Where Do We Go From Here?

Posted on July 30, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Where Do We Go From Here?



Apparently, the GOP is not the only party that seeks to rewrite history to suit its own self-interest



Well,
the convention has passed.  The steamroller of the insecure DNC/Kerry
Kamp has flattened all memory of other primary candidates – Howard
Dean, in particular – and the powers that be have pronounced that, like
good little soldiers, we have all fallen in line.

 

The only
problem with that little scenario is that we haven’t fallen in line,
and we’re not too thrilled with the whole situation in general. 
Heck, the only reason many of us at Democracy for Iowa stay within the
Democratic Party is that the Independents have no formal, wide-spread
organization to work within.



It’s a
dilemma of extreme proportions.  We know that it is imperative
that Bush lose, that Bush not be allowed to steal another
election.  And yet, many of us cannot find it in our hearts to go
out and work for a candidate, our party’s nominee, after all the dirty
tricks he played during the caucus season – not to mention a laundry
list of other dissatisfying characteristics.



So, what
do we do?  How do we fulfill our duty as progressive activists in
helping to re-defeat Bush and still be able to live with ourselves?



We take
a page from the playbook of Howard Dean, that’s how.  One of the
things that Gov. Dean said this week that really struck me was that a
bottom-up structure can be just as effective as the traditional
top-down structure.  Rather than the top of the ticket providing
coattails for the rest of the ticket, the bottom and middle of the
ticket can usher in a victory for the top.



That’s the way to play it and still live with yourself.



Choose a
progressive candidate in your area.  There are plenty to be found
in the candidates list on Blog for Iowa, and we’re adding more every
day.  Work for that candidate.  Contribute your hard-earned
dollars to that candidate.  Do whatever you can to aid your
candidate, and get out the vote for him or her.  And here’s the
key to Dean’s strategy:  the votes you get out for your local
candidate will probably go to the top of the ticket, too.  That’s
the bottom-up structure Dean was talking about.



So, let
us renew our dedication to electing progressive Democrats to local,
county, state, and federal positions this year.  Let us muster
that energy to get out the vote for our progressive candidates, and let
us do it now.  There’s no time to delay.



Linda Thieman



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9 Responses to Where Do We Go From Here?

  1. Unknown's avatar Anonymous says:
    July 30, 2004 at 9:10 pm

    Linda:
    Great post. A lot of food for thought.
    Here is a little more grist for the mill: the Democratic Party, as you've noted, has to go far beyond the ebbs and tides of presidential campaigns every four years. Howard Dean was great, he was inspirational, and he got a lot of people to get off their a__ and start working and talking about issues and what we can do better.
    Kerry's message last night of “America Can Do Better” was right on the money – but Kerry can't do this by himself.
    The NY Times ran a great article last Sunday in the magazine about the changing tide amongst the “left-wing”, something that I find a little worrying, but very, very encouraging:
    Wiring the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy
    The basic premise: the world will be a bit different, but a lot better for all of us. It seems that the laziness and sloth that let the grassroots and “everyman” base of the traditional Democratic Party won't be re-invigorated from “within” the party, but rather by people and groups working “without” the party, which is really how it should be.
    With that focus, it's time for the “left” to start talking about and fighting for the issues that really make a difference in people's lives and in the future of this nation. It's time to beat down the notion that discussing economic opportunity and cultural fairness is “class warfare” – because if we don't fight that battle, the war will be lost, the federal treasury will be bankrupted, the promises of the New Deal and Great Society will be broken and we'll all get to find out what life really was like back in 1890.
    A great book that came out last month: “What's the Matter With Kansas?” by Thomas Frank. If you buy one political book this year, this should be the one. He details just how the conservative movement dominated a state that was once as “populist” as they come. Frank lays out just where the “left” in general and the Democratic Party in particular has gone wrong, and why we need to re-take the issues that defined classical liberalism. (Heck, we can't even call ourselves “liberal” anymore because the language has been so degraded…)
    I promise to throw up a bigger review of the book later on, but I did post a few thoughts here, and will probably clarify later on from my morning rant… 😉

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  2. Unknown's avatar Anonymous says:
    July 30, 2004 at 9:14 pm

    Uh… I guess I can't put in a link, so I trackbacked to the Thomas Frank entry…

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  3. Unknown's avatar Anonymous says:
    July 30, 2004 at 9:31 pm

    Oh, how cool, Chad! I didn't know you could do that trackback thing! So, we click on “Two Americas, Revisited” and it takes us over to Iowa Populist. Excellent essay, too!

