Democrats

ALL ARTICLES, Democrats, Rethuglicans October 15, 2018

American Gangbangers: Justifiable Anger Fuels Trump’s Hold On Power & Democrats Still Don’t Get It

“It feels like it is so tribal now. In years past you could go against people in your own party if they did something outrageous and now everything is just ‘my party, my color’ — it’s almost like the Crips and Bloods — same colors.” — Bill Maher, Real Time 33-Minute mark (10/12/18). By John Atcheson Common Dreams (10/12/18) Pundits, progressives and the press seem perplexed by Trumpism.  How can a narcissistic, fascist, incompetent conman—whose White House seems always on the verge of chaos; whose own appointees fear that he’ll do something so insane that they snatch papers off his desk;…

ALL ARTICLES, Democrats October 11, 2018

Ted Cruz OBLITERATED In ‘Tough As Texas?’ Attack Ad: Here’s A Lesson On How Dems Could Show Some Real Spine

It woudd be nice to say the dems produced this ad. They didn’t. The Young Turks (10/9/18) Senator Ted Cruz pretends to be tough, but he’s really a quivering lap dog. Cenk Uygur and John Iadarola, hosts of The Young Turks, break it down. As reported in the HuffPost: “A new ad from a political action committee called Fire Ted Cruz slams the senator and former Republican presidential candidate for his re-election campaign slogan, ‘Tough as Texas.’ The ad, directed by Richard Linklater, features the actor Sonny Carl Davis in character as the Texan he portrayed in Linklater’s 2011 film,…

ALL ARTICLES, Democrats, M. Taylor Columns, Resist! October 8, 2018

Abusive Relationship: Progressives Need To Talk Back To Their Jackass Boyfriend

By Mark L. Taylor The Commoner Call (4/8/18) In a recent Facebook squabble I was accused of aiding and abetting the republicans by saying it’s right not to support West Virginia Sen. Joe “Big Coal” Manchin’s re-election because of his cuddling up to republicans to help send Brett “Brewski” Kavanaough off to the Supreme Court. I posted and supported a couple articles referencing the need to stop supporting corporate dems who continually represent the greedy whims of the 1% and corporations over the needs of the voters who put them in office. One article referenced two liberal groups denying any…

ALL ARTICLES, Democrats, Your Brain On Politics October 8, 2018

How Democrats Could Win With Moral & Emotionally Wise Political Communication

    “People vote their values.” Robert Reich interviews neurolingist George Lakoff on how the republicans have mastered the moral hierarchy of political messaging — emotional framing — and what the democrats and progressives need to learn, understand and do it they want any chance of winning elections. Opposing Trump, making dismissive jokes about Scott Walker or name-calling republicans will not be enough. It never has been and never will be. If they are interested in winning elections and changing the public debate it is essential for progressives to find their language and speak to the moral reasoning, values and…

ALL ARTICLES, Democrats September 24, 2018

Lightweight: The Democratic Party Went AWOL In 2016 – And Two Years On Is Still Missing

By Cas Mudde The Guardian (9/20/18) On 8 November 2016 Donald Trump won the US presidency. But it was also the day the Democratic party went awol. Almost two years later, the Democrats are still not to be found. They have no clear leader, or even leadership team, no convincing analysis of why they lost the election, and, consequently, no strategy to do better next time. In a July 2017 Washington Post-ABC News poll a majority of Americans (52%) said the Democratic party “just stands against Trump”, while just a minority (37%) believed the party “stands for something”. I seriously doubt these numbers will…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, Democrats, FEATURE, History They Don't Want You To Know, M. Taylor Columns, Rethuglicans September 24, 2018

Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 11/9” Lays Bare The Dangerous Crossroads We Are At And What We Need To Understand From Steve Bannon

