Democratic Party

The Cynical Sit-In

June 24, 2016 Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, www.jacobinmag.com Educate! Congress, Democratic Party, Sit-In

By Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor for Jacobin Magazine - It’s the season of political antics and this time around, the Democratic Party refuses to be outdone. House Democrats, led by civil rights godfather John Lewis, have staged a sit-in to allow for votes on gun control legislation. Earlier in the week four such measures were rejected, including a bill sponsored by California senator Dianne Feinstein which called for expanding the “Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment,” known more commonly as the “terrorist watchlist.”

Shut Down The Democratic National Convention

June 8, 2016 Chris Hedges, www.truthdig.com Resist! 2016 Elections, Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton

By Chris Hedges for Truth Dig - On July 25, opening day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Cheri Honkala, leader of the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign, who was denied a permit to march by city authorities, will rally with thousands of protesters outside City Hall. Defying the police, they will march up Broad Street to the convention. We will recapture our democracy in the streets of cities such as Philadelphia, not in convention halls such as the aptly named Wells Fargo Center...

Democratic Leadership Is Missing In Action On Mass Incarceration

June 1, 2016 Inimai M. Chettiar and Ames Grawert, www.brennancenter.org Resist! Democratic Party, Democrats, Mass Incarceration

By Inimai M. Chettiar and Ames Grawert for Brennan Center for Justice - Even though it now looks like Americans will be deprived the drama of a contested Republican convention, the gathering in Cleveland could hold at least one surprise. The Republicans are set to vote on an RNC resolution to reduce mass incarceration. The measure asks for “reforms for nonviolent offenders at the state and federal level” and urges “state legislators and Congress to…provide substance abuse treatment to addicts, emphasize work and education, and implement policies that cut costs while obtaining better outcomes.”

Democratic Convention Hosted By Republican Donors

May 12, 2016 Lee Fang and Zain Jilani, www.theintercept.com Educate! 2016 Elections, Democratic Party

By Lee Fang and Zain Jilani for The Intercept - THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S 2012 platform pledged to “curb the influence of lobbyists and special interests.” But the 2016 convention in Philadelphia will be officially hosted by lobbyists and corporate executives, a number of whom are actively working to undermine progressive policies achieved by President Barack Obama, including health care reform and net neutrality. Some of the members of the 2016 Democratic National Convention Host Committee, whose job is to organize the logistics and events for the convention...

What Will Lesser Evilism Look Like In 2016?

March 31, 2016 Staff, www.socialistworker.org Educate! 2016 Elections, Democratic Party, Republican Party

By Staff for Socialist Worker - BERNIE SANDERS' campaign for the Democratic Party presidential nomination has had a huge impact on national politics. With his message about the need for a "political revolution" and his forthright identification as a democratic socialist, he injected a surge of energy into the 2016 election. Sanders won far more support than most observers, Socialist Worker included, guessed at the start. For a time after the first few primary contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, the Hillary Clinton campaign--and the ranks of the Democratic Party leadership that stand behind it--was running scared.

Black Lives Matter Disavows Democratic Party’s Show Of Support

September 1, 2015 Amanda Terkel, www.huffingtonpost.com Strategize! #BlackLivesMatter, Black Lives Matter (BLM), Democratic Party

By Amanda Terkel in The Huffington Post - Activists with the Black Lives Matter movement rejected the Democratic Party's recent statement of support, making clear that they are not affiliated with any political party. "A resolution signaling the Democratic National Committee's endorsement that Black lives matter, in no way implies an endorsement of the DNC by the Black Lives Matter Network, nor was it done in consultation with us," the Black Lives Matter Network wrote in a statement Sunday. "We do not now, nor have we ever, endorsed or affiliated with the Democratic Party, or with any party. The Democratic Party, like the Republican and all political parties, have historically attempted to control or contain Black people's efforts to liberate ourselves," the statement continues. "True change requires real struggle, and that struggle will be in the streets and led by the people, not by a political party."

Both Major U.S. Parties Are Plagues On Humanity

July 3, 2015 Glen Ford, www.blackagendareport.com Educate! Democratic Party, Imperialism, oligarchy, Republican Party, Wars and Militarism

By Glen Ford in Black Agenda Report - There has never been a dime’s worth of difference between the Clintons (Bill and Hillary) and Barack Obama, and less than ten cents separates the worldviews of these Democratic political twins from the Bush wing of the Republican Party. Each has their individual quirks. Barack destroys international order and the rule of law while dabbling at song; Bill dismantled the U.S. manufacturing base and threw record numbers of Blacks in prison as he toyed with his trumpet; George W. played the fool who would Shock and Awe the world into obedience; and Hillary is the evil crone that curses the dead while screaming “We are Woman” like a banshee. But they are all the same in their corporate soullessness.

