A new year. Time to choose a nominee. I think that John Edwards is the best choice by far. You don't have to agree. As a Democrat and a liberal, I know what he is saying about the system and it's slant away from the public interest is true. Let's forget the election for a moment. Would not most who frequent this site not wholeheartedly agree with what he says? Even Kos seems to have told his community that he with Edwards on the issues and message.
The public must demand change, not just that we try to get along. That does not work in the current state. At best, getting along will likely move progressives down the field a few yards. Ask yourself where are we starting from? Ask yourself who is really playing the defense to a progressive agenda. No matter, the issues facing America and the world don't seem like we can wait.
Democrats stand for collaboration, consensus and compromise. That is a given. It is who we are. Edwards does also, and so do his supporters, ideas to the contrary notwithstanding.
But it can be argued that we have lost our rights already. The entrenchment of power resulting from deregulation, consolidation, lust for political power, is so far completed that the marketplace takes claim to greater Constitutional protection than for the people who created government for themselves. These interests of power, standing for rights of profit over rights of people, will not subside. Having watched it develop, I know it will NOT give it up power, but use every means available to fight change. Small change is no real change.
Don't think so? Read this on the new ethics and lobbying law:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Here is the end of that article:
But they probably need not worry. Ways are always found to get around laws like this one. "The balloon will be pressed, and the air will come out another way," said Kenneth A. Gross, a lawyer at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.
In all of this I am trying to argue that will be time to get along AFTER we take some of our rights back. They other side should have fair warning that we are not satisfied and will go to the mat. They use the tactics of evasion and deflect. At the bidding of the corporate interests they represent, they get to office and ignore, to the extent possible, what the people actually want. They are there to represent the corporate interest, first and foremost, above the people's interest, and that includes the media. It is protected by the Constitution to safeguard the public interest, but has become the instrument of the marketplace and a tool to sell us products, celebrity and ideas, so long as they make money. In the process, the ability of the public to make informed decisions, dies.
The way to beat them is to confront them directly on the issues. Call them on their tactics and evasions. When it comes to issues, we win. But we must make the case, unfraid to back away from the bully tactics. Unions know this. It IS time to step up.
Remember when Anthony Weiner of NY called them the Republic Party, the wave of excitement that swept this site. It was not about consensus. No one doubted what the Republicans were about.
Here's the video and link:
http://www.youtube.com/...
If you are a Democrat, watch it, then tell me this does not give you chills.
The other side controls virtually the playing field. Yet it wants more. It will even create war if it is good for profits. The only time it gives is when it must, and then, to protect long term interests. The time has come for this side, our side, to expose the concealment of corruption using the very best tools of technology to persuade people.
We can and should win on the issues. People must know what the change will be. The arguments over money are a reflection of how far we have fallen. As Edwards said today:
"When you're resorting to arguments about how much money somebody has, you're in a bad place," he said. "Because you're not saying, 'He's wrong on this issue, or he's wrong on that issue. And he's not a good candidate.' They're not saying any of that. They're saying, 'But we have more money.'"
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/...
Once more, in straight talk, Edwards says what we really know to be true.
It is not the first, nor the last time. Edwards is the only candidate unencumbered to any interest except that which serves the public.
Back on February 25th, on Meet the Press, Doris Kearns Goodwin made the following statement about the campaign:
Well, I think the fact that it’s going to be so long, and the fact that it’s going to be so heated means that temperament is going to be the determinate. I mean, how these people respond on the campaign trail to the ups and downs really will tell us something about them. I’ve always thought we should be looking at that even more than we look at their past stands on issues 30 years prior, 20, 10 years prior. Have they acknowledged mistakes when they made them? Have they a staff around them that’s loyal, that when something gets screwed up on the staff, they take responsibility or do they push it onto somebody else? There’s going to be all sorts of ways we’re going to look at this as we go along. And I think have they got a staff around them that tells them bad news? We can see a microcosm, from this two years that we’re going to be going through, the kind of leader they’re going to be. And that’s, in some ways, as important as experience. It’s temperament, it’s character. And those questions, and the way those people answered it, suggest that they’re looking at those qualities of temperament. And that’s key in my judgment.
