I was on the road today, and found this piece on the Progressive Review that was so good, I read the entire thing on my phone.
I can’t break it apart, you should read it all. I don’t agree with everything author Sam Smith says, but I’m with the gist of it.
Because this is exactly how I feel right now, and I don’t think I’m alone. Am I?
This mess with the unemployment benefits had really brought it home to me. If Democrats don’t stand for helping people in trouble during a major recession, exactly what do they stand for?
This isn’t just about winning. What do you want to win for?
When in doubt blame the Clintons. It’s always a good line to use.
Another article by a guy that has no clue.
The Liberals were against Clinton from day one. He himself never hid the fact that he positions himself slightly to the right of progressive. Furthermore, he tried to integrate gays in the military and have a real health care reform. He also understood that Canada, the US and Mexico should be a North American Common market like Europe is. He also understood that well fare is crucial, but the 90s version was damaging to the poor. The liberals wanted the old system to stay and they were possessive and damaging and therefore Clinton couldn’t have the right reform.
Before Clinton there was Carter the Clown who was elected by liberals as well.
American progressives, liberal is not the right term, have slowly succumbed to the right wing. They were not dragged kicking and screaming, they whimpered their way toward the right as time past.
If anything, electing Obama while even the Nation knew that he is a Wall Street guy, was the real sign of final capitulation.
I for one agree with the guy. If you haven’t realized yet that Liberals/Progressives/Populists, whatever you want to call them, are the doormats of the Democratic Party, you really haven’t been paying attention or you’re part of the corporatist Plutocrats seeking to misdirect from the substantive challenges Americans face. And by Americans, I mean the American people not the hypothetical America of corporate media and the political parties directing the demise of democracy. I believe each human has value regardless of economic status or political power. I believe the centralization of wealth is anathema to democracy, justice and civil health. I’m Progressive, I’m Liberal, I’m Populist and I’m convinced that I’ve been sold down the river by the Democratic Party. Oh and BTW, I’m not alone.
Was the dust bowl the true catalyst for change?
“Was the dust bowl the true catalyst for change?”
That’s too absurd a question.
What a lot of pointless whining.
I am perplexed by the comments here (and don’t recognize any of these names either: are these regular readers, or drive-by commenters?): i mean anyone who leaves a “when in doubt blame clinton” at SG obviously doesn’t read this site very often, given susie’s frequently expressed fondness for both Bill and Hilary.
koshem Bos is particularly incoherent:
OK, stop right there for a second. Liberals supported those efforts. So KB is already wrong wrong wrong.
Uh no. Liberals warned that NAFTA would screw workers and they were right. NAFTA was a sop to the right wing and the free-traders. american workers were supposed to get health care in return for NAFTA, and never did.
As for “well fare”, it was the republicans who forced that one, and to his eternal discredit and shame, Clinton (weakened by the 1994 losses after his administration abandoned liberals and workers) went along with it.
as for the other commenters who make vague statements about “pointless whining”, it’s funny how they don’t detail the specifics. What, exactly, is pointless? How, exactly, is it whining to point out the truth, that liberal elites HAVE fallen out of touch with the working class and poor people whose lives they supposedly want to improve?
It’s empty and false comments like this that make me think Susie struck a nerve by posting what really IS a great article.
It should be but it is not.