Occupy Underground

The republicans could raise almost unlimited cash. The Democrats, representing the common man, could never hope to compete.

Part of the justification for the DLC was just that. The decision was made to push the party rightward on corporate and economic policy while remaining committed to social justice. That would open up the corporate coffers to Democratic candidates.

The problem was and always will be how do you take great sums of money from persons or corporations and not have that influence your decisions? Human nature being what it is, you cannot.

And once that corrupting influence has begun it is a slippery slope into subservience. The money, and the power that brings, is addictive.

A big problem we as party members have is that it is so easy for someone corrupted by the flow of money to justify supporting the corporate agenda, not Democratic goals. Our system has quirky ways of getting legislation passed which allows for plenty of obfuscation. It is very easy to hide what you are doing on most bills. You can claim to be against something yet vote to support it. You can claim to be for something and yet vote to kill it.

This is one of the most important issues facing our party. We need to decide what Democrats really stand for. I'm not sure I know anymore.