Houston Democrats

Okay, James. You said we need to have fresh, new ideas to address the problems that are being neglected by this leadership. First of all, many of the problems we as Americans have lie at the feet of this administration. Granted, it was Clinton who is to blame for NAFTA and the WTO. Because of NAFTA and the WTO, this country is bleeding jobs to other countries. The huge deficit in this country, however, is due to Bush and his lunacy. First of all, the wealthy don't need huge tax cuts. They make enough money as it is and most of the money if not all the money the very wealthy make is off investments. It's not earned. Secondly, this imperial invasion of Iraq was completely unwarranted. It has cost this country plenty in taxpayer dollars as well as human lives. It has also cost the Iraqi people dearly. The Bush Administration intends to march across the globe and establish military outposts in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus, the Persian Gulf region, Africa, Asia and the Pacific. The U.S. military is currently building 14 permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq as we speak. These are not your garden variety Republicans, James. These are not fiscal and social conservatives. These Republicans are far right wing neoconservative radicals. Have you not read the Project For The New American Century or PNAC? It completely outlines their plans for global hegemony. Why do you think Iraq was invaded? It sure as hell wasn't because the Iraqis attacked us, and it sure as hell wasn't because Saddam Hussein had WMD. These wonderful Republicans in this Congress and the last several since the 1970's have been doing their dead level best to dismantle FDR's New Deal program. They absolutely abhor social programs that benefit the most needy among us. Many in this Congress intend to privatize Social Security. Many in this Congress want Roe v. Wade overturned. Republicans and many, many Democrats in Congress are beholden to the corporations i.e. Halliburton, KBR, Bechtel, Lockheed Martin, GE, all the large pharmaceutical companies, HMO's etc etc etc that fill their coffers. When government is run by big business, that is the definition of fascism, James. If you don't think this government isn't having its strings pulled by large corporations and special interests then you haven't been paying attention.

I call the Republicans "Rethugs" because that is what they are. They are thugs. I call a spade a spade, James. I see no reason to play nice with these bozos. I'm sick and tired of the Democratic Party playing nice. Look where that got Kerry and Edwards. It got them exactly nowhere. It also got Kerry nowhere that he couldn't figure out where the hell he stood on the issues, and when he did try to explain his positions, he took an interminable amount of time to do so. In this ADD society in which we live, people don't want to hear a diatribe. They want to get their information in small soundbites. That's just the way it is. The media is complicit in all this. They have helped to dumb down America by showing these idiotic reality t.v. shows and other trash. Commentators on t.v. get their message directly from the Bush Administration. Once upon a time, a reporter had to actually go and get the news and report on it fairly and accurately and as unbiased as possible. These days all we get is lies, Bush propaganda and infotainment. We don't see reports on the number of dead Iraqis. We don't see the faces of the dead Americans and Iraqis. Hell, we have a president who hasn't even attended one funeral for an American soldier! This is why I call these people Rethugs. Any Republican who supports this administration is a Rethug in my book.

I agree with you that the Democratic Party must come up with a unified message that resounds with the people. They must stop allowing this party to be defined by the Republicans. They must stop trying to defend themselves against Republican attack and come up with their own message. The local, state and national Democratic Party must recruit and support progressive, populist candidates that truly speak for the people of this nation, and I'm not talking about the very wealthy among us. I'm talking about the poor and the working class stiff who is just trying to make ends meet and still feed his/her family. Bobby Kennedy, Jr. said that roughly 75% of the Democrats in Congress are bought and paid for by big corporations. That leaves us only 25% representation in Congress, James. I can think of two progressive candidates right now that represent the Democratic Party and that is Senator Barbara Boxer and Congressman Dennis Kucinich. Too many times our Democrats in Congress vote with the Republicans on issues affecting Americans. That is unforgivable!

