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Populist Reform of the Democratic Party

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whereisjustice

(2,941 posts)
Sun Apr 19, 2015, 04:30 PM Apr 2015

The difference between yesterday and today? Corporate run government. [View all]

Last edited Sun Apr 19, 2015, 07:30 PM - Edit history (2)

Even school boards are being financed by corporate interest groups. Candidates are freely bragging about how much corporate endorsement they have as a measure of merit

MBAs have taken over politics, much as they have industry. Voters play the role as expendable commodities. In the Larry Summers world of abstraction, we are no different than farm animals or natural resources. We are consumed as the market demands. Whether its war, poverty or sickness or disease, we are harvested as needed to protect/maintain the ruling class.

Profit oriented transformation has changed both parties for the worse. Viewed in context, side-by-side, both Republicans AND Democrats have never been so far (except during civil war) from the stated purpose of our national oath- liberty and justice for all. This is proven by every quality of life measure - prison population, unemployment, poverty, disparity, racism, infant mortality, etc. Every year the numbers, accumulated in total, get worse.

Why is this not just the fault of Republicans? After all, Republicans have always been on the side of the big guy.

Because the Democratic Party is run just like a for-profit corporation. I'm not going to argue the semantics of "profit or non-profit here". For example, the NFL, raking in billions per year for owners, is technically also a non-profit. Hows that for "liberty and justice"?

What people like Rahm Emanuel, Larry Summers, Wasserman-Shultz and Hillary Clinton have brought to the Democratic Party is this:

The Democratic Party corporation exists to

1 - make money to sustain and reward itself.

2 - yield results for its investors.

To the extent that the best interests of the rich and non-rich overlap, such in the case of abortion rights and gay marriage, there is an illusion that Democrats are "all fighting on the same side".

No, we aren't. Not at all.

100s of millions of people without wealth remain unrepresented. No one is fighting for them.

And least of all, Hillary is not fighting for them. Her generic deference to wealth and power avoids those important emotional issues of fairness, justice etc which interfere with corporate profits. But its our emotional senses that inform us, from an ethics and morality point of view, something is wrong and working against our collective best interests.

Take Ferguson as just one of many examples.

Thousands of lives have been ruined because of fake criminal charges in an organized crime system that should have been immediately charged under RICO (racketeer and corrupt organizations laws).

If you are a person wrongly convicted - you've paid thousands in legal fees and you will never be able to gain employment because of your criminal record. Thus starts the cycle of poverty for the current generation of your family and the next.

Now, if you've noticed a standoffish posture from the Democratic Party (about this and the never ending slaughter and violence perpetrated by police), you are not alone.

Ferguson just isn't good for Democratic Party business. And that business is getting funds from rich, mostly white, donors, the establishment elite who, to put it bluntly, despise us. They hate us.

Why? We believe in a system of basic principals that cannot be corrupted by money.

There really is an absolute right and wrong. For starters:


Starting a war based on lies is wrong.
Torture is wrong.
Stealing pension funds is wrong.
Polluting our dwindling supply of clean drinking water is wrong.
Dragnet citizen surveillance is wrong.
Sending jobs to low wage, unregulated labor markets is wrong.


Perhaps even conservative Democrats agree with these things. Where left and right differ lies in upholding these values by mandatory punishment for those who violate these principals. There must be no amnesty for wealth and/or power. This most important principal is what the right wing has no problem compromising for immediate political profit.

The MBA Democrats are winning. So much so, that a Democratic President considers torture a zealous act of patriotism, rather than a punishable criminal offense.

The growing cynicism fueled by the hypocrisy between speeches and action is corroding the nation. We lack representation. A severely compromised justice system is spreading disparity to every facet of our daily lives.

When the question comes up,time and time again, "why doesn't the Democratic Party represent us?"

The answer is rooted in the economics. Most of us can't afford to buy what they are selling - representation in Government.
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woke up this morning KT2000 Apr 2015 #1
burlesque - that's a good metaphor, our election system is becoming much like soviet/chinese style whereisjustice Apr 2015 #2
I'm ready for someone else.... 840high Apr 2015 #13
k & r. Thanks for posting. nm rhett o rick Apr 2015 #3
I'm already apathetic about this country but thanks for helping my apathy. L0oniX Apr 2015 #4
I think it helps to understand that the source of apathy is easily tracable. History repeats whereisjustice Apr 2015 #11
If You Don't Vote, You Don't Count QuestionAlways Apr 2015 #5
LOL ...you vote and the 1% still run everything. L0oniX Apr 2015 #18
Just vote! Then what? Voting is important. So you vote, your candidate wins. What next? sabrina 1 Apr 2015 #23
Excellent post...I could not agree more. zeemike Apr 2015 #6
Well said ! ROYDOG999 Apr 2015 #7
Welcome to DU. 840high Apr 2015 #14
" Social justice and economic justice goes hand-in-hand" - well said. whereisjustice Apr 2015 #15
Why turbinetree Apr 2015 #8
Diebold machine - couldn't agree more. Even the mechanics of an election is now a huge conflict whereisjustice Apr 2015 #22
There are two entities to blame for this travesty of a political process...Republicans and SCOTUS libdem4life Apr 2015 #9
Russ Feingold tried to rally Democratic leadership to challenge citizens united and was tossed whereisjustice Apr 2015 #12
Well, you can pick it apart, yet it's hard for these who are already there to go back. I'm not libdem4life Apr 2015 #17
It's possible you just didn't recognize the threads calling for corprorate money... $300,000 whereisjustice Apr 2015 #19
No, hadn't seen them. Got kind of overwhelmed with all the political/Hillary threads. libdem4life Apr 2015 #21
Huge K & R !!! - Thank You !!! WillyT Apr 2015 #10
K & R !!! Thespian2 Apr 2015 #16
Thank you! So well said. Needs to be shouted from the rooftops! bbgrunt Apr 2015 #20
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