Is This A Blog to Take Back the Dem Party?

From the Docudharma mission statement:

Passion, politics, poetry, prose and ponies. Silliness, snark and a serious effort to frame the future. A river of words, thought, philosophy and action that nourishes and transforms the political cultural and social landscape through which it passes. That is the spirit behind this “place”.

So I see we have politics as part of the mission statement.  Yet I see nothing about the Democratic Party, even as the party is certainly PART of politics.

Please bear with me while I try to formulate what I’ve been feeling lately into words.

I’m a Democrat, always have been.  I am extremely disgusted with my party — but beyond the emotions I am feeling a crystal clear knowledge that entering into discussion about what the Democrats are doing is no longer the way I want to go.  Because it’s already been said.  We all know it’s not working, don’t we?

And no, this isn’t going to be a screed about “Oh my gosh!  We have to DO something, goddamnit!”  It’s not an action essay, there will be no links to click, no petitions to sign.  We’ve all done that.  Where has it gotten us?

We say there are three main branches of government, four if you count the media (the “fourth estate”).

We are forgetting something here.

We are forgetting the citizens of this country, otherwise known as the “governed.”  Yep.  Us.

And I’m not speaking of demonstrations and protests (although I support each and every one of them).

Let’s look at part of that mission statement again:

A river of words, thought, philosophy and action that nourishes and transforms the political cultural and social landscape through which it passes.

What will nourish us?  What will transform us?  What has NOT yet been tried?

What has NOT yet been tried?

Blogging the future.  To me, that means breaking out of old thinking patterns and habits that have hamstrung us all too long.  If it were just about politics, I’d stay at Daily Kos.  Blogging the future.  To me, that means completely abandoning the frames we’ve been beating our heads against.

It means breakthroughs in our own discourse with each other … it means feelings as well as facts … it means art, definitely art — please remember that rock and roll changed the world and had a great deal to do with revolution in Eastern Bloc countries, not to mention the impact it had on civil rights here in the United States.

Think about the monks in Burma.  Think about the resistance by people who have no power whatsoever except what is in their sinews and hearts — against a foe with all the power of might and guns.

What has NOT yet been tried?

I feel we need to think about that question.

It’s not just about politics any more.

331 comments

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  1. … to have ANY politician framing my thoughts any more.  They are thinking wrong, why would I want to engage in their thoughts?

    Call me crazy.  I don’t care … or as ek says, I don’t give a rat’s ass … well you know.

    What will nourish us?  What will transform us?  Taking back the Democratic Party?

    Cart before the horse, imo.

  2. …I’m just as interested in reforming the Republican Party and Libertarian Party as I am the Democratic Party, at least in the context of this blog.  Oh, and I want to reform armadillos as well.

    But I don’t want to reform the Green Party.  I like them as the crazed idiots they are.

  3. I think where I’m at right now is that I will continue to vote for Democrats, but I’m also convinced that doing so will not change the fundamentals that are wrong with this country.

    I don’t have much by way of answers yet, but I’m certainly up for the conversation. Here’s something I wrote about this a few weeks ago – too long to put the whole thing here. Until “we the people” take on our own addiction to violence, consumption, and fear, elections won’t ever really change much.

    One thing that many will probably dismiss, but gave me alot of hope is the “free hugs” campaign. I know someone here participated and wrote about it, but I don’t remember who. If you go to youtube and seach “free hugs” you get hundreds of responses. People are doing it all over the world. I’m not naive enough to think that kind of thing alone will change things…but its a start. We need to find SOME way to tap into what is good and decent in humanity and start really connecting with each other on that level.

  4. the high level politics

    we need some arm chair strategies… doable, measurable things that people can do that will have  IMPACT

    i write this a lot… because we have power

    nobody gets empowered (i hate that)… we all have our own and we need to unleash it

    BUT everybody has to go in with eyes wide open: there will be consequences to effective economic and political strategies… and it mostly has to do with the economy

    oh right… bush has already taken care of that part of the blowback

    so then what are we waiting for???

    i’ve said this a zillion times too::: we have incredibly smart people here and among them and the rest of us we should be able to come with these arm chair strategies

    and we can start among those of us here interested in giving it a try

    ps… could care less about dems right now… i want my country back and that means back from those wet fucking noodles

    need to find us some leadership

  5. from a performance in russia, he said he had spoken to some high-ranking government official (this was post-gorbachev, and pre-putin) who told him that, as a teen, he’d learned english so he could understand the beatles’ lyrics.

