Long ago, reason and common sense caused me to renounce the toxic tenets of organized religion. At present, I feel compelled to apply the same principles to the Democratic Party, leading me to conclude, as did Voltaire regarding the unchecked power of The Church in his day, that we must, "crush the infamous thing."
Freedom begins when we free ourselves from as many illusions as possible -- including dogma, clichés, cant, magical thinking, as well as blind devotion to a corrupt political class.
I wrote the following, before the 2006 mid-term election: "[...] I believe, at this late hour, the second best thing that could come to pass in our crumbling republic is for the total destruction of the Democratic Party -- and then from its ashes to rise a party of true progressives.
"[...] I believe the best thing that could happen for our country would be for the leaders of The Republican Party -- out of a deep sense of shame (as if they even possessed the capacity for such a thing) regarding the manner they have disgrace their country and themselves -- to commit seppuku (the act of ritual suicide practiced by disgraced leaders in feudalist Japan) on national television.
"Because there's no chance of that event coming to pass, I believe the dismantling of the Democratic Party, as we know it, is in order. It is our moribund republic’s last, best hope -- if any is still possible."
I received quite a bit of flack from party loyalist and netroots activists that my pronouncement was premature and we should wait and see.
We've waited and we've seen. Consequently, since the Republican leadership have not taken ceremonial swords in hand and disemboweled themselves on nationwide TV, it's time we pulled the plug on the Democratic Party, an entity that has only been kept alive by a corporately inserted food-tube. In my opinion, this remains the last, best hope for the living ideals of progressive governance to become part of the body politic. rd living in New York City. He may be contacted at: philangie2000@yahoo.com
Phil Rockstroh, a self-described, auto-didactic, gasbag monologist, is a poet, lyricist and philosopher bard living in New York City. He may be contacted at: phil@philrockstroh.com Visit Phil's Website
i'm a little more fatalistic... i see no phoenix like rising from gutting or retooling either party. akin to snipping branches, when the disease infests the root.
i understand people come to truth in their own time, even if denial is taken to extreme... i too tire and grow very short of temper with the "wait & see, this time it could work out, we may be saved" crowd distracted from realities, hoping/wishing, changing bets on the scrimmage players, expecting a different outcome to the game. i don't have any answers on how to proceed, but an accurate acknowledgment of the scope and depth of the problem would seem necessary.
even if the players change; to effect any positive change for the sheeple the laws governing the players must change, or their "end runs" round accountability, lawful constraint and undue influence from lobbying and deeply imbedded (AI)PAC's who's dual loyalties are not in the best interests of "us" will not be impeded. any players changed that seek to alter the rules of game are promptly quashed/brought into line by bribery and or blackmail. the game of voter/sheeple distraction continues as our freedoms are bled and field-dressed. catch-22, so what to do?
as usual Phil, a well written piece
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k kelly (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 182 comments)
on Thursday, June 21, 2007 at 10:20:45 AM
The present day Democratic Party must go the way of the Whigs ... If not, the Democratic faithful should take to the wearing of powered wigs; they wouldn't look anymore ridiculous than they do now, supporting the party.
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Phil Rockstroh (26 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 42 comments)
on Thursday, June 21, 2007 at 10:43:34 AM
If the Democrats are the same as the Republicans, then why is the corporate controlled broadcast media so biased towards the Republicans. Why don't they promote these Democrats, if the Dems will do their dirty work?
I'd like to know how often you and others on your site risk your careers to fight massive power. Republicans are wrong on every issue, and the media still presents them as basically credible, and Dems aren't wrong to fear getting trashed for any false move. Look how well the media has convinced you that Dems have done NOTHING.
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SamGruen (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 17 comments)
on Friday, June 22, 2007 at 2:43:27 PM
And you know why: Some of them are too precious to take up for themselves, so they make an easy target. Then there are others, in the Dems' feckless ranks, who stand for nothing; therefore, they have nothing to defend.
The poor lambs are picked-on, because they have no convictions. That is: other than protecting their careers.
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Phil Rockstroh (26 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 42 comments)
on Friday, June 22, 2007 at 7:17:07 PM
Some Dems are extremely disappointing, but you tar the entire party, and so does everyone. The media is now pushing the viability of a third party candidate. Are they suddenly patriotic or are they trying to split the anti-bush vote?