  Tyrant. Liar. Racist. And a hole in one.   By Mark L. Taylor The Commoner Call (9/24/18) This past weekend I saw Michael Moore’s new documentary film Fahrenheit: 11/9. You will find a detailed review of the film below, so I won’t go into a lot of detail here other than to say it is an extraordinary film — in my opinion, his best — that lays out the path of how this nation has come to the dangerous crossroads with fascist totalitarianism we now confront. As Moore explains, it is not hyperbole to talk in such terms and his…

ALL ARTICLES, Democrats, Economic Injustice, History They Don't Want You To Know, Resist! September 20, 2018

History Democrats Need To Remember: FDR’s Message 78 Years Ago To Corporate Quislings In The Democratic Party Applies Today

  By Alfonso KC ExtraNewsFeed (3/30/17) The 32nd president of the United States, the one that brought us Social Security and The New Deal, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, wanted us to criticize corporate Democrats from the very beginning. I’m not kidding. In 1940, when he was running for his third term, he decided to drop his former Vice President, John Garner. He did this mostly because Garner was not progressive enough; Garner was opposed to a majority of The New Deal, and was opposed to FDR running for a third term. Ouch. After FDR replaced him with former Secretary of Agriculture,…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, Democrats, Economic Injustice, History They Don't Want You To Know, Rethuglicans September 13, 2018

Taking Down Trump Is Not Enough. Corporate Owned Neoliberal Democrats Need To Be Booted As Well

  By David Sirota The Guardian (9/10/18) After a scorching summer of discontent, Donald Trump’s endless tweets and scandals have given Democrats their best chance to retake Congress since George W Bush’s second term. And yet, insurgent progressives are not limiting themselves to dethroning Republicans: they are taking aim at corporate-friendly Democrats within their own party, too. Amid an upsurge of populist energy that has alarmed the Democratic establishment, a new wave of left-leaning insurgents have been using Democratic primaries to wage a fierce war on the party’s corporate wing. And, as in past presidential primary battles, many Democratic consultants, politicians and pundits…

ALL ARTICLES, Democrats September 13, 2018

Chicago Hotel Strike Pits Exploited Workers Against Billionaire Dem Party Candidate Pritzker For Governor

  By Jerry White World Socialist Website (9/12/18) The strike by over 5,000 Chicago hotel workers spread to 26 locations Tuesday, as hundreds of workers walked off the job at the Cambria Chicago Magnificent Mile hotel, just north of downtown. Thousands of housekeepers, bellhops, servers, cooks and other hospitality workers walked out across the city last Friday to demand increased wages, year-round health benefits and reduced workloads. Labor agreements covering 6,000 members of the UNITE HERE in Chicago expired on August 31, along with thousands of others at major hotels across the country. On Tuesday, hotel workers in Hawaii voted…

ALL ARTICLES, Democrats, Economic Injustice, FEATURE, History They Don't Want You To Know September 6, 2018

The Great Betrayal: Neoliberal Policies Sold Out Workers & Divided Democrats From Their Voters

Democrats’ Embrace Of Neoliberalism Dlievered The Nation Into Trump’s Paws A good chunk of Trump’s support could be peeled away if there were a genuine redistributive agenda on the table. An agenda to take on the billionaire class with more than rhetoric, and use the money for a green new deal.  By Naomi Klein The Guardian (11/9/16) They will blame James Comey and the FBI. They will blame voter suppression and racism. They will blame Bernie or bust and misogyny. They will blame third parties and independent candidates. They will blame the corporate media for giving him the platform, social media for being a bullhorn, and…

ALL ARTICLES, Democrats, Economic Injustice, Rethuglicans September 6, 2018

Author Chris Hedges: Both political parties have betrayed working class

Labor union leadership has also betrayed workers. The Hill (8/23/18) Former New York Times correspondent Chris Hedges said Thursday that Republicans and Democrats have both betrayed working-class voters. Link to 5-Minute Video ***** Here’s A Longer Address By Hedges: “America: The Farewell Tour” “All of the warning signs that  have brought down empires in history are flashing red within the American empire.” [Editor’s Note: The last half of this video includes some pretty forthright discussion about how to mount resistance to what is happening across the nation. What is needed is what has been done by the people … “We have…