I didn't originally support Dennis Kucinich when he was trying to get the nomination for president, but I sure as hell wish I had. He is extremely progressive and visionary. When my candidate of choice, Wesley Clark, crapped out, I was asked to be a delegate to the state convention for Kucinich. My husband and I both went to the Democratic State Convention as Kucinich delegates NOT Kerry delegates. I have listed below ten key issues that are of importance to Dennis Kucinich:

Ten Key Issues

1. Universal Health Care
2. International Cooperation: US out of Iraq, UN in
3. Jobs and Withdrawal from NAFTA and WTO
4. Repeal of the "Patriot Act"
5. Guaranteed Quality Education, Pre-K Through College
6. Full Social Security Benefits at Age 65
7. Right-to-Choose, Privacy, and Civil Rights
8. Balance Between Workers and Corporations
9. Environmental Renewal and Clean Energy
10. Restored Rural Communities and Family Farms

You can go to www.kucinich.us/issues/ to read about Dennis' ideas for renewing this country and helping the United States to become respected in the world once again. His ideas are common sense ones, and they are the fresh ideas you seek.

In my opinion, the Democrats are as much to blame as the Republicans for the situation we as a nation find ourselves in today. I agree with you that society as a whole has become apathetic and complacent. Many of us are working hard to change that, James. I belong to a group called the PPC, Progressive Populist Caucus. We are working to reform the Democratic Party on the local, state and national level and infuse the party with new, progressive blood. There are many progressive groups in Houston that you might want to do a Google search on. One is the Progressive Action Alliance. This group is comprised of people from the Democratic, Green and Libertarian parties. It is a very diverse group, and it is full of progressives who envision a different America than the one we have now.

I agree also that we must hold our legislators accountable for their actions. We must also not vote for those Democrats who do not share our progressive, populist values. I am tired of this Democratic Party selling out to Republican lite Dems and putting them on the ballot. We cannot win elections by being Republican lite. We, as a unified party, must strictly adhere to our party platform. Democratic values are American values. We must stop going on the offensive and start playing defensively. If the Democratic Party doesn't get its act together and start truly representing ALL the people of these United States then the Democratic Party is done for.

I am not willing to play kiss kiss with the Republicans. I am not afraid to speak my mind and speak out about the injustices in this country. I don't care who it ticks off. It's time for Americans to get good and angry and rise up against this fascist regime. We must take our country back from those who wish to destroy it!

I agree with you also that one shouldn't vote for a candidate because of the color of his/her skin. We should always recruit and vote for those candidates who share our progressive vision for America.

Thanks for your post. Now, get out there and fight for democracy! Remember, you are not the lone voice crying in the wilderness. There are many of us who will stand in solidarity with you against tyranny and oppression.

We must stop going on the offensive and start playing defensively.

I mistakenly wrote that yesterday. I meant to say we must stop going on the DEFENSIVE and start playing OFFENSIVELY.

It's difficult sometimes for me to proofread my own writing and find the mistakes. That mistake changed the context of my message. Sorry about that.

Thanks to both of you for well concieved comments and challenges. My insight is that we start the process of providing leadership here and now. We "bloom" were we are planted.

By this I mean, we need to apply the insights about what is needed nationally to local and state races. I suspect that a party-wide consensus will develop through time, but I don't think we can wait. Perhaps the best we can hope for is a county-wide consensus on key issues and the development of a local message.

I am working on the Message and Communications group for the HCDP and that is my vision. I believe that we have to start by asking, what do the people of Harris County need and wait? I think we answer that question by reading the letters to the editor, the editorals of the papers. We answer that by paying attention to any polling data we can find. We answer that question by having grassroots supporters who talk to us, report to us what is in their suburban community papers, what is being said at the town hall meetings of the pols form thier area.

We need the help of the Democratic clubs and rank and file Democrats to pull this off. The problem is how to tap into these resources systematically and how to organize assessments of the feedback we get so as to frame our appeals intelligently and clearly.

