from
It's Over, with respect to DD:
But now you all have a choice. You can turn your back on the Democratic Party and attack it and its members and elected officials as mercilessly as you attack Republicans. Or you can join the rest of us in reforming the Democratic Party, refining its message, and uniting in opposition to Bush and the Republican government.
The short version: You're either with us or against us. Sound familiar?
Well I'll tell you what my choice will be, if those are my options. I will not participate here any more, but I will still lurk and glean my information like I often do anyway. And I'll still be the better for it. I became a member of dKos I think back in June... I know a lot more than I used to, and I can spot bullshit emanating from a politician's mouth a lot faster than I used to be able to.
I'm not sure what I would call myself, but it wouldn't be a Democrat just yet. I got behind Kerry primarily as a vote against Bush... while there were others who liked Kerry from the start. And once he was the nominee, people who were for all the other candidates got behind Kerry too.
And it still wasn't good enough.
So now people like myself ought to go? Anyone who does not claim to be a Democrat should take a step back? The fraudsters should leave? Call me crazy, but that doesn't seem like a good strategy. Seems like the Democrats need every able-bodied vote they can get.
Last week kid oakland had something of a realization, in regard to the Democratic Party establishment:
They don't even know who we are.
And you know what? I'm not sure I do either. Right now I mostly see a bunch of needless infighting (somewhere Karl is snickering), and a party that is defined by opposition to Bush. So I made a request in that thread for people to list the top five things they think belong in your party's platform.
I agree with the vast majority of things that people were kind enough to list there, but the problem is that I'm not sure I'll find them in the Democratic Party. Was it not the government as a whole that got caught by surprise on 9-11? Did the authorization to use force against Iraq pretty much breeze through congress, with the votes of Kerry and Edwards?
The thing is, I think that the Democrats are part of a failing system as a whole. They also do business in DC just like anyone else. So now the Democrats have a choice: either I'm with you or against you. You can act like the traditional Democratic Party of old and be inclusive, or you can exclude dissenting voices from your party. What's going to win the election?
Heck, maybe Ralph will run in '08 and I can vote for him.