ALL ARTICLES, Democrats, FEATURE, Resist! September 3, 2018

A Decade After ’08 Financial Crash, The Timid Left Has Reason To Be Full Of Regrets

  By Larry Elliot Port Side (8/31/18) Placards are being prepared. Photo-opportunities are being organised. A list of demands is being drawn up by a coalition of pressure groups, unions and NGOs. Yes, preparations are well under way for protests to mark next month’s 10th anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers – the pivotal moment in the global financial crisis. Make no mistake, the fact that events will take place in all the world’s financial centres is no cause for celebration. On the contrary, it is a sign of failure. The banks were never broken up. Plans for a financial transactions tax are gathering dust. Politicians toyed with…

ALL ARTICLES, Democrats, FEATURE August 23, 2018

Give ’em A Reason: Democrats Must Do Much, Much More Than Simply Oppose Donald Trump

  By Gary Younge The Guardian (8/9/18) For quite some time during the primary season for the 2016 presidential race, Democratic party leaders were delighted that Donald Trump was leading the Republican pack. They assumed the brash reality TV star would expose the bigotry of the Republican base before flaming out and leaving a more plausible candidate beholden to an energised mob, and consequently unelectable. After Trump insulted Heidi Cruz (a Goldman Sachs executive and wife of fellow Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz) for her looks, the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, Deborah Wasserman Schultz, said: “I want Donald Trump to talk…

ALL ARTICLES, Democrats, FEATURE August 20, 2018

To Curb Capitalism’s Toxic Impacts, Warren Unveils Plan To Give Workers More Control Over Corporate Decisions

By Jake Johnson Common Dreams (8/15/18) Taking aim at the heart of America’s toxic economic status quo—which has over the past several decades produced soaring corporate profits and CEO pay while keeping workers’ wages stagnant—Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) introduced legislation on Wednesday that would “give workers a stronger voice” in the decision-making of major businesses and put an end to corporations’ single-minded commitment to maximizing shareholder value at the expense of employees. “Because the wealthiest 10 percent of U.S. households own 84 percent of American-held shares, the obsession with maximizing shareholder returns effectively means America’s biggest companies have dedicated themselves to making the rich…

ALL ARTICLES, American Socialist Tradition, Democrats, FEATURE August 20, 2018

DNC Dems Are Plagued With Democratic Socialism Derangement Syndrome

By Kate Aronoff & Miles Kampf-Lassin NBC (8/16/18) After Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s shocking victory in New York earlier this summer, pundits warned of a socialist takeover. The front page of the New York Post put the city on “Red Alert,” cheekily depicting the likely incoming congresswoman in bright red lipstick. Following the primary elections on August 7 — where leftist challengers Abdul El-Sayed and Kaniela Ing lost their bids — just as many outlets declared socialism dead on arrival. Then on August 14, a string of progressive insurgents — including Ilhan Omar, Jahana Hayes, Randy Bryce and Christine Hallquist — clinched victories, leading to a…

ALL ARTICLES, Democrats, Your Brain On Politics August 16, 2018

Some Much-Needed Coaching For Dems On How To Talk Politics

 Michael Avenatti Calls On Democrats To ‘fight fire with fire’ As He Considers Presidential Run “When they go low, I say, we hit harder.” By Ben Jacobs The Guardian (8/11/18) Michael Avenatti could become the second person to go from cable news fixture to president. Speaking to a crowd of activists at the Iowa Democratic Wing Ding event, Avenatti left the room electrified. The lawyer, who is exploring a potential presidential bid, turned what has been a sleepy presidential pre-season so far upside down. The lawyer for Stormy Daniels has become a national sensation with his ever-constant appearances on cable news advocating for…

