An Open Letter To The DLC Democrats.
September 23, 2005
By Alva Goldbook
As a genuine Liberal, I have a confession I would like to make. In 2000 I proudly voted on the Green ticket for Ralph Nader. Many progressives did. And if I had to relive that moment a million times over, even knowing what I know now, and how horrific the Bush presidency would become, I would proudly do it again.
In 2000 we were given a choice. The choice was between a drunk failure who could be counted on to never do a thing for the American People. But what you didn’t see what that the other option was to vote for a robotic plastic failure who would do never do a thing for the American People.
Let me say right now, I respect Al Gore. I think he legitimately won the 2000 election. He has done some great things since then. But he was a candidate that I could never have voted for.
Why you ask? Wouldn’t voting for Nader just be a vote for Bush?
Let me answer you this way: why should I have voted for Al Gore?
Perhaps some of you DLC Dems have looked around at the battlefield and have come to a conclusion that the American People just don’t want some radical kooky left winger in there. America would prefer someone who is a bit more conservative, and that you can win by playing it safe and staying in the middle. But as Jim Hightower famously put it: there’s nothing in the middle of the road except yellow stripes and dead armadillos. It’s long overdue for you to get rid of the yellow stripes down your backs.
When you look around America today and you see the destruction of New Orleans, the high gas prices that are squeezing the middle class, the loss of jobs that are going overseas to Timbuktu, you can always look yourselves in the mirror and say, “see what happens when Republicans run everything.”
Yes, Bush has done much harm to this great nation, but it isn’t Bush you should be blaming. You should be blaming yourselves.
In 2004 so many of you were hopeful that we would see a Kerry presidency. But why? Because, for once your team would actually win, and get to reap the rewards too? Time after time I heard the same thing. “I would rather vote for a ham and cheese sandwich than George W. Bush.” Guess what? Kerry was that ham and cheese on rye.
The sad fact is that you middle-of-the-road-let’s-play-it-safe Democrats brought this on us. You did not fight to stop it. And it is not you who are paying the price, it is US.
It was you who cost the Democrats control of the House and Senate. It was you who bent over backwards to Newt Gingrich. It was you who didn’t fight for an increase in the minimum wage in the last 8 years. It was you who passed NAFTA that sent millions of good paying American jobs overseas. It was you who allowed the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to pass, giving way for the creation of the Fox News Channel. It was you who have done virtually nothing to ensure that Americans have access to health care. It was you who passed the morbid Bankruptcy bill. And it was you who allowed this administration to send nearly 2,000 of our troops to their deaths in an illegal and immoral war in Iraq. It’s time for you to take a good hard look and mirror and acknowledge who you are. You are turncoats.
There’s the sad fact that you continually forget. Nobody would choose a rubber ham and cheese sandwich over the real thing. That is why the Republicans control everything. They are wrong, immorally corrupt, and don’t have a clue how to properly run a nation…but they at least say what they mean. When Bush says “some call you the elite, I call you my base,” he means it. He’s unapologetic about it. And he supports that elite each and every day with every breath he has. The question is, when are you going to start supporting us?
Two days ago a read a letter by Nancy Greggs that said you should either get a spine or resign. But I say if you are not ready, at this very moment to be our representatives, then you should not only resign, but you should leave the Democratic Party.
If you do not support pulling all American troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan immediately then you should leave the party.
If you don’t support a woman’s right to choose and would instead want the government to make that decision for her, then you should leave the party.
If you don’t support ending the death penalty for all criminal crimes, no matter how heinous they are, then you should leave the party.
If you don’t support an immediate and dramatic increase in the minimum wage, making it a real living wage of at least $10 an hour, and then fixing it to inflation, then you should leave the party.
If you don’t support a universal single payer health care system that every other industrial nation on earth enjoys then you should leave the party.
If you don’t support the US completely pulling out of NAFTA, CAFTA, GATT, and the WTO then you should leave the party.
If you don’t support completely repealing the USA Patriot Act that gives the FBI the right to look at which books I check out of the library and to violate my 4th amendment right to be secure in my persons, papers, and affects against unreasonable searches and seizures then you should leave the party.
If you support Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Bectel, Halliburton or any other massive transnational corporation over small local businesses than you should leave the party.
And if you think you can win a war on terror by dropping bombs on the heads of innocent people instead of giving them the same opportunities that Americans USED to enjoy, then you most definitely should leave the party.
It’s not that hard. All you have to do is look into your hearts, and say exactly what you mean. Be honest. Be true. And have the guts to be honest and true. And if you’re too much a coward to do that, then do this great nation a favor and get the hell out of the way.
By Alva Goldbook
As a genuine Liberal, I have a confession I would like to make. In 2000 I proudly voted on the Green ticket for Ralph Nader. Many progressives did. And if I had to relive that moment a million times over, even knowing what I know now, and how horrific the Bush presidency would become, I would proudly do it again.
In 2000 we were given a choice. The choice was between a drunk failure who could be counted on to never do a thing for the American People. But what you didn’t see what that the other option was to vote for a robotic plastic failure who would do never do a thing for the American People.
Let me say right now, I respect Al Gore. I think he legitimately won the 2000 election. He has done some great things since then. But he was a candidate that I could never have voted for.
Why you ask? Wouldn’t voting for Nader just be a vote for Bush?
Let me answer you this way: why should I have voted for Al Gore?
Perhaps some of you DLC Dems have looked around at the battlefield and have come to a conclusion that the American People just don’t want some radical kooky left winger in there. America would prefer someone who is a bit more conservative, and that you can win by playing it safe and staying in the middle. But as Jim Hightower famously put it: there’s nothing in the middle of the road except yellow stripes and dead armadillos. It’s long overdue for you to get rid of the yellow stripes down your backs.
