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Positing a remaking of the Democratic Party is not the same as suggesting a vote for this or that candidate, which might be worth discussing. The former suggests something for which nobody . . . NOBODY . . . has ever been able to identify a means and a strategy. There exists no mechanism for citizens to remake the party. Those who talk about an "inside-outside strategy" don't really have either, but they can't even pretend to be "inside" of it. The Democratic party has no members among the citizenry, just voters . . . or, most accurately, consumers. It has no membership meetings, but merely mass consumer satisfaction surveys. Turn on the TV and take a serious gander at the selection process in these parodies of "debate." (Bloomberg wasn't wrong when he referred to himself and other Democratic contenders as "contestants.") It is a mechanism for frustrating anyone expecting a clear discussion of conflicting policies, much less underlying ideas and values. It is exactly what it looks like: a process for corporate capitalism to select a spokesman deemed to be the most likeable and credible. The local TV station is auditioning for who we'd like to see on the air as the next weatherman, but is that even a tiny step towards the kind of democracy we need to build is one that gets us control over the factors effecting the stability of the climate? Can we move towards a more environmentally friendly mode of transportation by choosing between which fossil-fuel based machine you want to buy? If I am mistaken in this thinking, I would ask anyone who wants to remake the Democratic Party to identify the mechanism for doing this? You have to do that before we can begin to discuss a strategy. Cheers, Mark L. PS: None of this is not to say that the Left has done well pursuing an independent course, but that's a different set of questions. _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