ALL ARTICLES, Climate Change, Democrats, FEATURE August 13, 2018

SOLD! Democrats Reverse Ban On Donations From Fossil Fuel PACs

  ‘Absolute Failure’ By Jessica Corbett Common Dreams (8/10/18) Just two months after the Democratic National Committee (DNC) was celebrated by environmentalists for banning donations from fossil fuel companies, it voted 30-2 on Friday to adopt a resolution from Chair Tom Perez that critics said effectively reverses the ban and represents “an absolute failure by the DNC.” The Huffington Post‘s Alexander Kaufman tweeted Friday: @AlexCKaufman Replying to @AlexCKaufman UPDATE: resolution passed in a 30-to-2 vote. from DNC epic: “After hearing concerns from Labor that this was an attack on workers, this resolution acknowledges the generous contributions of workers, including those in energy, who organize and donate…

ALL ARTICLES, Democrats August 2, 2018

Memo To Liberals: Please Figure Out How To Truly Help & Win Back The Working Class

  By Thomas Frank The Guardian (7/27/18) The other day I noticed, with something of a shock, that Brett Kavanaugh, the supreme court nominee, is almost exactly the same age as me. I have always scoffed at those of my generation who cynically hitched their star to the conservative movement but now, as I take my leave from this space, it occurs to me that maybe they played the game right after all. I started out in journalism in the orange-fingered sunset of the Reagan era. The rise of the right, I felt back then, was the most consequential development of…

ALL ARTICLES, Democrats July 30, 2018

Hey, Democrats! Take A Hint From British Labour & Ocasio-Cortez — Move Left To Help People

  The Democrats need to go much further than simply revealing a new slogan.  By Tobi Thomas In These Times (7/26/18) On July 18, House Democrats unveiled their new campaign slogan ahead of the 2018 midterm elections: For The People. At first glance, the message may appear similar to “For The Many, Not The Few,” the title of the manifesto put forward in 2017 by the UK’s Labour Party, led by Jeremy Corbyn. And while both slogans place the public as the center of political action, the Democratic Party still has much further to go in comparison to Labour, which embraced a bold, redistributive…

ALL ARTICLES, American Socialist Tradition, Democrats July 26, 2018

Hey, Dems, If You Want To Win: Progressives Are The New Silent Majority

  By Theo Anderson in These Times (1/17/17) Something remarkable has happened over the past few years: A new silent majority has emerged, decades after Richard Nixon made that phrase famous. Nixon meant the people whose values were, he said, dominant in American culture, but underrepresented in American politics. Calling them the silent majority was a way of channeling the white backlash against the civil rights movement. The new silent majority is defined by the broad consensus that has emerged in the United States around progressive policies. This consensus isn’t widely reported. In fact, it’s obscured by the oft-repeated idea…

ALL ARTICLES, Democrats, M. Taylor Columns, Your Brain On Politics July 23, 2018

Sen. Paul Wellstone’s Words Provide A Powerful Standard For Today’s Democratic Candidates

  One of the true progressive leaders of he Democratic party was Minnesota Sen. Paul Wellstone. He had a unique ability to connect with voters by bringing a humane, aspirational message to his politics. The following are a few Wellstone quotes you can use as  a comparison measure to the candidates vying for your vote this election season. The issue is not whether a particular candidate mimics Wellstone’s words and sentiments, but do they embody a genuine progressive message of humane and inclusive, positive vision and values. — Mark L. Taylor **** “This is no time for timidity.” ***** “The…

ALL ARTICLES, American Socialist Tradition, Democrats July 23, 2018

INTERVIEW: Bernie Sanders On Labor’s Future & Why Democratic Socialists Keep Winning

  By Miles Kampf-Lassin In These Times (7/17/18) WHEN I ASK BERNIE SANDERS ABOUT THE SURGE OF TEACHERS’ STRIKES that swept the country earlier this year, he perks up, applauding the teachers’ display of working-class power. “The teachers may be the tip of the spear here,” he declares in his heavy Brooklyn accent. In many ways, the strikes illustrate Sanders’ theory of political change. He has long insisted that the key to moving the country in a more progressive direction is to make ambitious demands and build movements capable of achieving them. Striking teachers in states from West Virginia to Arizona…