  6. I am too weird and inarticulate to be a leader and way to contrary to be a loyal follower.So even though I will vote Dem, I am not sure I really feel welcome at their table. The party needs to be gutted not reformed.

  7. we are here to reform Armando!!! 😉

    running now to make dinner and save my hide, but I’ll be back with a more thoughtful comment after that.

    But I’ll say real quick that I’m thinking it may be time to really think outside the box and address not the two party system (which I kind of believe has become window dressing), not just this nation, but the global system and how we can work with other peoples outside traditional borders also affected by the madness of the rich and powerful elitist extremists.

  8. cut off mine right arm?

    Ask me to not post of beauty….I may accede. Tell me not to write of the joy and majesty of music and I may obey. Forbid to me the langorous luscious lyricism of snark and I shall not any longer pierce thy doublet with the poignard of my poor, poor wit.

    But tell me not to write about the motherfuckers screwing up the world and we go fistcity, paa-aal.

    Even if you CAN kick my ass.

    [That is a metaphor]

    Here is what has been percolating in my cranial cavity.

    We are trying to find ways to unite people.

    That’s it.

    sorry, I’ll have more soon!

  9. full size image

    too tired to think right now but you mentioned art so here’s some.

  10. Republican San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders last week. Has this already been posted here – if so I apologize for the duplication. I just thought it was powerful and does make a point that humanity can emerge in all kids of strange places:

    • Alma on October 2, 2007 at 03:36

    Let’s take a look at where we have made a difference, and what we got for it.

    We got a few cabinet, and court nominees withdrawn, only to get other nominees just as objectionable.

    We made a dent in the support for Alito, unfortunatley not a big enough dent. 

    Remember last year?  When we pulled together and took both Houses?  We thought sanity was going to start coming back to our country.  All we got were Dems that wouldn’t know how to lead if you had them hooked up to a harness with a carrot in front of their nose.

    So we did make waves, but not big enough waves.  One thing that does stick out is that each time we have made a dent a whole lot of people were working together to make it happen.

  11. and have some energy now:

    The Journey of Man – interconnectedness – degrees of separation – family – education – community.

    So much of what is being peddled now has to do with exclusivity.  From clubs in LA, to whitey white Country Clubs, to the Catholic Church (or what has become of the Catholic Church), to what restaurants get on what list.

    The desire to belong can be a great thing but it can be used in many bad ways.  Belonging to a group gives a sense of self identity when perhaps before there was none.

    The group that we belong to is the global community.  Every inclusive effort we make will be rewarded.  I know some people don’t want this place to get too big, it doesn’t have to.  Including people doesn’t mean dragging them all over to this website.  But it does mean caring about their struggles and issues as much as we care about our own.

    Hollywood plays on our empathy, it’s time we use our empathy for some good.

  12. This is a great essay – well done yet again NPK.

    One thing that bothers me, and I see it yet again above, is how quickly we appear to be willing to Discard Our Own.

    A bit off topic, but it all relates in the end. One thought I have is that if we want to change things truly for the better, we must elevate our own behavior in the process. By elevate I don’t mean always be nice to each other. Families fight all the time.

    But they also forgive. I believe forgiveness is sorely lacking in our traditional blogging world.

    Almost every blogger who has been around a while has made a positive contribution to someone, on some issue, in some fashion. And yet, we appear so ready to throw folks away when they don’t meet our standards in other ways.

    Look at the list of folks. I don’t necessarily want to name them, but there have been Many. No longer useful – toss ’em out like yesterday’s trash.

    Pisses me off it does.

    So part of the solution in my view needs to be to treat each other like family. Fight, argue, smash stuff on each other’s heads, fine. But forgive dammit. And get back to it another day.

