It was my hope, a week after the election, that I would hear and read meaningful analyses on the cause, consequences and long-term outlook for Democrats after their losses this midterm election. Very little of what I read this week was “filling,” until I came across William Greider’s “How the Democratic Party Lost Its Soul” in The Nation. Greider concludes:
The tattered authenticity of the party matters more now because both the country and the world face dangers and disorders that demand a fundamental reordering of the global economic system. This requires bold action, at a time when neither party is confronting the threatening situation. The Republicans are a wholly owned subsidiary of the business-finance machine; the Democrats are rented.
Eugene Ellison, a 67 year old black male, was shot to death by two police officers who entered his home without a warrant on December 9, 2010. Mr. Ellison was the father of a Little Rock Police Department police officer.
See the Laux Law Group’s letter (below) to the U.S. Department of Justice requesting an investigation of the Eugene Ellison case.
WASHINGTON — Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is under consideration for a leadership position in the Senate Democratic caucus, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.
Now that Election 2014 is over and we await whatever happens next in the Democratic camp, progressives need to step up efforts to take their rightful place at the helm of the party.
It is clear that voter disengagement was more a function of the unwillingness to keep voting in the status quo, than it was the abandonment of the Democratic party. It should be taken as a warning to Democrats that the party, as it is now, not only stopped reflecting the popular view, but has also allowed itself to be dragged into the Republicans’ dangerous race politics. Continue reading Restoring our Democracy: Calling the NAACP and MoralMondays→
Former Governor Howard Dean was on Meet The Press today. With the exception of the very last sentence in this clip, I am in full agreement with everything he said.
Tuesday’s defeat was bound to be the catalyst for the kinds of events that happen after, well, all defeats. The victor gloats. Usually, the defeated retreat for a bit to reflect on their loss and how to move on. Continue reading Dem Politics: Post-mortem is the new rehab→
Our system of politics has been breaking for some time. I’ve made numerous public comments on various aspects of our degrading democracy over the last few years. What I’ve only recently begun to articulate, however, is that the problems we’ve all been focused on in connection to events pertaining to the right, also exist on the left, perhaps to a lesser extent. The rot on the left is my focus here.
As the final Election Day votes are being counted, national attention has focused on the Republicans’ near-sweep of close elections for Senate and governor. But elections for the other congressional branch deserve more scrutiny. Given that Republicans will only win about 52 percent of votes in House races, how are they ending up with 57 percent of seats? Why did Democrats concede control of the House months ago, even when congressional approval is so low?
Democrats had ample reason to fear that this year’s midterm elections would not go well for them, but bad doesn’t begin to describe what happened to them—and the nation—yesterday. Catastrophic is more like it.