When you look around America today and you see the destruction of New Orleans, the high gas prices that are squeezing the middle class, the loss of jobs that are going overseas to Timbuktu, you can always look yourselves in the mirror and say, “see what happens when Republicans run everything.”
Yes, Bush has done much harm to this great nation, but it isn’t Bush you should be blaming. You should be blaming yourselves.
In 2004 so many of you were hopeful that we would see a Kerry presidency. But why? Because, for once your team would actually win, and get to reap the rewards too? Time after time I heard the same thing. “I would rather vote for a ham and cheese sandwich than George W. Bush.” Guess what? Kerry was that ham and cheese on rye.
The sad fact is that you middle-of-the-road-let’s-play-it-safe Democrats brought this on us. You did not fight to stop it. And it is not you who are paying the price, it is US.
It was you who cost the Democrats control of the House and Senate. It was you who bent over backwards to Newt Gingrich. It was you who didn’t fight for an increase in the minimum wage in the last 8 years. It was you who passed NAFTA that sent millions of good paying American jobs overseas. It was you who allowed the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to pass, giving way for the creation of the Fox News Channel. It was you who have done virtually nothing to ensure that Americans have access to health care. It was you who passed the morbid Bankruptcy bill. And it was you who allowed this administration to send nearly 2,000 of our troops to their deaths in an illegal and immoral war in Iraq. It’s time for you to take a good hard look and mirror and acknowledge who you are. You are turncoats.
There’s the sad fact that you continually forget. Nobody would choose a rubber ham and cheese sandwich over the real thing. That is why the Republicans control everything. They are wrong, immorally corrupt, and don’t have a clue how to properly run a nation…but they at least say what they mean. When Bush says “some call you the elite, I call you my base,” he means it. He’s unapologetic about it. And he supports that elite each and every day with every breath he has. The question is, when are you going to start supporting us?
Two days ago a read a letter by Nancy Greggs that said you should either get a spine or resign. But I say if you are not ready, at this very moment to be our representatives, then you should not only resign, but you should leave the Democratic Party.
If you do not support pulling all American troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan immediately then you should leave the party.
If you don’t support a woman’s right to choose and would instead want the government to make that decision for her, then you should leave the party.
If you don’t support ending the death penalty for all criminal crimes, no matter how heinous they are, then you should leave the party.
If you don’t support an immediate and dramatic increase in the minimum wage, making it a real living wage of at least $10 an hour, and then fixing it to inflation, then you should leave the party.
If you don’t support a universal single payer health care system that every other industrial nation on earth enjoys then you should leave the party.
If you don’t support the US completely pulling out of NAFTA, CAFTA, GATT, and the WTO then you should leave the party.
If you don’t support completely repealing the USA Patriot Act that gives the FBI the right to look at which books I check out of the library and to violate my 4th amendment right to be secure in my persons, papers, and affects against unreasonable searches and seizures then you should leave the party.
If you support Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Bectel, Halliburton or any other massive transnational corporation over small local businesses than you should leave the party.
And if you think you can win a war on terror by dropping bombs on the heads of innocent people instead of giving them the same opportunities that Americans USED to enjoy, then you most definitely should leave the party.
It’s not that hard. All you have to do is look into your hearts, and say exactly what you mean. Be honest. Be true. And have the guts to be honest and true. And if you’re too much a coward to do that, then do this great nation a favor and get the hell out of the way.
posted by Alva Goldbook at 4:44 PM
5 Comments:
I enjoyed reading your letter Alva. It is too bad that the DLC (the Republican wing of the DNC) isn't interested in doing anything but maintaining the status quo.
The DLC has turned the DNC into a party of compliance as opposed to one of opposition with purpose.
Hello!
I found your blog from your post at the DNC forum.
Excellent pictures & commentary on the DC protest, btw. But I wanted to comment on your entry here:
First- very well said! I only disagree with two things you said when you were launching into the Republican lite:
IMO, a vote for the independent candidate is a toilet vote. I don't necessarily like that, but that's the way it is. In the case of 2000 & 2004, it was a boost to the Lord duh-bya. While it's true he was busy stealing votes, the votes for Buchannon/Nader- anyone other than Gore/Kerry helped him.
The second one, I'd prefer to hold comment on, but I just wanted to tell you that I thought your message was dead on & that I appreciate your efforts!
I'd be happy to trade links if you want to. But be warned that I'm a tad radical left. :)
Chuck, great, let's trade links. make sure you e-mail about it. you can find my email on the main page marked "contact me". (I don't want to retype it...it helps keep down the spammers)
I agree that we basically have a two party system. Yes, voting for a Green (at least at a presidential level) is not very wise in the short term.
However, look back on history some. When Teddy Rooveselt went independent running on his Bull Moose Party he lost. But! what happened is that the issues that the third party brought to the table forced the two major parities to somehow address it. The result was that the Democratic Party was best suited to address those issues, and the result was that FDR gave us the New Deal, modeled in part on Teddy's Fair Deal.
I believe the same is happening today. Clinton came in and moved the party to the center, and the result was that the Dems lost the House. Gore tried to continue that, and he got Nader as a result. Kerry was an improvement, but not by a whole lot.
Without the Greens and Nader, the Democratic Party would never have shifted to the left as much as it has (and that's only been minimal), and you wouldn't have had Howard Dean nominated as chairmen.
It's still a work in progress, but we are seeing more and more outspoken attacks on the DLC Dems, the most recent being Cindy Sheehan's attack against Hillary Clinton. All I can say, is it's about damn time.
Chuck,
I looked at your Divided States of Bushmerika blog. pretty nice blog! e-mail me, alvaughgoldbuch (at) aol (dot) com
eh..just to correct myself. Teddy's was the Square Deal, not the Fair Deal.
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