I think the Democrats do have , in their stands of key issues, a lot of the answers America needs, that Harris County needs. This is not to say that we don't need bold new thinking as well. We do. But whatever our thinking we desperately need new ways to frame our message and to get it out to our suupporters and more importantly to the crucial moderate, swing voters of America.

A final comment. Neither we nor the Republicans have had real "grass roots" of our own for a long time. The Repubs have fallen to using the shock troops of the religious right as their grass roots. The result is the present pandering to their concerns that is driving their party to the hard , theocratic right. I think that the explosion of grassroots groups like DFA and its local offshoots can be our answer and a better answer.

As such groups come online, can we work together for our nation's well-being? I think we can and the time to start is now....

Murvin....

Creating a unified message, while vital, is not the solution to free-lancing, coyote Democratic legislators. That solves another problem,,,,,,,,,,standing for SOMETHING as a party to rebuild our party.
The only solution to coyote Democratic legislators, including our theo-Craddick Dems in the State House is to rebuild a party on which our candidates can once again depend on mobilizing our voters on their behalf and raising grassroots money to support their campaigns. Once they are again dependent on their Party, we can hold their feet to the fire with the possiblility that if they do not toe the mark, we will fire them in the primary process. Until the mid/late 60's, this was the case with our Party vis a vis our candidates and officeholders. No more. What caused this? Well meaning but gullible party officials and candidates were sold a bill of goods by the "consultant" class that advertising was the silver bullet to turn out voters. In the early days of TV that was partially, but only partly true, but we bought the scam and here is where we are. No Party field organization ongoing........and declining impact of and diffusion of media sources, particularly T.V.and cable...........it never was a vehicle to produce turnout. That still and has always required touching people at home, at their front door and in their neighborhoods. It will take further massive campaign fund raising reform and a new generation of candidates and office-holders who are once again beholden to the Party that 'brung them to the table'. What I have described is the playbook the Repugs are using, having stolen it and refined it to both high art and science. Stan Merriman

We shouldn't be opposed to proposals just because the R's initiated them. We shouldn't be unwilling to compromise on bills just because the R's initiated them.

Yet we shouldn't be expected to have a compromise quota. If the R's keep writing outrageous bills, we should continue to be unyielding. Dubya wants to undermine SSI, so we should budge an inch in such a case.

When we vote for bad bills, we get to share the blame.

We Democrats need to start thinking a lot more creatively about issues. Although Kris' 10-issue list has a lot going for it, what it does not have is electoral viability. It was a total loser for Kucinich, so why should we expect it to work for us in the future?

These issues remain important. It is incumbent upon us to repackage them into something compelling to the average independent voter.

We must start by acknowledging that terrorism and homeland security (a term invented by the Clinton Administration) are the major players among national issues. Simply opposing the Republican strategy has gotten us nowhere. How many of us have ever won an argument by screaming at our opponent? We must co-opt these issues by casting them in a different light.

To me, that means starting with Thomas Friedman's "geo-green" strategy. Most of our Arab-Islam problems go back to oil and our dependency upon it. The price of oil is skyrocketing because the "new kids in town," China and India, are making major demands upon the oil market. America can not compete for long in this arena. Energy independence requires that we develop not one but an entire series of energy strategies.

Hydrogen will take about two decades to start becoming realistic. In the meantime we must free the electricity industry from its dependency upon fuel oil and coal. As one example, technology improvements have made nuclear energy, which I once loathed, much more acceptable. By opening our minds to these kinds of possibilities, we can begin recasting the electricity marketplace into something more viable.

Re-technologizing the energy industry can be our "'man on the moon' project," the project that powered the American technology revolution of the 1960s. It can lead to economic strength and independence; it can refuel our technological dominance in the world. It can give us something to export, which we need desperately.

It can also revolutionize our thinking about our position on the world stage. Once free of Arab dominance of our energy supply, it will free us to approach Israel much differently. In some ways it would allow us to be more supportive. In other ways it would allow us to be more critical. By taking our interests away from Islamic lands, it allows us to care less about them and them to care less about us. It also takes away Islam's primary source of funding!

