The Democratic Leadership Conference is just another bunch of Status-Quo “Inside-the-Beltway”
Kabuki dancers.

Hillary Clinton is best friends with Rupert Murdoch. What does that tell you?

Another great example is Barbara Fienstien. Her
husband has made millions as a “DC Consultant”.

Can we honestly expect anyone, Democratic or Republican to “Bite the Hand that Feeds Them?”

Now I think incremental change and chipping away does some good and that working within the political system to try and get some mitigation of the worst of it is well worth it, even if only a few measures I support get through. You have to start somewhere and you have to work with the hand you’re dealt and with the flawed human nature that plagues all of us. Politicians have their good and bad points and the business they are in is brutal and treacherous. To stay in it, they must placate many, many different interests and power blocs, as well as balance them. Sometimes they can get one or two valuable things accomplished amidst the deal making.

Standing back and mocking bloggers and activists who try hard to the best of their abilities to get something moving is, to me, a rather cowardly, arrogant and lazy practice. No one benefits. Not one person.

Most of us also require validation; and so we will unconsciously adjust our dogma to fit into whatever organization we wish to belong. If the adjustment proves too wrenching we may choose to reexamine these deep seated beliefs, pile more denial on top of them, find some outlet that allows us to ignore the discomfort or simply change our venue to one that accomodates our beliefs.

At this point I have to take exception with Arthur. I think he generalizes in assuming each person in the organization has the same belief and driving force. I see each of us fitting into an organization’s structure as uniquely distorted. We do not have the same motivations; although there may be substantial overlap.

In Congress, we have essentially two competing factions with marginally different dogmas underlying their legislative priorities. And, by and large, our elected Congress critters find their niche. And the operating methods for each faction have been relatively unchanged since the Newt revolution.

There is, at present, no reason for the Republcans to change their operating method. They view it as a winning strategy; although it might in the long run prove to be a pyrrhic victory.

The challenge for the Democrats is to identify the changes needed in their method and underlying dogma so as to achieve their own winning strategy. For me this would include the liberal application of extented debate on any important bill where the Republicans defeat a cloture vote. If they want to filibuster, let them! Just make sure that the details and beneficiaries of the bill receive extensive coverage.

On further reflection, however, his is far too cynical a conclusion about Democratic politicians for me. For example, are we to believe that “elites,” such as John Edwards, are merely pandering for the progressive vote with their calls for economic justice and universal health care? Is it all just a smokescreen for their true agenda of world military domination and domestic oppression? Or is John Edwards’ earnest program for America’s future the one aspect of his political career that disqualifies him from inclusion into the exclusive club of “elites”?

Politics, as practiced in the real world as opposed to the theoretical one, is about compromise. And this compromise is often ugly. Candidates are frequently disingenuous when they are not flat out lying. But that does not mean that all of them, especially my fellow travelers in the Democratic party, are without genuine core beliefs. Their elite socio-economic status does not automatically make them beholden to a secret program of perpetuating the privilege of their class.

Yes, I wish Democratic politicians would grow stiffer spines and negoitiate with their Republican adversaries as if their (and our) very lives depended on it. Because they do. But I’m not willing to throw in the towel quite yet and accuse the Democratic party of having become co-opted by the same dark vision that makes Republicans such a force for evil.

Despite the very real failure of the party to implement the full progressive agenda, history provides too many examples of the triumph of reform under Democratic administrations to give up hope.