DemocracyFest 2005
I’ve just blogged impressions from a long Saturday at DemocracyFest 2005 here. In the evening Howard Dean spoke and said we don’t need two Republican parties. At the moment, though, we have two Democratic parties – the corporate/broadcast version, and the new grassroots party that has emerged from Howard Dean’s presidential campaign. This was clear from the day’s events. I heard as many negative comments about the traditional Dems as about Republicans.
permalink | Jon Lebkowsky | Democracy
I consider myself a liberal and take stands in my community as one. My comment is that setting up a two party system within the Democratic party was all ready in existence and was all ready there before Governor Dean arrived on the scene. My recollections is that it started with McGovern. In my state of Massachusetts, it started with Governor Dukakis.
What some of us have been calling it in my state of Massachusetts is liberal Republicans versus Roosevelt Democrats. Now there is a third party arising called “new progressive Democrats” as opposed to the old progressive Democrats who are part of the Democratic party. The new progressive Democrat can’t answer the question as to what type of progress they are talking about and for whom.
These two groups, the liberal Republicans and the new progressive Democrats, seem to have an identity crisis that is blurring the values of the Democratic Party. They are destroying any possibility of winning the Congress, the Senate or the Presidency.
It is my belief that it is very hard to distinguish what are the values of the Democratic party. At times we are for the same rich communities that the Republicans are for. At times, we are for free trade even though we know it will hurt our working people. At times, we give more money to higher educational institutions and completely forget about plumbers, hair dressers and other service workers. These are only a few of the contradictory issues in the Democratic Party.
I see the contradictions as destroying the Democratic Party. Hopefully from the ashes will come two new parties, leaving the third party to us. One party for those who want a liberal Republican party and one for those who are “New Progressives”. That will leave the Democrats who are Roosevelt Democrats the right to organize around traditional Democratic issues and values and not so much around the contradictions to those issues.
Dr. William Wood
We Democrats need a new story for the 21st century that unites us as the party of the people.
This story will cover concerns that we all have, such as:
Life Long Health & Wellness
Education & Critical Thinking
Employment & Innovation
Stewardship of the Environment
Innovative Energy Policies
Retirement Security
National Security
just to name a few.
Our story will tell us that we must look after the needs of the elderly, persons with disabilities and veterans as much as any other groups. After all, we all have one or more of these conditions in common in our own immediate families.
Our story will also tell us that the government has no business picking winners or losers for us in either business or religion. Common sense tells us that the government has no business telling us what believe or what to buy.
And for another example, our new story will tell us that if we insist on political materials printed in a union shop, that we do not cross picket lines, that then we also only hold events and rallies in locations that are fully ADA compliant.
Most of all, our new story will tell us how we will rebalance the country so that the benefits of living in America are distributed with more justice and fairness.