    Cheers NPK, and all the rest.

  13. You keep this up and I do not know what I can find to pick a fight with you about.

    • OPOL on October 2, 2007 at 04:10

    I agree that we have to break out of the old frames and quit letting petty and shallow little quislings define the meaning of life for us.  We the goverened, under our system, have the power to dissolve the government and reform it to suit us.  We need to exercise that power.  That’s what I want to think about. 

    I’m also interested in the notion of forming a new party for progressives – since they aren’t really being represented by the dems anymore.

    The democrats seem to have abandoned their principles.  The working people and the downtrodden need representation.

    In fact if we are going to survive we’re going to have to have major change…a different economic model and a different political model, one that doesn’t include bribery as a primary feature.

  14. I kinda diaried (ok, essayed darn it) the same thing in a different way here today.

    http://www.docudharm

    Not post-whoring, for mine is disjointed and unfinished feeling, but it is amazing about the “Where to now?” feeling we all seem to be having.

    Coolness, maybe we are on a threshhold.  It sure is starting to feel that way.

    D.

  15. This is a giant blancmange.

    If you are trying to reach the Blog to Take Back the Dem Party, please press 7 now.

  16. Blogging the future.  To me, that means breaking out of old thinking patterns and habits that have hamstrung us all too long.  If it were just about politics, I’d stay at Daily Kos.  Blogging the future.  To me, that means completely abandoning the frames we’ve been beating our heads against.

    i have immense respect and appreciation for the big orange. i really do. i’ve commented previously here that i’m spending essentially zero time there because right now, i don’t feel like i can participate in good faith: i am feeling precisely zero partisan democratic love these days. not changing my registration. not pining for nader or ron paul or whatever asshat one might conjure up.

    but i absolutely feel very let down by the democratic party, and, more broadly, i feel like the political process is failing all of us, collectively, excepting of course for the moneyed interests who support the election of those who’ll tend to the moneyed interests. lather rinse repeat.

    both major parties have a vested interest in the maintenance of the big-dollar finance system; i think that the dk zeitgeist is–how can i put it in non-bashing terms?–less uncomfortable with the campaign finance mechanisms as they currently exist than i care to be.

    and i’m just so weary of the divisiveness. of the necessary construct whereby a political disagreement necessarily results in having an enemy. i don’t want enemies. and i don’t want the job of being someone’s enemy.

    sigh. sorry for the ramble. i wish i had a valid answer to the question–a very important one!–regarding what has not been tried. the only optimistic nugget i can offer up is that there is an infinitely long list (and it’s up to us to construct it). 

    ps…oooh! here’s a serving suggestion:

    what has not been tried?

    public campaign finance. howzabout the best government WE can buy, all of us, together…instead of the one that exxon/mobil, adm, monsanto et. al. can buy?

    • TomP on October 2, 2007 at 04:45

    if it ever were. 

    I like it here.  Nice people here who care.  The centrist haters (They are centrists and they hate leftists) and their good squads are not here yet.

    • snud on October 2, 2007 at 04:51

    How our own party’s website barely mentions the war – as though it’s an afterthought. It just blows my mind.

    Have a look at the stated agenda. Doesn’t it seem to you that they left out a little something?

    Long gone are those heady days of Howard Dean’s candidacy before he was stabbed in the back by the MSM over the infamous “scream” and our hopes were dashed then too. The netroots made a difference then and hopefully we will again.

    But Dr. Dean, if I’m not mistaken, is now largely responsible for the contents of the above-linked Democratic Party website. What happened, Dr. Dean? Lose your way? If you  had been elected would that have still happened? You were the anti-war candidate, remember?

    I’m all for health insurance for kids (not to mention everyone else) but it’ll be little consolation if Cheney starts WWIII  and/or the sick kid’s father comes home in a box.

    Methinks the party’s priorities are screwed up. I have no idea how or why they got that way. It makes no sense to me.

    I do think pfiore8 hit the nail on the head about leadership – or the lack thereof.

