Infighting: Ugh! What to do, what to do? I’m in Paris today. I watched the traditional parties go down. Everybody’s sick of the same old tired faces mouthing the same old lies.
I believe our infighting on Kos is a consequence a failure of leadership at many levels, but mostly of the Democratic Party’s inability to put forth a compelling agenda. I fear they are unable to do so because they are enmeshed in the corporate political corruption that has captured the entire electoral process and now almost the entire federal government.
A party that was not so enmeshed would adopt an Agenda for Everybody by focusing on the things that would benefit every one. What kind of benefits would these be: A strong economy; universal access to health care; a solid, focused system of public education; national standards and procedures for federal elections; ubiquitous connectivity; ubiquitous affordable transportation; social mobility; support for innovation; decriminalization of nonviolent “social” crimes; thorough prison reform — and there are many more.
I think all these issues have some majoritarian appeal, although the ways of achieving them will remain contentious. That’s what politics are for, right?
But these are conversations we rarely have. Instead, we focus on the slogans and the tactical advantage on this and that issue. Americans seem to have lost the ability to take pragmatic courses of actions to solve problems. As a notorious figure has said, Sad!
In Oregon, independents are forming their own party. They have adopted a platform and developed a roadmap for reform: OR Independent Party platform. It’s Oregon-specific but I think it offers a sense of how to organize around issues that unite, not divide.
Identity politics is a sensitive issue for many. I have multiple identities that would certainly benefit from government relief/action, but I do not believe identity politics, as such, are useful at this time. It’s not that I want to pander to white men (been there, done that, waste of time — there can never be enough pandering to satisfy them). It is simply as Ben Franklin said: We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.
As it stands, we are hanging by a thread. If we cannot get the Democratic Party to reform and remember its roots, then I think we shall have to abandon it for an independent party. Common Cause, the DC-based advocacy group, captured a great name, and has an excellent list of issues it supports — but it doesn’t seem to be much of an effective voice in the public forum. Robert Reich heads its national board, and he is a compelling media figure. But why the organization’s voice is so muted, I do not know.
To me, this lack of conviction and voice for the common good is emblematic of the Democrats. I believe the single biggest failure of HRC’s campaign was that she did not articulate in clear terms what we needed to do as a polity, where we needed to go, why we needed to go there, and how we should go about getting there.
It is telling that Bernie Sanders was not and is not a Democrat. I think he has good reasons for not identifying himself the party. I’m glad they are resisting the GOP now, but they don’t seem to be able to function positively, a party that speaks on behalf of and stands for its own constituents.
Are Democrats and progressives going to be able to stand together and work for the benefit of all? What can we do to bring about greater unity to support the public good? Will a positive message for everybody help us win elections? What do you think?