What are reasonable expectations of the Democratic Party?

If I am to remain a political activist then it will be as a progressive, one who organizes society for the benefit of those that sustain it. But my power to act is drawn from an emotion. I found myself arguing for the virtue of anger the other day. The setting was a New Years Day celebration attended by Marin progressive activists. Folks were making statements regarding their hopes and wishes for the new year and one participant related a story of two wolves that reside in all of us, love and hate. The story goes that the wolf you feed is the wolf that will dominate you. Anger was attributed to the hate wolf. I guess that the struggle is not resolved inside me because I spoke up for the power of anger to overcome the most desperate feelings of powerlessness. I am fully aware of the karmic implications of living solely on anger. I do nurture my love wolf, but as any abused spouse will tell you, I also nurture the hate wolf by continuing to engage in a relationship that perpetually lets me down.

I am a Democrat, addicted to the party’s promises of change. Like all addictions an addict needs to hit bottom before making a successful effort at breaking the compulsion that underlies abuse. And clearly the progressive movement has been abused by the Democratic Party for many years now. The twofold source of our compulsion to continue this relationship is that it seems to be the only viable alternative to the Republican Party and the Democrats had been out of power for some time now. There are only two political slogans when it gets right down to the nitty-gritty of a campaign, ‘change’ or ‘stay the course.’ How will the Democratic Party run on ‘stay the course’ when it’s right-wing is destroying the coalition that brought it to power? Stay the course and escalate the wars of the Middle East? Stay the course and sell our population into slavery of the financial and insurance industries?

I was motivated to become politically active by a fear that was a mixture of both love and anger. I feared for the loss of those things I loved most about this country and I was angry that our institutions were not acting to protect us from horrible criminals. Progressives were promised that those who committed crimes would be held accountable if we worked hard enough to give the Democrats a majority. Then we were promised structural changes that would benefit the majority of the people and hold businesses to task for their predatory practices. The Democrats did win, historic victories, but their promises did not come to pass. Progressives were shut outside the gates of power. And now my anger is turned toward those who I allowed to abuse me.

I now must find an ally with the strength to overcome the false promises of those who have proven themselves unworthy of my trust. A coalition needs to form that will deny the Democratic Party any further victories unless progressives take positions of power. Proximity to power is a strong intoxicant and collective action is a sure means of attaining strength. I will stay in the game because there is a chance an effective coalition can be created. There are too many scenarios whereby interest groups will find the presence of mind to act in unison. I became active with the Democrats because at the time that party included more progressives than any other institution. And in California progressive democrats pose a formidable block.

The New Year’s Day gathering comprised mostly Green Party members. I am ideologically aligned very closely with that party’s tenets. I view the Greens as disaffected Democrats, the abused who have begun the healing process by leaving. I am a fellow traveler of the Progressive Democrats of America and their Sonoma and Marin chapters. I am working at building Progressive Democrats of Marin into a more active organization. PDA emphasizes working to effect change to national policy by their ‘Inside and Outside the Party’ strategy. These two organizations combine nationally about 500,000 members. I have also been associated with Democracy For America. This independent Democratic group holds great promise and they train progressive candidates, I have attended often, at all levels of government. DFA has nearly 500,000 members. These three organizations are dwarfed by the size of MoveOn. They boast a membership of nearly 5,000,000. These groups have a commonality in that their membership have joined them to effect progressive change in America. When talking of size of membership it is important to keep in mind that only 50 million Americans have elected 50 senators, 21 Republicans 27 Democratic, and 2 independents.

Progressives have many other potential allies. You will find in much of my writing rants against a certain type of union activity. Don’t confuse that with being anti-union. Unions function as industry lobbyists and they provide for their membership. In the 30’s and 40’s and into the 60’s unions had a third function, they struggled for democracy in the workplace for all workers. An example of a union that is still doing so is the California Nurses Association. They are a leading force for national healthcare reform. Another example of the third function was the United Farm Workers Union movement. They weren’t just bringing better wages but also civil rights to their workers communities. Our communities need to use unionization to retake our democracy. When the union movement focuses its efforts on the narrow economic interests of its membership it divides the working class. It does the work of the anti-democratic owner class. There are many single issue organizations that will join efforts because of the Democratic issues to protect the environment and civil and human rights, even though the Party often does not follow through on its commitments.

Somewhere amongst these many millions hides my ally, a coalition to change the Democratic Party.