Dec 09 2009

View From Under The Bus

In case others here haven’t been watching the train wrecks at GOS today, at the top of the wreck list (above MoT’s 120% missive) is the news that Senate Dems caved, dropped the PO and went for a 55 and older (but only if you’re uninsurable and uninsured) Medicare buy-in. No surprise to those of us who are getting quite used to the view from between the wheels of this bus, but there is encouraging stuff in the comments. Primarily the number of people planning to re-register as Independents a.s.a.p.

True, that’s mostly angst and anger right now, but it gives me hope that perhaps there’s impetus for a real ‘movement’ here. As more and more Dems are becoming fed up with the Kabuki and now giving up entirely, there’s a wealth of rootless energy out there for the tapping. How do we tap it?

There is no actual Independent Party in this country, so we can’t actually organize, raise money, draft candidates to run on our ticket and campaign in the usual manner to get them elected. There is also no real alternative party to attach to for primary purposes (then go Indy in the generals) in order to get candidates we can vote for. I sure as hell won’t be voting Republican in the foreseeable future, but I won’t be voting Dem either. Heath Shuler was the best they could come up with here, and he’s so firmly in the pockets of the lobbyists that he might as well have a “C” after his name for “Corporate.”

Yet… yet… there will soon be great clamor from disaffected Dems for a new Progressive Party, I predict. Perhaps enough of those disaffected are party activists with enough knowledge and contacts to actually get something going, too. How do we encourage that?

I find this situation more hopeful than anything Obama’s done since last January, since I believe that what’s happened to politics in this country is irreparable within the old 2-party system. And has been for a long time. Given the problems we face it’s also possible things could degenerate into civil unrest and open conflict, so treading carefully is advisable. These last few days’ worth of discussion about where we go from here is pertinent to the shock waves now rocking the Dem ‘base’ on this latest betrayal and there will be many more refugees very soon. We need to get something cooking.

Things just got serious…

1 comments

  1. I had just received this earlier this afternoon:


         . —

    As we head into the final stretch on health reform, big insurance company lobbyists and their partisan allies hope that their relentless attacks and millions of dollars can intimidate us into accepting the status quo.

    So I have a message for them, from all of us: Not this time. We have come too far. We will not turn back. We will not back down.

    But do not doubt — the opponents of reform will not rest. So I need you, the members of Organizing for America, to fight alongside me.

    We must continue to build out our campaign — to spread the facts on the air and on the ground, and to bring in more volunteers and train them to join the fight. I urgently need your help to keep Organizing for America’s 50-state movement for reform going strong.

    Can you donate $25 or whatever you can afford today?

    https://donate.barackobama.com…

    Let’s win this together,

    President Barack Obama

    Then, just before coming here, read this.  

    Unless this a ruse of some sort (doubtful, I’d say this is a colossal showing of just where our representatives are at!  

    Sen. Sanders was on Rachel Maddow, tonight, talking about the situation, but I didn’t get to hear it — it’s not yet out on You-Tube.

    I say we need to demand that the bill be “ditched” and that we need to start all over.  

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