make income stagnation and wealth inequality priority number 1, gets rejected.
Any Democrat who talks about the deficit as the priority, get rejected.
This is where the connection between the building street movement and politics is to be made.
Even if we lose some marginal seats in the short run.
Even with Hippy-bashing and Red-baiting.
Even if the Democratic supporting banksters and the ghost of Tony Coelho get their feelings hurt.
Put some fear into the Corporatcrats... and then put them out of work.
Survey for comments: Who among State or National level Democrats is worthy of NOT being primaried or otherwise challenged?