ALL ARTICLES, Democrats, FEATURE July 16, 2018

Majority Of Dems Want Candidates More Like Bernie Sanders, Poll Finds

  By Tim Marcin Newsweek (7/11/18) Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders might have lost his 2016 bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, but he certainly won a number of supporters along the way. To wit: A new poll released Wednesday by YouGov showed that a majority of Democrats want candidates in 2018 to be more like the independent, democratic socialist candidate. The polling firm asked: “Do you wish the candidates who run for Congress this year will be more or less like Bernie Sanders?” A full 57 percent of Democratic respondents said “more like Bernie Sanders” in response. Sixteen percent said less while 27 percent responded…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, Democrats, Resist!, Rethuglicans July 12, 2018

Want Justice In America? — The Old ‘Be Nice’ Routine Won’t Get Us There

  By George Goehl OurFuture.org (7/9/18) We should be skeptical of the motivation and messengers behind calls for civility. We hear people say that what is happening to migrants in the United States right now is un-American. I wish that were true. Sadly, American history is full of periods where children of color were routinely taken from their parents. Resistance and organizing, on the other hand, are truly American. In fact, many of our nation’s best moments have been when we heeded the call to stand down hatred and racism. The Trump Administration has been off the rails since day one. But Donald…

ALL ARTICLES, Democrats, FEATURE, Resist! July 12, 2018

America’s ‘Justice Democrats’ Show How A Newly Energized Left Can Challenge Corrupt Power & Win

  By George Monboit The Guardian (7/11/18) Even at first sight it is exhilarating. The overthrow of one of the most mainstream and senior Democrats in Congress by a 28-year-old Democratic socialist with a radical programme and one tenth of his funding is, you might think, interesting enough. But since Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez beat Joe Crowley in the Democratic primary in New York’s 14th district (meaning she will almost certainly enter Congress in November), I’ve been interviewing some of the people who lit the fuse that caused this detonation. What has emerged is just how marginal and improbable their movement was when it began, and…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, Democrats July 5, 2018

Democrats Still In Deep Denial About The True Nature Of What We Are Up Against

It would be wrong for the Democrats to seek reconciliation while the Republican Party organizes government to recognize only its ideology as legitimate. By Kaitlin Byrd The HuffPost (6/3/18) Democratic politicians have a seemingly endless well of good faith for their Republican colleagues. Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and even Bernie Sanders all speak with the language of decency, full of assurances that Republicans will be heard, understood and engaged. They offer appeals to morality, norms and shared values as if saying it often enough will make it true. But there is no salvaging the Republican Party. Its leaders are beyond…

ALL ARTICLES, American Socialist Tradition, Democrats, History They Don't Want You To Know, Resist! June 28, 2018

This Country Was Born In Incivility. Simply Being ‘Civil’ Won’t Save It Now

Neither will burying the truth under false equivalences between bad words and racism. By Charles P. Pierce Esquire (6/21/18) I was saying to a friend on Wednesday night that what was sustaining me in this time of trouble and woe was reading the works of my favorite uncivil Americans—Tom Paine, Mercy Otis Warren, Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, late-period Mark Twain, a touch of Mencken here and there. Thus, I was able to read this incredible pile of piffle in The New York Times with comparative equanimity, which is to say without lighting my laptop on fire. Mr. Trump’s coarse discourse increasingly seems to…