It all starts by opening our minds. To do this, we must cast off our old lists and platforms, our generations of pre-conceived notions, and start from scratch. My concern is, how many Democrats are actually willing to do this?

I see that the website does not correctly interpret quotation marks. In my previous posting, wherever you see " appearing, that is intended to be a double-quote mark.

Let's try again. If you see “ appearing or anything like it, it is meant to be a double-quote mark.

The price of oil is skyrocketing because the United States has probably already hit "Peak Oil" and more than likely Saudi Arabia has hit its peak, too. The Bush Administration and administrations before it have had little desire to aggressively fund research into alternate energy sources. For many years, our various congressional representatives have been beholden to the oil and gas industries to "pump" money into their campaigns. They have had no incentive to support wind, solar, or hydrogen powered energy. Even if we had 50 years to research these alternate energy sources, we don't have 50 years worth of oil left!! Why do you think the Bushites decided to invade Iraq?! It sure as hell wasn't for the reasons the Chimp has given us. Why do you think they are establishing 14 permanent military bases in Iraq and setting up military outposts all over the Middle East? The United States MUST control all that bubbling crude that is under various countries in the Middle East. We don't have any idea HOW MUCH oil is there, but this administration is bound and determined that the United States will control whatever there is. BushCo will not allow China and India to negotiate with Africa, Iran, Iraq or any other country that has oil. We Americans MUST have that oil in order to keep us in the lifestyle to which we've become accustomed! Isn't that right, folks? Isn't that the name of the game?

I've copied part of an article on hydrogen from Mother Jones magazine:

When President Bush unveiled his plans for a hydrogen-powered car in his State of the Union address in January, he proposed $1.2 billion in spending to develop a revolutionary automobile that will be "pollution-free." The new vehicle, he declared, will rely on "a simple chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen" to power a car "producing only water, not exhaust fumes." Within 20 years, the president vowed, fuel-cell cars will "make our air significantly cleaner, and our country much less dependent on foreign sources of oil."

By launching an ambitious program to develop what he calls the "Freedom Car," Bush seemed determined to realize the kind of future that hydrogen-car supporters have envisioned for years. Using existing technology, hydrogen can be easily and cleanly extracted from water. Electricity generated by solar panels and wind turbines is used to split the water's hydrogen atoms from its oxygen atoms. The hydrogen is then recombined with oxygen in fuel cells, where it releases electrons that drive an electric motor in a car. What Bush didn't reveal in his nationwide address, however, is that his administration has been working quietly to ensure that the system used to produce hydrogen will be as fossil fuel-dependent -- and potentially as dirty -- as the one that fuels today's SUVs. According to the administration's National Hydrogen Energy Roadmap, drafted last year in concert with the energy industry, up to 90 percent of all hydrogen will be refined from oil, natural gas, and other fossil fuels -- in a process using energy generated by burning oil, coal, and natural gas. The remaining 10 percent will be cracked from water using nuclear energy.

Such a system, experts say, would effectively eliminate most of the benefits offered by hydrogen. Although the fuel-cell cars themselves may emit nothing but water vapor, the process of producing the fuel cells from hydrocarbons will continue America's dependence on fossil fuels and leave behind carbon dioxide, the primary cause of global warming.

According to Greenpeace:

The Nuclear Age began in July 1945 when the US tested their first nuclear bomb near Alamogordo, New Mexico. A few years later, in 1953, President Eisenhower launched his "Atoms for Peace" Programme at the United Nations amid a wave of unbridled atomic optimism.

However, the use of nuclear power has never been "peaceful". Almost half a century after Eisenhower's speech the planet is left with the legacy of nuclear waste, which will be radioactive for tens or hundreds of thousands of years.

As yet, no safe solution for its disposal exists anywhere in the world.

Nuclear installations, whether military or civil, have a sad record of accidents and incidents, shrouded in cover-ups, lies and misinformation.

