READERS WRITE...GLAD SOMEONE READS THIS BLOG!

I like to give out props to those who read my blog and have enlighted commentary, especially about getting rid of the Democratic Leadership Council. Day by day, I'm encouraged to know that some people aren't buying the DLC's marketing strategies anymore.

The following is from a reader named Matt:

"Part of the problem with Democratic Party, as you seem to acknowledge, is that certain factions like the DLC not only occupy positions of power, but use their positions of power to ensure that newly elected Democrats fit their mold. For example, in 2004 the Dems almost didn't run a candidate against Richard Pombo. Jerry McNerney ran as a write-in candidate on principle, deciding that a Republican creep like Pombo shouldn't get a free pass. And in 2004, the Democratic Party establishment, except for a few notable exceptions like Barbara Lee, didn't give McNerney one red cent or otherwise aid his struggle. However, McNerney showed Richard Pombo was vulnerable. So now Vice Chair of the DLC Ellen Tauscher is running her friend Steve Filson (a former Republican with no political experience, whose only qualification seems to be that his daughter works for Tauscher) against McNerney in the primary. Furthermore, Tauscher has got the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to tacitly support Filson, even though they're supposed to stay neutral until the primary. Part of the reason the DLC is able to do this is that they have created a unified organization that allows Dems of a certain predisposition (i.e. those whose views might be shaped more by campaign cash than by principles) to band together and help one another. Fighting Dems have not yet created the same type of over-arching structure to help each other. It's my hope that progressives in the Bay Area will be able to form a coalition to fight for the soul of the Democratic Party where the fights are occurring, such as CA-11. Those of us who have a Rep like Barbara Lee who speaks for and represents both our interests and our deeper political principals must aid those who yearn for the same. If we don't, no one else will. "

The highlighted paragraph in red says it all. We have to stop looking for the current Democratic Party to act like they're the party that produced JFK, FDR and Truman. The current crop believes that the Buck stops elsewhere, and they vote in accordance with whether or not they feel like being a whore for the Corporate interests. Our leadership cannot be found within that group...but within each and every one of us who believes in values and principles upon which America was founded (as she was intended, anyway).

Keep writing, and send me emails if you don't want to post your comments on the board (I will send an inquiry to see if being forced to create an account in order to post comments can be deleted).