Referendums and Restricted Gifting
For some reason I cannot quite articulate, this morning's news has left me cold and with a feeling that the democratic leadership is neither poised nor organized to end the debacle of GOP control. The still evident problems with blackbox voting and so forth are making me feel like we are being set up for another Kerry silver medal...
Overly nuanced scrapping about Murtha and DINO enemies in the camp (e.g. Landrieu, Lieberman, etc.) only succeed to take the momentum out of the DNC message that is this: 1)over 63% of the country has no faith in Bush leadership or his war and 2)the economy is hitting the skids...
The DNC, at least appearing to be in a state of distraction,... is open to the GOP professional thieves, who are always at the ready to swoop in and take the opportunity to set the agenda and spin the message...
I had this idea to at least help to make myself heard more and be less manipulated... my alma matter has restricted and unrestricted gifting... that is, I can write restrictions on how a donation may be used...
Would it be worthwhile to take this approach as democrats... put restrictions on our donations to the DNC... such as, no money to flow to candidates that straddle the fence on pullout from Iraq, no money to those congress people who voted in favor of the Bankruptcy bill, no money for those who vote to open up the sale of government land to private corporations..etc? I think that if enough of us did this, then it will have the effect of a referendum in the democratic party... and it may dilute the stronghold of the DLC...
any thoughts? If you think it is a good idea, could we as a progressive block come up with a list of restrictions to solidify the desired purposes for the donations?
Of course the DNC would still have a general giving fund... but less of the money would be available to DINOs via political back-scratching among individuals... Dean could simply say... I don't have the authority to give you those funds...
Just a thought...
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Here is another interesting idea...
tying donations to election reform...
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1129-33.htm
Direct Donations
My question is whether the Democratic Party would/could live-up to the restictions. It sounds like a complexity that the DP would not be able to cope with.
Another approach is to donate directly to the campaigns of the candidates that meet your prerequisites-even if you are not one their constituents; I've donated to The Feingold and Saunders campaigns in the past.
Restricting Political Donations
In 2004, I gave a lot (more than I could afford, actually) to the Kerry campaign and the DCCC and DSCC. I was very disappointed at the way that campaign was run. Since then, I've become completely disgusted with the people occupying space in Democratic leadership circles, and I've concluded that the only way to continue to support the party is to donate strategically. I will no longer donate to the DSCC and DCCC; instead, I read and listen to the alternative news media such as AlterNet and AirAmerica and look for candidates who express progressive positions. Next, I research the candidate using Google and blogs to see what the candidate's track record is on living up to promises and positions. If they pass that test, I give a small donation and keep tracking to see if they deserve more. It's a lot of work, but I feel much better focusing on a few races where I may be able to help a progressive get elected rather than throwing money at a bunch of ineffectual bloviators masquerading as Democrats. Joe Lieberman is unfortunately one of my Senators, and I'll definitely be looking at anyone willing to oppose him in the next primary. Chris Dodd needs to update his progressive credentials also, 'though I don't think he's quite as much under the thumb of big business, big military and big religion as Lieberman is. I'll also be looking at anyone who wants to oppose Nancy Johnson in Connecticut's 5th Congressional district. Beyond those races, I plan to identify and give to progressive candidates wherever they turn up in the country, including when they oppose DINOs in blue states. I think this approach is the only way to rebuild the Democratic Party from the ground up and restore it to its historic role of advocacy for the middle and working classes of America. Democrats who are beholden to corporate money are not worthy of our support.