David Shove wrote:
(A publicly funded stadium...) It is just the most flagrant example of the DFL
siding with big
money than with principles or campaign promises.
And the Green Party is running a candidate for mayor who is AGAINST giving
greedhead Pohlad another billion dollars. Progessives now have a choice,
and DFL hacks don't like that.
I know it's the silly season, but this generates heat, not light.
The DFL as a party is corrupt, not because any of its members are
corrupt, but because it has held hegemony for maybe fifty years. The
last Republicans on the city council were Barbara Carlson and Charlie
Hoyt. Was that the mid-eighties? Have Republicans or any other party
held a majority since Hubert Humphrey was mayor?
Being the only or dominant game in town breeds sloth of the little gray
cells. The DFL, having lost bunches of folks to the Greens, and bunches
more to apathy, will only survive, somewhat intact, if it is remade by
people of color and new Americans. They have the innate power to infuse
the excitement of their diversity into politics.
That's what's happening now. Groups of little d democrats are bellying
up to the bar and demanding entree. Booker Hodges, Flowers, and some
others represent some of them. RT Rybak and his crew represent a more
organized, savvy group. Neva Walker, Jeff Hayden, and some others
represent a third group. Rybak and his bunch appeal to the mostly white
middle class. Hodges, Flowers, et.al. seem to group with the no collar
class, so have both race and class issues they want to inject into the
mix. Walker, Hayden, et.al. are working class and able to work
collectively with the white working class. GLBT folks, who have issues
they want to have addressed equitably, also comprise a faction. Here in
the 8th ward we are not yet seeing many Latinos, Somalis or other
immigrants, but that change is fast upon us.
I'm guessing that, as time wears on, the Greens will be the more
conservative (Greening up being a conservative notion to begin with)
while the DFL will dance on the edge of representing "everyone else,"
it's traditional position, but the faces in position will be very different.
The Republicans do not figure in the mix because there are so few of
them within the city limits. There are, however, many who vote and
convene as DFLers because the Republican Party has ceased to have the
numbers to have any impact. (In their hearts and speech, they are
republicans of the little r stripe.)
Personally, I think that the way to have the strongest city is to have a
triangle of representative parties so that getting the majority always
requires cooperation from at least one of the other two groups.
For myself, I have always preferred the democrats, they do the more
interesting theater.
WizardMarks, Central
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