Progressive Democrats of America (
PDA) is a new organization with the short term goal of taking back the white house and the long term goal of taking back the Democratic party, both of things I can heartily support. After a
rocky start, I'm happy to say that they are looking good.
More below the fold.....
Here's a bit of their most recent email (sign up
here)
This week Senator John Kerry publicly stated that he would have voted to authorize the president to declare war against Iraq
even if he had known that Saddam had harbored no weapons of mass destruction! This curious statement infuriates progressives and others who opposed the war, dismays about 80% of Democrats who now oppose the war, and surely encourages some to consider supporting Ralph Nader or the Greens. Worse, who believes such a strange statement is going to win Kerry votes from Bush? Why couldn't he have simply said that Bush and his henchmen distorted the facts and that's why he and so many others voted for the authorization?
[snip]
But the truth is, merely demanding that John Kerry change his position will get us almost nowhere. Progressives have been making similar demands for years. And threatening to support Ralph Nader or the Greens will only alienate those who, at our founding conference, Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) called "future progressives."
[snip]
Hope lies in the fact that politicians and political parties are not leopards, but political animals which feed on money, media, and votes. All animals adapt to their environment or die. The Democratic political animal, while greatly preferable to the Republican species (affirmative action, reproductive choice, commitment to a modicum of social justice and to a meaningfully slower rate of environmental destruction to name a few key distinctions,) has adapted to the corrupt political environment in which it lives.
The Progressive Democrats of America approach is to acknowledge the true scope of the problem - that the Democratic Party needs to be transformed and that the only way to do this is to out-organize the corporate interests that now create the Party's internal and external political environments
[snip]
If the people lead, the politicians and parties will follow. We need a movement to transform the Democratic Party. Nothing short of this will do.
Ah, it warms my heart. It's amazing what a good feeling it is to read something from a political organization and not think "well, that's good, but I wish they'd go farther..." Feels kind of like the first time I heard Kucinich speak. I was almost in tears as I realized that he was the first presidential candidate I actually
wanted to support, rather than supporting them as the least harmful alternative.
I really hope PDA has their act together and can build support, because I think it's vitally important (for the country, the world, and most importantly my sanity) to give the Democrats a swift kick in the ass (pun intended) and haul them back from the dark side.