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  4. Unknown's avatar Anonymous says:
    July 30, 2004 at 9:56 pm

    (Off Topic Conversation): The “trackback” was one of the big reasons I decided to re-vamp. I guess I wanted to make my “political websurfing” a little more interactive.
    Plus, it's also another way to drive traffic to your website, if you read blogs that have “Trackback URLs”, like this one… 😉

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  5. Unknown's avatar Anonymous says:
    July 31, 2004 at 1:55 am

    Well Linda ya had to go and make me comment. :o)
    Your idea to work like hell for a local progressive, (I'll be a Liberal Democrat til I die.) candidate is a good one. I choose to work at the County Party level to get a slate of candidates elected. Right now I want Democrats in office and power. I want you and me and everyone that decides how they will get candidates they want elected to have some chips to call in. Why cant we pull off what the religously insane did to the republicans? Take over the party from the inside out. Guess Im a traditionalist in that regard. I guess my biggest concern is after we have accomplished a short term goal, like Robert Redford in The Candidate, Now what? I'm not quite smart enough to know exactly what that is either. But I think we in this state have to set a goal that we will have a Progressive Caucus formed during the off year election season in 2006 or sooner. From that point we we have some voice what is going on here. For example, from one of my Bartcop Nation friends from southern Iowa the IDP is charging $15,000.00 to OUR candidates to get voter lists. That is absolute bullshit. I know that Dennis did not buy the list during the run up to the caucus. Was that a make or break situation? Dont know, but can our IDP afford to pull that crap with locals? I'm kinda slow but I thought the goal was to elect our candidates, not screw them out the opportunity to use that kind of money for a media buy. Good grief that is major money in this state. Anyway I'm rambiling again.
    mark
    Carlisle, Iowa
    Kerry/Edwards 2004
    proudtobeaburdenonsociety

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  6. Unknown's avatar Anonymous says:
    July 31, 2004 at 3:07 am

    Well, I DO try to make you comment, Mark, that's for sure! LOL It's one of my daily goals. 😉
    Absolutely, we will caucus in the off-year. We can also support Rep. Ed Fallon, who has formed an exploratory committee to run for governor in 2006. I also like the Voter-owned Iowa project and think that is worth putting some time and energy into after the election. Just some thoughts . . . .

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  7. Unknown's avatar Anonymous says:
    July 31, 2004 at 11:04 am

    Linda
    You need to repriorities your daily goals hahahahahahaha
    I dont know how active you have been in the past, but one thing Ive noticed in 1998 and 2002 was the potential to get a lot of off the wall stuff done. In 2002 I got a plank in the County Platform to repeal the Grandparent visitation rights section of the code. Didnt get through District, but I was amazed I was able to get that in. Imagine the possibilities if there is a network in place to change this party in the off years to make progress during the presidential years. What a wonderful place we might make for our beautiful land to leave our children and grandchildren. Zinging off again
    mark
    Carlisle, Iowa
    proudtobeaburdenonsociety

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  8. Unknown's avatar Anonymous says:
    July 31, 2004 at 3:37 pm

    As I understand it right now, and I could be misinformed on this, is that the IDP is supplying access to the voter lists to incumbents but not to challengers. I think that is backwards, if anyone needs to pay then it is the incumbents which should pay because they should have an advantage anyway. County democratic organizations have access so local candidates can get the information that way.

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  9. Unknown's avatar Anonymous says:
    July 31, 2004 at 9:35 pm

    Well, about the priorities – would you make a fine stew without adding spice? 😉

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