I think it is timely that Brooklyn Bad Boy presented an opposing view to the diary I posted yesterday. In fact, a discussion about the anger that is creating a huge rift in the Democratic Party is way overdue.
For six years the neo-liberal wing of the party has masked itself in a populist façade while pushing through corporate polices, championing cuts to our social safety net programs while enriching Wall Street criminals. Those types of policies have sent the wrong message to American voters because they do not represent true Democratic values; and all true progressives have been offended that the White House and the neo-liberal wing of the party have enacted them in our name.
And I think it is telling that BBB said “…I would agree that the differences between the parties on economic issues is not very big…” right before he went on to dismiss every complaint populists have made about those policies. But that is the way neo-liberals defend their bankrupt agenda: they simply pretend the truth is inconsequential.
And as noted economist Ives Smith recently told Bill Moyers: “… Obama believes that the response to any policy problem is better propaganda…” And BBB’s diary is a perfect example of that type of mentality.
The most common tactic employed by Obama supporters, when deflecting criticism away from the president, is to play the race card. But that ploy only resonates with a very small segment of American voters today. It has been so overplayed it has lost its credibility.
What is more important, and what has been clearly illustrated by the responses posted in the comment section of his diary, is that many minority Democrats truly want white voters to leave.
So the Democrats are just going to have to leave these people behindAnd it has nothing to do with bible thumpers, guns, or social issues. Most of us were championing civil rights, women’s rights, and gay rights issues long before Brooklyn Bad Boy was even born. But now we are considered outsiders because we refuse to accept the corruption that is eroding our party.
But it has everything to do with attempts to conceal Obama’s corporate agenda.
And it is time for neo-liberals to stop lying; many of us have decided to expose their duplicity and we will clearly define the true nature of their ideals, and draw a very clear distinction between those policies and traditional Democratic values.
We have had enough.
Cuts to social safety net programs are not policies that true Democrats value; we actually opposed the sequestration and the wide-scale suffering it caused, but our own leaders marginalized our voices. And as with all things Obama, the blunt of the blame was shifted to liberals. And it was easy to do -- when Obama praises populist ideals in public, while rejecting them in private, most people still believe he is a liberal, even though members of his base routinely condemn his policies.
And the TPP is completely antithetical to everything we stand for; and to pretend it is a policy that progressives embrace is ludicrous…and it reflects the moral bankruptcy of the neo-liberal agenda because it reveals how desperate they are to disassociate themselves from their own policies…it’s much more effective to misdirect attention, opting instead to persaude the public into believing cruel corporate interests reflect true liberal policies. That way they can kill two birds with one stone: it pleases their corporate donors while marginalizing the voices of the people and organizations that oppose it.
The populist movement is rapidly growing in strength, and it is on a collision course with the President and DNC leaders. So, either we have an open and honest discussion about what has been happening to the Democratic Party now, or populist anger will rear its ugly head during the upcoming primary season.
And so far, no one on this site, or in this administration has shown a willingness to listen, in fact, many attempts have been made to silence or intimidate us into shutting up.
Most populists know they are unwelcome here, and we do not enjoy the animosity that is directed our way; but DNC leaders refuse to even interact with us, so the only available avenue for speaking to them is through this site.
Censorship is the wrong policy for the DKos; the last purge of populists created a lot of ill will, and at a time when there is so much anger being directed at the Democratic Party, it is foolish to try to intimidate a large segment of Democratic voters.