    I also feel that once all this becomes too much to bear, that immersing one’s self in the day-to-day bad news – almost wallowing in it – will not help the individual or the cause and it’s probably best to step away  from the keyboard for a while and take a walk in the woods – or desert or beach. Solitude helps me anyway.

    These emotional roller-coaster rides we take (We re-took the House in ’06! Oh shit… They’re all wimps!) are very hard to stand. There will be more bad days – and good ones too, I hope.

    I think it’s important to try to keep a smile somewhere. Because nothing pisses off the assholes like a smile. And it’s good for the soul.

    Most of us have food, shelter, friends and family and that’s a lot more than millions of people have tonight. Meanwhile, we’ll live to fight another day when we’re able and the opportunity is right.

    It’s small consolation, I know, but it seems that the only thing more screwed up than the Democratic Party is at the moment is the ‘Pug’s party. So hang in there, try to keep a sense of humor and the powder dry. When it gets to be too much, walk away or maybe just drink heavily. 😉

    We’ll be back.

    • eugene on October 2, 2007 at 06:23

    Is, to me, an almost completely irrelevant concern.

    The goal should be to not retake the Dems, but to retake American politics. If in that process we wind up retaking the Democratic Party, so be it. But the goal should be primarily to build up our own institutions, our own organizations and resources and skills.

    I think most in the netroots recognize the need to do that now; Pelosi, Reid, and Emanuel have beaten the loyalty to their leadership out of us. Only a few diehards at dKos resist this, but if you look elsewhere, from Calitics to Open Left to the budding nonwhite blogosphere, the direction is quite clearly toward building a new movement that will force the Dems to either respond favorably to us, or get the hell out of our way.

    Every non-despotic political system relies on some form of legitimacy to survive (and even the despotic ones do, to a degree). The Democratic Party’s leadership has spent the last 7 years, and the last 7 months in particular, destroying that legitimacy. Hardly anyone takes them seriously anymore – I think the TV appearances by Pelosi and Emanuel diaried about last night were very clear examples of that. When political systems or party leaders lose legitimacy, that opens up new options that had not been possible before. The public begins to consider alternatives.

    In short, the time is NOW to offer something different. Not necessarily a new party, because I don’t think that’s either a) necessary or b) what the public wants. Voters want ideas. They want passion and conviction. They want someone to stand up and fight.

    It’s time to start making that happen.

    • toys on October 2, 2007 at 07:19

    We can’t take over the party, or create a new one, without first bringing people together.

    Once the time is right, a leader will certainly be ready to stand up.  How can a leader lead something that doesn’t yet exist?

    If people come together, what is it they will get?  What is the future that is promised?

    Why will people “pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor”?

      • melvin on October 2, 2007 at 03:27

      I see clearly. That is something.

  17. between dkos and this–the garbage doesn’t get blacked out here.  The blood stains from last night’s “knife fight” (melvin & ek) above are still moist and dripping this morning.  What a thing to wake up to.  Whoa.

    I’ll just get sit down here in front of the tv and eat the left over chips I found on the table when I woke up.

    • Twank on October 2, 2007 at 12:39

    I don’t have the time to read 167 comments/replies so this could be a repeat of a previous statement.

    How will docu integrate with, work with, complement dkos?  I refuse to become a dkosite for a number of reasons but I don’t see why the 2 sites can’t work together for common ends.

  18. the people who would be at home on this blog.  It is unhealthy to promote and empower abusive people.  I have enough challenges everyday and refuse to make unhealthy living a goal.  I’m going to have to stick with uncoated sugarfree honesty.  I don’t think I could survive without that right now, and I don’t want to or have the energy to be part of those who will have to apologize for empowering those who so willfully destroy the lives of others.

    • xenic on October 3, 2007 at 01:07

    An infinitude of things have NOT been tried, or have not been tried with enough determination.

    It is important to know, to realize that there are many avenues of expression and action.

    For instance, perhaps we should target certain media as a vehicle for our new democracy.  Music, visual art, philosophy. On the web and in the streets.

  19. http://www.fallknive

  20. My thoughts on this don’t fit too well in a comment box, so I wrote up an essay…

    Competition, Collaboration, and Co-Creation

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