An Open Letter to the Democratic Party

   Throw back your head and roar !

   I've had enough .....

Today I got yet one more fundraising letter from the Democratic Party, full of gloom and doom about whether it can regain control of the House, or even keep control of the Senate, in face of huge new donations against it by the Koch brothers and other donors on the corporate right. I understand there to be truth in this - but in the middle of reading, I realized ..... that I've had enough !

I'm not a registered Democrat - I'm an Independent with progressive views who feels he has nowhere else to go. I've donated, and fairly frequently to various fundraising groups of the Democratic Party since 2008, and have for the most part felt it was money well spent. But recently, I've had an increasing sense a lukewarm, timid Democratic Party actually favors the agenda of the GOP.

Here's what I have to say to middle of the road, play it safe, coddle-the-corporations, mainstream Democrat Party fundraising groups :


Dear * * * * * ,

At present I am donating to organizations sending an unmistakably progressive message and taking an unmistakably progressive stance. I am concerned to the bones that our President is attempting to fast track the Trans Pacific Partnership, without the glimmer of a thought to share the content of this document with the American people. I am disappointed to my bones not to hear the President or the Democratic Party come out hard - and persistently - against the Citizens United ruling ; against the destructive activities of groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) ; against end-run legislation to protect the agricultural industry from GMO labeling laws with teeth ; against the undermining of the  Dodd-Frank Act ; and against the death-by-underfunding of our environmental regulatory agencies. I have no idea anymore whether the Democratic Party favors renewable energy, or is against Tar Sands oil extraction, hydraulic fracturing and other technologies highly destructive of the environment. 

The mega-trend of our times, in my opinion, is the increasing influence of corporate money on our political process, to the clear detriment of the remainder of our population. Does the Democratic Party worry or care about this ? The Republican Party has its pants down to its knees in collusion with the corporate agenda - but mainstream Democrats are being too polite to point it out. In doing so, in my opinion, they're failing the American people - and missing the opportunity of a lifetime. Here's my observation - and a suggestion :

The leadership of the GOP, and of the right wing Tea Party, actually has nothing to offer its own constituency. Point this out ! Poor and middle class white people and Christian conservatives, to name just a two groups, stand to lose as much and more than anyone under the corporate agenda - an agenda which if they knew it, corresponds neither to their own economic interests, nor their own true values.

I say tell them - and the rest of the country - loud and clear.

I will find places to donate my money in 2014, and I hope it will be to the * * * * *. I am not against this organization, but at the moment, I want to back progressive candidates, first and foremost. If the Democratic Party is progressive, I want to see it be a lion about it, and not a pussycat. I want to see it throw back its head and roar !

Respectfully,

Jeff Smith

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                     Suggested actions until the Democratic Party comes around :

                       - Visit the Democracy for America website and "Join"

                      - Visit Democracy for America on Facebook and "Like"

          - Make a donation to progressive Democratic candidates today !

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