ALL ARTICLES, Climate Change, Democrats June 21, 2018

DNC To Ban Fossil Fuel Company Donations

  By Lorraine Chow EcoWatch (6/13/18) The Democratic National Committee (DNC) voted unanimously over the weekend to no longer accept campaign contributions from fossil fuel companies, Huffington Post reported. The proposal was reportedly introduced by Christine Pelosi, a member of the DNC and the daughter of House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. “Climate change caused by the burning of fossil fuels represents an existential threat to civilization,” the text states, “and Democrats committed in our 2016 Platform to curbing the effects of climate change, protecting America’s natural resources, and ensuring the quality of our air, water, and land for current and future generations.” The resolution cites President Obama’s…

ALL ARTICLES, Democrats, Resist!, Your Brain On Politics June 21, 2018

A ‘Commoner’ Writes: Don’t Repeat You-Know-Who

For a long time now, one thought has gnawed at me regarding media coverage of the present administration.  George Lakoff, Professor of Cognitive Science, helped  me a great deal with an article he wrote. “When you repeat Trump, you help Trump”, he writes.  That is why Trump has chosen tweets  to reach the masses.  Every time he tweets something, no matter how outrageous, we obsess over those words.  Through them, he controls the cable news panels, the newspapers, and all of us.  We do exactly what he intends: We spread his message of divide and conquer. What Dr.Lakoff said bears…

ALL ARTICLES, Democrats June 14, 2018

If Democrats Want A Viable Party They Need To Stop The Corporate Rigging Of The Primaries

  By Heather Gautney The Guardian (6/11/18) Ask countless Bernie Sanders supporters, and they’ll tell you a big reason he lost the Democratic party primaries is simple: the process was rigged. In one state after another, the votes by party elites – so-called “superdelegates” – counted more than those of regular members. And arduous voting requirements meant that countless people who would have voted for Sanders were denied that right. If the Democrats want any hope of voting Trump out of the White House, it is urgent they fix this broken system before the next election. As a member of Sanders’ campaign, I’ll…

ALL ARTICLES, Democrats June 11, 2018

Yes, Trump Is A Monster, But — Really — What Does The Dem Establishment Offer America?

    By Paul Street CounterPunch (6/8/18) Yes, He’s Awful Much of what liberals say about Donald Trump and the chilling political moment the Trump presidency represents is true enough. Trump really is the arch-authoritarian malignant narcissist that liberals say he is.  Trump thinks he deserves to rule the nation like an absolute monarch or some ridiculous Banana Republic dictator.  He believes he’s above all the law, consistent with Louis XIV’s dictum L’etat, C’est Moi (“the state is me”). The notion that Trump can pardon himself from any crime really is the height of imperial arrogance. Trump really does value…

ALL ARTICLES, Democrats June 4, 2018

Ralph Nader NAILS Why Democrats Lose To Republicans

“Democratic Party, stop scapegoating and look in the mirror.” (Editor’s Note: Until the democrats get this message and get behind a genuine program to enact it, we are tied to the GOP sinking garbage scow. — Mark L. Taylor) The Humanist Report (5/20/18) Ralph Nader had some harsh words for the Democratic Party and spoke about how they should be “landsliding” Republicans. Link to 8-Minute Video

ALL ARTICLES, Democrats, FEATURE, Resist!, Your Brain On Politics May 31, 2018

WATCH YOUR MOUTH! You May Hate Him, But Here Is How You Help Trump Every Day

  By George Lakoff George Lakoff Blog (12/16/18) Without knowing it, many Democrats, progressives and members of the news media help Donald Trump every day. The way they help him is simple: they spread his message. Think about it: every time Trump issues a mean tweet or utters a shocking statement, millions of people begin to obsess over his words. Reporters make it the top headline. Cable TV panels talk about it for hours. Horrified Democrats and progressives share the stories online, making sure to repeat the nastiest statements in order to refute them. While this response is understandable, it…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, Democrats, History They Don't Want You To Know, M. Taylor Columns May 21, 2018