The media destroyed Howard Dean partly because the left panicked, and they’re doing everything they can now to keep Hillary as the front-runner while mentioning her divisiveness. And the polls indicate that even the left still buys the media presentation.
Check this out:Washington Post Article. It demonstrates the subtle spin to keep repubs credible by pushing the congress' unpopularity.
The article outlines yet another republican swindle from 20001-05, and slams congress as if it's the same body now as it was during the time of the scandal. Only the 6th and 7th paragraphs mention congress, and do so in a way that it appears that the current congress proposing new legislation is the same as the one that has made "bad choices."
Also they only quote one senator who decries the sad situation and guess what? He's a repub.
A savvy reader may notice, but most will not recognize this as a relentless, sneaky white-wash of the republicans. Dems know they have to contend with this constant bias, and can’t really take on the media without risking even more hostility. This is what the left doesn't get.
What about you?
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SamGruen (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 17 comments)
on Monday, June 25, 2007 at 11:56:59 AM
I and many others are done with Dems not because of media perception -- but because they are not a progressive party. They are tools of the corporate state -- as is the mass media.
The corporate media kicks around Dems. not because they're threatened by them; rather, they do so, because the Dems are afraid of them. They can smell the fear.
And the Dems' problem: they're more afraid of the Repubs and Media than they are of us -- the public and our wrath at their fecklessness.
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Phil Rockstroh (26 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 42 comments)
on Monday, June 25, 2007 at 12:32:59 PM
Your brilliance at describing the pathalogy of the ruling class certainly earns you my respect. Maybe our abandonment will transform the Dems, but I really don't think so.
How long would a collapse of the Dems and the rise of a reconstituted Dem party or a third party take? Do you think that an unencumbered Repub party would fail to lock up all the levers of government in the meantime? They're almost there now.
Did you hear of the recent Supreme Court rulings? Who do you think can do anything at all about that? I'll tell you who. A Dem president with a Dem congress and high poll numbers. Our only chance is a constitutional convention to make it possible to impeach Justices or limit their term (and other needed improvements).
I do think that it's likely that a well-supported Dem party may be inadequate after all, but I don't want to live through decades of Republicans devouring themselves, the country and the world while we wait for the Dem Party to be replaced by something (I don't know what).
To me, you're a bit like a man whose enemy is pouring poison in his ear and being furious with the friend who wants to help but refuses to be poisoned for him. How often have you risked career destruction to save others?
I no longer look for people to be extraordinary, but merely to be sensible enough to band together to accomplish practical improvements.
Dems are terrible at politics but pretty good at government. Repubs are terrible, even evil, at government but very good at politics (mostly due to massive media support). Liberals need to turn their fury on the media, not the Dems.
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SamGruen (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 17 comments)
on Monday, June 25, 2007 at 6:36:07 PM
Let's be honest. The "united" United States is HISTORY. OVER. Finished. Kaput. We most certainly are NOT "united". The very idea of a sea-to-shining-sea transcontinental nation-state is a quaint 17th century antique on the same shelf as the Monoe Doctrine and "the Divine Right of Kings"...remember that gem?
Capitalism, using corporate hit men, has done a drive-by on Democracy and murdered that dream in cold blood in the streets of the Former USA.
Both parties have now become the public relations face of corporate fascism trying to convince voters that democracy still thrives? It's a rancid steaming crock!
When the government won't even obey the laws - that government negates it's own legitimacy - de facto. There are NO provisions in the Constitution which stipulate government may LIE.
That makes the USA is a thing of the past. The parties are shills for corporate fascists. And "WE the People," dear friends, are on our own - just ask the citizens of New Orleans.
Ballots or bullets. We tried ballots. Look where that got us.
Screw the parties - buy a weapon! I recommend a shotgun - it can take out several with one blast, rip big holes thru walls and everyone understands the meaning of that click-clack when another shell is chambered.
Good luck!
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mrk * (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 299 comments)
on Thursday, June 21, 2007 at 2:34:34 PM
The worst problem we face is not the GOP fascists -- it's the Dem Party apologists, who help this atrocious party of traitors to continue posturing as "opponents" of the GOP fascists. There's nothing more crippling than being led into battle by partners of your enemies -- which is what trying to fight the GOP by banking on the Democrats amounts to.