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/...
As the Iowa campaign winds up, I think that, above all others, Edwards has show that he has the temperament and character to lead us with his ideas and heart. He has his eye on the ball and knows which side he is on. He is beholden only to the people. He will act in our behalf. He is running as he would have in 2004. He would have won! But then he was probably not ready.
I'll close by setting forth Edwards's own description of how he, and we, will win. Here's what he told the California SEIU back on October 19, 2007, right after he received its endorsement:
"The next three months are going to do much more than determine who our party's nominee is. They are going to determine how big our victory is in November, how big our majority is in January, and how big our accomplishments are in the first 100 days of the next president. And each one is directly connected to the next.
"The press and the pundits love to chatter on about electability – what it is, what it means, who has it, who doesn't. They all think the most electable candidate is the one with the most money and the most ties to Washington. I think the most electable candidate is the one with the best ideas who can go to every corner of America and tell the truth about how badly Washington is broken.
"The problem is, the press and the pundits have confused the candidate who would win an election inside the Beltway with the candidate who can win an election in the rest of America.
"Everybody knows that the American people are hungry for change – change is such a buzzword this election even Republicans like Mitt Romney say they're for it, which would be funny except it isn't a joke.
"So yeah, anybody can say change – but the real question is what are you going to do about it? Are you going to pay lip service to our problems and just offer poll-tested solutions that don't rock the Washington boat? Or are you going to tell the truth about the real challenges we face, be honest about what it's going to take to meet them, and have the courage to put it all on the line and fight with everything you've got to take on the special interests and make it happen? That's what I've been doing my entire life, and that's what I'm going to do as the Democratic nominee. That's what I'm going to do as president.
"If our nominee is just a little better than the Republicans, who knows what will happen? If the people want change and both parties offer slightly different versions of the status quo – a status quo that protects corporate profits and the wealthiest at the expense of everyone else – then all bets are off.
"But if our nominee offers a clear choice between a Republican party committed to corporate power and a Democratic party committed to reclaiming democracy for our people, then we're going to win this election going away.
"And if we have a nominee offering a bold vision of real change who can make the case for that vision in every corner of America, we will Congressional races across America, in red states and blue states, on the coasts, in the South, the Southwest, the Northwest and the Midwest.
"And then imagine what we can do in the first 100 days – end the war, begin the hard work to restore America's moral leadership around the world, launch an all out-effort to enact true universal health care before the summer's over, put America on the road to energy independence ... and we'd just be getting started.
"I'm not running for president just to be president – I'm running for president because our democracy has lost touch with the people who are supposed to own it, and our government has broken faith with the values that are supposed to rule it. I'm running for president to change America and put our government back on the side of the working men and women who make this country great.
"And that's why the next three months are so critical. We are not just choosing a nominee. We are taking a stand as a party. We are saying to America – this is who we are as Democrats, this is what we believe, this is what we will do if you place your trust in us.
"I believe that if we offer real change, if we reject the broken system, say no the corporate interests and stand once and for all with the people, nothing can stop us. We will win the White House, but that's not all. We will elect super majorities in the House and the Senate – 280 Democrats in the House and 61 in the Senate.
"And then we can stop talking about how to get elected, and start rolling up our sleeves to get our ideas enacted. Because make no mistake, a mandate for change is out there. The American people are waiting. Now, it's up to us."
http://www.johnedwards.com/...
As a proud liberal Democrat, this is why I support John Edwards. That is what I want the Democratic Party to represent. Watching the campaign, seeing how he has fought against the odds, yet he is right there at the finish line, I like his temperament.
I hope you decide to join us. It will be an epic struggle.