Color Me Naive: Torture Debate Gave Me A Surprise Political Education

(An earlier cartoon on bipartisan acquiesce on torture, 3/19/18.) “We can’t allow ourselves to descend down the rabbit hole of unbridled partisanship for partisan sake.” — Mike Quigley By Mark L. Taylor The Commoner Call (5/21/18) To begin, I must plead guilty. I have long opposed the role of torture in American policy. Since adolescence I have written letters, published cartoons (above), joined the ACLU, dutifully sent donations off to human rights groups, signed an endless stream of petitions and paid attention to the bipartisan torture policies of American foreign policy, which has often meant reading personal accounts that have…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, Democrats May 17, 2018

While The Party Remains Silent: Four Democratic Senators Roll Over & Sign On To Bipartisan Acceptance Of Torture

  By Igor Bobic The HuffPost (8/15/18) WASHINGTON ― Gina Haspel is on track to become CIA director after two key Democratic senators announced they intend to support her confirmation. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Tuesday that he will support Haspel because she had satisfied his concerns in public and behind closed doors about her views regarding the CIA’s so-called enhanced interrogation program, which she helped oversee in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. In a letter to Warner on Monday, Haspel wrote that the agency shouldn’t have undertaken the controversial…

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ALL ARTICLES, Democrats May 3, 2018

Formula For Failure: The Democratic Establishment’s War On Progressives

By Richard Eskow OurFuture.org (3/30/18) By supporting corporate-friendly candidates and policies, Congressional Democratic leaders are be moving closer and closer toward open warfare with their party’s base. There is a real need to raise money, of course. But the party’s leaders have chosen to raise and spend money in ways that conflict with voters and render it all but ineffective as a force for much-needed change. Under the best-case scenario, the party’s establishment is heading toward a Pyrrhic victory.  And other, grimmer scenarios are possible. Democrat vs. Democrat A majority of Democratic voters, led by black, brown, and female Democrats, told…

ALL ARTICLES, Democrats April 30, 2018

Secretly Taped Audio Reveals Democratic Leadership Crass Strong-Arming Progressive Candidate To Drop Out Of Primary Race

[Editor’s Note: Hmm, ‘nothing personal’? What is this, a lost episode of the Sopranos? — Mark L. Taylor] By Lee Fang The Intercept (4/26/18) STENY HOYER, the No. 2 Democrat in the House of Representatives, has for years been a prolific campaigner on behalf of current and potential members of Congress. It was no surprise, then, that December found him in Colorado, where the party has hopes of knocking off Republican incumbent Mike Coffman. Before Donald Trump had even been inaugurated, local resistance groups began deluging Coffman’s public appearances, pressing him not to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and putting him back on…

ALL ARTICLES, Democrats, History They Don't Want You To Know April 26, 2018

What’s In A Name — Are You Really A Progressive Or A Liberal?

How a vital term in U.S. political life lost its significance—and could regain it today. By Win McCormick The New Republic (4/20/18) What distinguishes a progressive from a liberal? This is one of the more pervasive ambiguities in contemporary American political discourse. In a recent issue of the journal Democracy, the historian Sean Wilentz addressed it head-on: Liberals, he argues, recognize the flaws of capitalism, are dedicated to remedying them, and have great achievements to their credit in that regard, notably those of the New Deal, the New Frontier, and the Great Society. Progressives are meanwhile “emphatically anti-liberal”—because they are hostile to capitalism and, “deep…

ALL ARTICLES, Democrats, FEATURE April 26, 2018

Black Agenda Report: Democrats Prepare To Pimp Their Own Lefties For 2018 & 2020.

By Bruce A. Dixon Black Agenda Report (4/26/18) Every two years, Democrats need a Big Black Vote, along with impressive turnouts of Latino and Latina voters, the elderly, students and young people to maintain their status as a national party. They need this turnout of their base constituencies to elect governors, members of Congress and state legislators, senators and of course the president. So while the commanding heights of the Democratic party remain securely in the hands of the representatives of capital, empire and the deep state, Democrats must allow self-identified leftists a certain amount of room to campaign for…