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Richard Mynick (2 articles, 3 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 1289 comments)
on Thursday, June 21, 2007 at 3:50:41 PM
I completely agree with the analysis of the ruling class, but the Democrats' weaknesses have something to do with the extraordinary lack of support they have in the media and from the left. I never hear anyone say a good word about them on TV, including Jon Stewart and other lefties.
When Texas Dems left the state to try to stop DeLay's redistricting scheme, I watched numerous reports on TV and every single one openly ridiculed them and provided no explanation of their reasoning.
Similarly, everyone on TV and the web mocks them as timid or compromised. The best they get from the left is "hold your nose and support them." How courageous are they supposed to be in this environment? They are like battered wives who are condemned by their friends for failing to stop their husbands.
I'm forced to wonder how today's well-chastened Dems would be if they had genuine support from the left, and could count on it, even when they have to make political compromises to get and hold the kind of power they'll need to do what we want.
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SamGruen (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 17 comments)
on Thursday, June 21, 2007 at 4:49:42 PM
what they didn't get is support from the corporate media.
Along the way, however, the Dems have taken support from the left and then either taken us for granted or betrayed us. A party that wants support FROM the left (and the people) also has to give support TO the left (and the people) -- and that's where the problem is: there's been very little of that.
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Blue Pilgrim (0 articles, 3 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 997 comments)
on Thursday, June 21, 2007 at 8:18:43 PM
the left I was in contact with. They understood from the start that Dean was more moderate than left anyway (as Dean has said), but also kept supporting him to extent they had been. Perhaps you have a different idea of who the left is than I do. It was the media, and much of the center who abandoned Dean -- but that was also pretty much after he had already been destroyed by the right. It was the Democrats -- the party -- which did not support Dean and attacked him -- the source of that was the DLC which is not leftist at all.
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Blue Pilgrim (0 articles, 3 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 997 comments)
on Friday, June 22, 2007 at 6:09:59 PM
The center left abandoned Dean, not the far left. But where was the outcry in the lefty blogosphere? Can you name a liberal TV personality who fought for him?
The way Dean was misrepresented was briefly reported, but the left jumped over to Kerry in stead of fighting for Dean.
Check out the comment I made above to the author. It has a link to a very good example of the media subversion of the Dems.
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SamGruen (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 17 comments)
on Monday, June 25, 2007 at 12:04:21 PM
It was a great rant Phil, made so by the truth expressed within. Problem is though, that we are on the cusp of total fascism, I mean killing the in-country opposition with the same visciousness as we do the Iraqi's. Since I'd prefer not to have myself (or more so) my family die, how do you suggest we fight. I can shoot a rifle, but I think the bad guys have a much more impressive arsenal.
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MikeSpindell (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 14 comments)
on Thursday, June 21, 2007 at 4:54:08 PM
I"m also aware of the terrible things people are capable of doing to one another -- and I'm afraid the right-wing hate machine has prime far too many of our fellow citizens for Jack Boot viciousness.
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Phil Rockstroh (26 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 42 comments)
on Thursday, June 21, 2007 at 5:06:57 PM
If you weren't aware you wouldn't have the insight shown in your rant. Here's the problem though: While what you say about the Dems is true, we can use them to at least stave off some of the the bad stuff that is coming down. With some breathing room and a lot of hard work maybe then we can begin to turn things around. Without the Dems things will get a lot worse very quickly. Also SamGruen above makes some very good points.
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MikeSpindell (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 14 comments)
on Thursday, June 21, 2007 at 5:37:59 PM
The Dems. limit the debate, creating the illusion that there is even one transpiring ... If and when they collapse as party, then, perhaps, true progressive voices might be heard.
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Phil Rockstroh (26 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 42 comments)
on Thursday, June 21, 2007 at 7:07:36 PM
Progressive voices will arise where? And if Republicans manage to steal another election, you will miss the party that supported civil rights, the GI bill, women's suffrage, worker safety rules, environmental advancement, etc. Do you really think the Republicans unopposed will permit progressives to advance?
Most people on this site would rather curse the darkness than light a candle. It's a common human frailty for people to be less angry at enemies than with friends/family for their imperfections and disappointments.
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SamGruen (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 17 comments)
on Friday, June 22, 2007 at 2:23:36 PM