Radiation released into the environment has led to the contamination of soil, air, rivers and oceans; causing cancer and other diseases in people.

The generation of electricity in nuclear reactors produces substances than can be used for the fabrication of nuclear weapons. The dangers associated with the handling of weapons-useable nuclear substances require a high level of security and secrecy even in democratic countries.

Moreover, nuclear energy has never been economic, despite the massive state subsidies it has received for decades. Even now funding still pours into the nuclear sector at the expense of renewable resources like solar or wind energy.

I do agree with Dale that the United States has been and is much too dependent upon oil and other fossil fuels, however, I'm just not sure we have the time left to really research and develop these alternate energy technologies. I'm not saying we shouldn't move forward with this research. I'm just saying we are not going to be able to continue to live the way we have been living because the oil is running out and so is the natural gas.

I think the "issues" of terrorism and homeland security have been blown way out of proportion. I don't like the word "homeland" anyway because it was a word the Nazis were fond of using. This whole business of "fighting the terrorists over there so we don't have to fight them over here" is a crock of crap. Terrorism is at an all time high since Bush decided to invade Iraq. It wasn't a hotbed of terrorist activity until that moron bombed the hell out of it.

The American people have been frightened to death by the Bush administration regarding terrorists and the need to protect the "homeland". It is their way of controlling the masses and preying on the fears of people. We can stress to the people of the United States that a Democratic Congress and president will always strive to keep them safe, but that they shouldn't walk around being afraid all the time that someone is going to blow them to hell and back. I realize, of course, that the entire world hates the guts of this administration and maybe even the United States, too, although I'd like to think they understand that roughly half of us are as horrified and angry about what is going on globally as they are. If we would get our military out of the Middle East it would do a lot to quell that anger towards this country.

Dale, I don't understand why you think Kucinich's ten point list is not viable? What's wrong with it? Is it too progressive or what? Look at it again:

Ten Key Issues

1. Universal Health Care
2. International Cooperation: US out of Iraq, UN in
3. Jobs and Withdrawal from NAFTA and WTO
4. Repeal of the "Patriot Act"
5. Guaranteed Quality Education, Pre-K Through College
6. Full Social Security Benefits at Age 65
7. Right-to-Choose, Privacy, and Civil Rights
8. Balance Between Workers and Corporations
9. Environmental Renewal and Clean Energy
10. Restored Rural Communities and Family Farms

The reason the American people didn't take Dennis Kucinich seriously is because the media gave him no air time and no serious consideration. Kucinich isn't a "far left" nutjob. The man makes a helluva lot of sense if you'll take the time to listen to him. He knows what it's like to come from nothing and make something of yourself by pulling yourself up by the bootstraps. He's just the kind of candidate this country needs on the Democratic ticket. He can truly relate to the needs of the poor and middle class. I know he's not perfect, but I think he has his heart in the right place. His message would resonate with voters if the corporate owned media would give him the time of day. I don't know if he will run again in 2008 or not.

I don't think Democrats are EVER going to win another election if we don't get #1 open source code and paper trails on all electronic voting machines in this country and #2 a candidate who is NOT Republican lite and trying to emulate the message of Repugs by being "kinder and gentler" than they are on social issues but as tough as they tout themselves on defense. We need Democratic candidates at all levels of government that vociferously oppose the Republican platform and way of doing things. We don't need more of the same kinds of Democrats we have now in Congress who will vote with Republicans on issues like drilling in ANWR, confirming Condoleeza Rice, Alberto Gonzales and John Negroponte, the bankruptcy bill, the $81B Iraq appropriations bill etc.

Dale, if you have any ideas how the Democratic Party can "reframe" the debate and come up with a progressive message that resounds with the voters then by all means, share it with us. I know the Communications Committee of the HCDP is working on this, as well. We need something short, sweet and hard to beat for the voters to digest. I agree with you in that we can't keep DEFENDING ourselves against Republican attack. We MUST frame the Democratic message in a way that touches the hearts and minds of the populace.