This is an honest missive to supporters of the DNC and Third Way politics. I’m going to ask a series of uncomfortable questions. I might use coarse language. There are certain things I know, and certain things I must have answers to. Indulge me a bit, if you wish. I know it’s an election year. I know what’s at stake with the SCOTUS. I know what’s at stake with the Oval. All I want to know is, Why in the sideways fuck are we still supporting the DNC? They don’t give a shit about you. Never have. Never will. Barely any of us make enough money or are famous enough to be positively effected by their platform of being treated as the little spoon in the bed for corporate interests and the war machine.
Is it simply that the corporate candidate is the safest bet? When the Third Way emerged, it was out of frustration. It was out of being tired of losing to the better-funded GOP candidate. It was out of shame of sitting at the kid’s table of legislation instead of in the Oval. And we, as Democrats, were going to get the big chair, gawddammit, no matter who we had to cozy up to in order to park our collective asses in that seat. In order to do so, some concessions were needed: millions of new police, welfare reform, trade agreements that would sink the middle class, DOMA, DADT, the repeal of Glass-Steagall, wars and proxy wars around the globe. Any clue as to what these things have in common? It’s pretty simple: Every concession the Third Way has made over the last two decades has had a negative impact on the poorest Americans- while benefitting the wealthy to an immeasurable degree. The canard that all Americans prospered under Bill Clinton is laughable. I personally watched the town I grew up in become transformed from a solid, GM-manufacturing based, quality place to live into the ghost town of ghettos and meth-addled crackers that it is today. And it basically happened overnight. Certainly within five years after NAFTA.
Are we so used to oligarchy that it’s the only thing that makes sense anymore? The rampant corruption in the DNC has been documented over and over here and elsewhere. And the response is overwhelmingly, “Yeah, well, they do it, too”. When our team is caught red fucking handed rigging debates, violating security protocols, covering up police shootings, or, most recently, crying wolf over lack of party fundraising, “we” aren’t “we” anymore. We’re “them”. 25 years of Third Way politics has devoured the soul of the Democratic Party. We get small nods, or we get the occasional victory in LGBT rights (which is such a clearly obvious thing to do in the first fucking place that the fact it took so long is nearly as depressing as the idea of another season of Longmire). The ACA is helping many, hurting few, but is still a giant blow job to the insurance companies. The fact that Phama lobbyists wrote most of the ACA is nothing new around here. We’re a nation of serfs. And the owners of this country don't give a fuck that we're serfs.
At what point in your life did acquiescence replace idealism? Let’s be honest...no one is born with a political leaning. It’s a thing you acquire- like your favorite genre of music, type of beverage, or your eventual pants size versus your desired pants size. Along the way, we’ve had to compromise. A lot. More than our ideological counterparts have had to. And for what? An organization in the DNC that is so beholden to their corporate masters that Single Payer was never an option? The same people that sold millions of American manufacturing jobs up the river because a favor was owed? The folks that ran so far to the right in 2010 and 2012 that mentioning their sitting President in public was akin to a death knoll for their campaigns? And now, knowing what you do, you want to side with these greedhead fucks and let them make your decisions for you?
There’s only one person running for President that says no to the owners. There’s only one person who would rather send your children and grandchildren to school instead of war. Regardless of the outcome of the primary, regardless of the outcome of the general election, we as Democrats need to follow the example of the Third Way politicians and throw them to the wilderness. The corporate-friendly swine who have given us nearly three decades of unprecedented wealth for the wealthy while sacrificing every principle that made us Democrats in the first fucking place need to wander alone in obscurity- with no influence other than the ability to swat at a passing mosquito. This is about more than one election. This is about whether or not we have some soul left to save.
x YouTube VideoIn every primary, in every local, state, and national contest, vote progressive as often as possible. Fight every day to end the reign of the oligarchs. Never let anyone ask you to settle. Being forced to settle is a reality we all face, in many different aspects, all too fucking often.