Democrats Hope To Bury Black Lives Matter Under Election Blitz

June 13, 2015 Glen Ford, www.blackagendareport.com Educate! #BlackLivesMatter, Black Lives Matter (BLM), Democratic Party, Elections, Erasure

By Glen Ford in Black Agenda Report - The movement that is emerging under the banner Black Lives Matter is not yet one year old, but it will be dead before it reaches the age of two if the Democratic Party has anything to say about it. The movement’s greatest challenge will be to survive the impending mass mobilization of Black Democratic officeholders and operatives in a $5 billion presidential election season. The current Black-led grassroots campaign is, in very important ways, even more vulnerable to Democratic cooptation and dismantlement than was the white-led Occupy Wall Street movement, which succumbed to a combination of Democratic infiltration and repression – on top of its own contradictions – in the early months of 2012. Although its slogans remained imprinted in the minds of much of the “99%,” by the time the November election rolled around, Occupy had long been a spent force, swept from the streets and encampments by mainly Democratic mayors acting on orders from their Party leader and president, Barack Obama.

Protests Planned For Rep. Pelosi’s District Office

June 9, 2015 Jesse Byrnes, www.thehill.com Resist! Democratic Party, fast track, TPP

By Jesse Byrnes in The Hill - More than a dozen liberal groups plan to set up shop outside House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's (D) district office in California this week to protest President Obama's trade agenda. Protesters will rally outside her San Francisco office around noon on Tuesday in continued opposition to a sweeping trade deal being negotiated by the Obama administration. While Pelosi has raised objections to parts of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) being negotiated between the U.S. and 11 other Pacific Rim nations, she hasn't taken a public position on it. She has also not voiced a position on the trade promotion authority (TPA) legislation that would facilitate pending trade deals such as the TPP by limiting the pacts to an up-or-down vote on Congress.

Trade Deals Undermine Everything Obama Says He Stands For

June 5, 2015 Matthew Pulver, www.salon.com Educate! Democratic Party, fast track, Obama, Politics, Populism

By Matthew Pulver in Salon - After more than six years of Obama-era party discipline and general accord, Democrats are finally suffering a measure of intra-party strife as the president appeals to congress for “fast-track” authority to more or less unilaterally negotiate the still-secret terms of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, one of the largest trade pacts in history. A bloc of Congressional Democrats have so far stymied the president and balked at his request, and leaders of the liberal wing of the party have engaged in fairly unprecedented public dispute with President Obama. The party’s quarrel has presented Hillary Clinton with her campaign’s first big dilemma, as the former secretary of state does an ugly political dance, trying to reconcile her previously full-throated advocacy of the now-nettlesome trade agreement with the progressive revolt of the party base to whom she’s appealing in the primaries.

Bernie Sanders Is No Eugene Debs

May 27, 2015 Howie Hawkins, www.socialistworker.org Strategize! Democratic Party, Elections, Socialism

UNFORTUNATELY, TOO many self-professed socialists in the U.S. have abandoned the socialist principle of independent political action. They argue instead that whether or not to support a Democrat or an independent candidate is a question of tactics, not principle. That was not the case when the United States had a viable Socialist Party. The political independence of the Socialist Party is a major reason why it was viable, why it had power, why it elected many of its candidates, why it was central to the political dialogue of the country. After the demoralizing and self-defeating experience of fusion (cross-endorsing the more progressive Democratic and Republican candidates) that undermined and ultimately destroyed the Greenback Labor and People's Parties of the recently past Populist era, the Socialist Party of America put into its constitution a ban against endorsing the candidates of the capitalist parties.

Dem: Trade Officials ‘Baffling’ Lawmakers ‘With Bullshit’

March 21, 2015 Kevin Cirilli, www.thehill.com Educate! Democratic Party, Finance and the Economy, Law

Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) on Thursday accused the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) of “baffling” Democrats “with bullshit” in an effort to advance President Obama's trade agenda. Pocan’s remarks, which were triggered by a debate over whether the U.S. enjoys a trade surplus with free-trade partners, mark the latest escalation in a fight between liberals and the White House office over President Obama’s trade agenda. Obama is requesting that Congress approve “fast-track” legislation that would make it easier to negotiate trade deals, and his team is negotiating two new trade agreements. He’s getting some cooperation from an otherwise antagonistic GOP on Capitol Hill but is running into opposition from the left.

Did Partisanship Kill The Antiwar Movement?

February 15, 2015 Michael T. Heaney, www.PopularResistance.org Strategize! Anti-War, Democratic Party, Partisanship, Wars and Militarism

We argue that its relationships with the Democratic Party contributed to the antiwar movement’s strength (especially in 2003-2006), but ultimately stimulated its demobilization (especially in 2007-2010). Key to this dynamic is the fact that many activists, organizations, and legislators identify both with the Democratic Party and with social movements. We find that as these identities compete with one another inside people’s minds and inside the decision-making arenas of organizations, partisan identities win out more often than not, thus putting social movements in a precarious position. As a result, social movements often find that they are co-opted, or simply left out in the cold, in the aftermath of their collaboration with major political parties.

Building Outside The Democratic Party

January 14, 2015 Brian Jones, www.jacobinmag.com Strategize! Democratic Party, History, Politics

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, has done a great job representing his real constituents — the finance, real-estate, and fossil-fuel industries. The rest of us haven’t had the same luck: workers in New York have seen cutbacks in hospitals and classrooms and promises of more hardship to come. I agreed to be the Green Party’s 2014 candidate for lieutenant governor of New York because I deeply believe we need our own political representation. Everything about this election points to widespread dissatisfaction with a rightward-moving Democratic Party. Democratic voters stayed home. The turnout was a record low in New York State, with Cuomo receiving nearly a million fewer votes than he did in 2010.

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