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Backbone Campaign Update:
"Strriiiike Three! You're Out o' There!!!": A Call for the Remaking of the Democratic Party
Vol. 1, No. 5--December 4, 2004
by Bill Moyer and the Backbone Coalition
The Democratic Party leadership as represented by DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe and other DNC/DLC "centrists" has failed yet again. While they insist that progressives have no better home than the Democratic Party, and whine if anyone considers voting for a third party candidate, they have put forth bland, ambiguous platforms and losing candidates for more than three election cycles. Meanwhile the far right has co-opted the moral vocabulary of our nation and further consolidated power. The DNC/DLC calls to move yet further to the right will spell even worse defeat down the road and it is our obligation to ensure this does not happen.
The DNC has relied on progressives to swell its ranks while we hold our noses and sacrifice our values to provide a united stand against the worst president in American history. We warned that a weak platform and Republican-Lite agenda was an inadequate strategy, but the DNC believed it knew better. In early July, at the DNC platform committee meeting in Hollywood, Florida, the Backbone Campaign and others forwarded platform additions, including strong civil liberties language that stirred the passions of the committee. Sandy Berger was brought in to argue that the Democratic Party could not afford to take a strong stand for civil liberties, as it would open us up to criticism on national security. Scared into submission the committee adopted the DNC palaver and the result was civil liberties language weaker "than the platform of the Idaho Republican Party." (John Nichols, The Nation, August 2, 2004)
The leadership of the Democratic Party continues to be unwilling to reframe the debate and aggressively embrace core American values such as separation of church and state, one person/one vote, and the liberties guaranteed in the Bill of Rights. John Kerry's chest pounding during the campaign, not to mention his pre-campaign votes for the Bush tax cut, Ashcroft's Patriot Act, and Cheney's war, (when every progressive in the country knew we were being lied to) has led not to victory, but once again to defeat. Progressives were told over and over again that Kerry was the "Anybody" in the "Anybody But Bush." We responded with the largest grassroots mobilization in over 100 years, unprecedented donations and a total abandonment of third party alternatives. But Kerry was not the promised "Anybody" and we now must endure another four dangerous years. The cost of this DNC/DLC strategic and rhetorical failure fills many with profound concern for our country and our planet.
Terry McAuliffe and company, "Strriiike Three! You're Out o' There!" The Backbone Campaign calls for new and bold Democratic Party leadership, leadership that will forcefully stand up to the radical right that has taken over the Republican Party. We call for the election of a forceful Democratic Party Chair willing to reframe the debate and able to speak to issues in progressive terms, not GOP's terms. We also invite you, the citizens, to join us in creating The Backbone Cabinet, A Progressive Parallel Government to help focus our movement, reframe issues and provide progressive commentary, critique, and proposals to restore balance to American politics. Participate in this coalition generated, grassroots nomination and leadership selection process by visiting www.backbonecampaign.org, because as always, it is the people who lead and the leaders who follow.
PS- Even as evidence mounts calling into question Bush's "mandate," Democratic Party leadership has made no indication that they will work vigorously to assure that every vote is counted, to assure us that the foundation of our citizenship is intact and that the will of the people is accurately reflected on inauguration day. Enough is enough.
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