If you don't like what Obama and the Dems on Capitol Hill are doing, there is a solution...

[derby378]

*sigh*

I'm gonna say it again...

GET OFF YOUR ASS.

This exhortation may seem harsh, but my challenge to you as disaffected Democrats is actually not that hard to do.

I believe the only way to retake the party from the forces of compromise is from the ground up. This is what I've been saying since early 2006. We started in 2003-2004, but the effort got bogged down when the party establishment stepped in and started dictating terms. Then came November 2006, and the Democratic Party actually retook the House and Senate. They even made inroads across the nation in what were once considered solid Republican strongholds.

Now we've got Barack Obama in the White House, which is a definite improvement over John McLame and his sidekick, Slappy the Dodo Bird. But we still have a list of demands. And if you're not satisfied with what Obama, Pelosi, and Reid and doing in terms of policy, you've gotta get off your ass. Just like I did.

I want every disaffected Democrat who is thinking of leaving the party to instead run for some sort of Democratic office within the next two years. Precinct, city, county, state, Federal, I don't give a damn. Following my own advice, I became a precinct chair and an election judge. I'm organizing a caucus in our state party. I've been writing county and state resolutions as though I was afraid of losing the ability to use my hands. Where I go from here is anyone's guess.

But I'm only here because I got off my ass.

This is where you come in. Stack your county and state party organizations with progressive grassroots activists. If you have a chance to get in the national structure, do it.

In short, I'm calling upon you to DU the Democratic Party itself.

It's not that hard to do. I promise. Check your county party HQ and learn what forms you need to officially file to run for whatever office you seek.

There is so much energy and potential here on DU. Over on "that other site," it seems like all they know how to do is bitch and complain. I know we do a lot of that, too. But I want to see DU transform into something more than just a left-wing version of "those guys." I want us to grow the next crop of Democrats who will chart our party's course from the White House to the court house to the school house to the dog house. This is doable. Take a look at how many members we have, all the energy we possess, all the passion, all the outrage, all the drive to make this nation a better place.

Who's with me? Together, we can send shockwaves through the Democratic Party establishment. We can become the party itself.

The mid-terms will be here before you know it. Get busy. Let's seal the deal once and for all and make the Republicans a permanent minority.

[zeemike]

1. Go for it Derby...you are right.

So let me K&R this and encourage all those smart and articulate DUers to get involved. And there are plenty of them.

[derby378]

2. I appreciate it!

And here's a motivational video just for you!

http://www.mtv.com/videos/saul-williams/61101/list-of-demands-reparation.jhtml

[Mithreal]

3. Empowering and inspiring. K&R. Should post this daily. nt

[derby378]

4. You are too kind

Mind you, I needed a little nudge from a couple of fellow DUers when I was in a particularly grouchy mood. Their advice helped me to get up, sign up, show up and speak up where I could do some good.

:hi:

[derby378]

5. If anyone here still doubts their own ability...

...keep in mind that our current President is named Barack Hussein Obama - which he himself said was not the sort of name you'd normally associate with our Head of State. His background included representing people on the wrong side of the tracks. And yet look at what he's been able to do so far in his life.

Because Obama, you see, got off his ass.

[derby378]

6. KICK!

This is too important to let it sink...

[Laurab]

7. K&R nt

[roody]

8. k & r

[antimatter98]

9. Oh yeah, waste your time on the Democrat Party... that's the ticket! n/t

[derby378]

11. Well...

...if you think you and yours can build a viable third party that can beat the Dems, do it.

Frankly, I think it would do America a heap of good if Congress was made up not of Democrats and Republicans, but instead Democrats and Greens. They could both campaign on which party would protect more forest, clean our rivers more efficiently, or do a better job of saving endangered species from extinction.

But it still means you've got to get out there and do something.

[Fire1]

10. K&R

[SwiperFox]

12. And how do would we oust the DLC and the DINOS? They'll just give up power?

Beale: I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's worth; banks are going bust; shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter; punks are running wild in the street, and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it.

We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat. And we sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be!

We all know things are bad -- worse than bad -- they're crazy.

It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out any more. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we're living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, "Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials, and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone."

Well, I'm not going to leave you alone.

I want you to get mad!

I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot. I don't want you to write to your Congressman, because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street.

All I know is that first, you've got to get mad.

You've gotta say, "I'm a human being, goddammit! My life has value!"

So, I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it, and stick your head out and yell,

"I'm as mad as hell,

and I'm not going to take this anymore!!"

[derby378]

13. China has approximately 2,255,000 active-duty soldiers

Nobody wants to get in a ground war with China - they can simply overrun and outlast almost any opponent. Even the United States, with all of its neato gadgets and such, would have a hard time bringing these guys down.

Same principle with the Democratic Party. If enough of us band together, we can simply swarm the DLC and DINOs. That would be a beautiful thing, indeed - visualize the French peasants storming the Bastille.