thanks open left (0.00 / 0)

everytime i become fed up and hopeless at the level of corruption and misinformation and stupidity in my country, i come back here and you center me,
rereading this comment it could sound sarcastic but is not,
ian

whatever you think people owe you, that is what you owe people

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by: eomonroe00 @ Fri Aug 21, 2009 at 03:40:07 AM UTC

We all say thanks from a myriad of viewpoints. Come more often, help us form directions. (0.00 / 0)

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The government has a defect: it's potentially democratic. Corporations have no defect: they're pure tyrannies. -Chomsky

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by: HousesofProgress @ Fri Aug 21, 2009 at 04:50:22 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

how (0.00 / 0)

how

whatever you think people owe you, that is what you owe people

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by: eomonroe00 @ Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 23:01:31 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Not very flush these days, but... (0.00 / 0)

It felt good to give all 65 of the Congresspersons on that list one dollar each. I hope it all adds up to an amount that can help them out when it counts.

I liked getting the mail back from ActBlue with each of the names. I will remember who they are. The names on that list will be the only congressional campaigns for reelection that I will consider contributing to in 2010.

ec=-8.50 soc=-8.41   (3,967 Watts)

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by: Mark Wallace @ Fri Aug 21, 2009 at 03:44:00 AM UTC

Bravo! Massively good idea. (0.00 / 0)

Real, symbolic, timely and democratic (and Democratic [and better dem too])

0

--

The government has a defect: it's potentially democratic. Corporations have no defect: they're pure tyrannies. -Chomsky

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by: HousesofProgress @ Fri Aug 21, 2009 at 04:52:27 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Thanks Adam, this is very very encouraging. (0.00 / 0)

--

The government has a defect: it's potentially democratic. Corporations have no defect: they're pure tyrannies. -Chomsky

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by: HousesofProgress @ Fri Aug 21, 2009 at 04:53:19 AM UTC

Let's take this up a few notches (4.00 / 1)

You need sticks that actually hurt, and carrots that actually reward.

I remember in the Dean days when a "bat" could raise a million dollars in a matter of days. I remember last year when Obama was flush with more cash than anyone could imagine.

Those were only people, whom we were trying to get elected because we hoped they would implement what we really wanted: the right policies...

Well, now we have such a policy in the Public Option, and all we can come up with is 5,000 contributors and 350Grand?

A strong, robust Public Option would be the first real, fundamental reform of Washington since...what, the War Powers Act? It would literally save lives, save families from bankruptcy, raise our standard of living, lighten the burden on small business...it would have the realistic potential of making a difference-maybe THE difference-in the lives of scores of millions of people. It would be one of the greatest achievements of the American Left, right up there with Medicare, Social Security, the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, Rural Electrification, the Right To Organize, etc.

And all we can come up with is 5,000 contributors and 350Grand?

As big as it would be for health care reform, a strong public option would take on even larger meaning. It would mean that average, everyday people were-just for once-able to beat a system that over the last 30 years shuttered whole industries, started needless wars, freely engaged in reverse-Robin Hood corporate welfare, gave away our rights to the WTO, and most recently, created yet another in a series of financial crises.

But maybe it wouldn't be just for once. Maybe this would be the beginning of something. Maybe this time it would be the Public Option, but the next time Progressives scored a win would be with financial reform, campaign finance reform, public education, environment, or High Speed Rail. Or maybe a complete repeal of the Patriot Act, or...well you get the idea. If we go in big now, and really treat this seriously, we could be creating new powerbrokers. It would change the dynamic, change the discussion, and maybe launch some of these people into careers in the Senate.

For me, my donation was about the eight years of DLC and Clinton, where they took us big with NAFTA, Neoliberalism and No Health Care, and all we got was midnight basketball. It was about Gore & Lieberman, about HRC toasting Dean's demise at the '04 convention, about giving unions the shiv the day after every election, about being ignored and ridiculed and lied to by plastic people who were powerful enough to get away with anything.

It was for every time a politician promised me one thing, and then did the exact opposite.

Can't we do better than this? Can't we do better than 5,000 and 350?

For once, this is your chance to stick it to these guys. Let's get out there and spread the word...

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by: glacierpeaks @ Fri Aug 21, 2009 at 05:24:51 AM UTC

Giving to individual progressive candidates makes some sense. (0.00 / 0)

Helping Wall Street, private insurers, Big Pharma, the m/i complex, hedge funds, etc bankroll pro-war, pro-NAFTA, anti-single-payer DLCers and their fellow travelers makes no sense -- except to those "progressive" in the sense of the DLC's think tank "Progressive (sic) Policy Institute" with its coterie of PNAC letter-signers.

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by: nasrudin @ Fri Aug 21, 2009 at 13:55:13 PM UTC