PDA - Progressive Dems

Building a real opposition party, Obama & beyond

Laura M — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 13:23:41 -0400

I am looking for others interested in building a permanent campaign for a more effective Democratic Party, one that is active year round to educate voters and fight for them. We have barely begun to form a Progressive Democrats of America chapter here in Santa Clara County. We want to create a space where people can come and work, whether they want to work on local campaigns and candidates, or on building a real infrastructure for change and progress, one that does not shrug it's shoulders, kick out the volunteers and close the doors after every election. This will be a long haul, but the reward will be a more connected and active progressive Democratic Party. If you are interested, you can find our chapter listed as South Bay Area of San Francisco on the PDA website.

thanks!

Laura M

www.pdamerica.org/statecaucus.php?s=CA

Join PDA and The Nation Magazine at Progressive Central During the DNC Convention in Denver

Bob Fertik — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 10:03:57 -0400

A message from Tim Carpenter, National Director of Progressive Democrats of America:

Progressive Democrats of America and The Nation Magazine will be in Denver August 24-28 for the DNC Convention, and to greet progressives from all over the country. Whether you plan to participate as a delegate inside the Convention or outside building the progressive movement, we have a fascinating 5-day event planned for you.

Join PDA and The Nation Magazine at "Progressive Central," a progressive oasis located in the heart of the city--just minutes from the Pepsi Center. Enjoy opportunities to network, learn, and share ideas with like-minded people. Click here for more info.

On Sunday evening, August 24, join us for PDA's "Progressive Welcome to Denver." Featuring Mimi Kennedy, PDA Advisory Board Chair and our guests Rep. Barbara Lee, Katrina vanden Heuvel, Tom Hayden, Jim Zogby, and Jim Hightower. Click here for the details. Suggested contribution: $15.00.

Each morning, The Nation will host a series of conversations, moderated by John Nichols, featuring some of the country's foremost progressive members of Congress and other renowned progressives.

Picking up where The Nation leaves off, PDA will host an impressive array of progressives in panel discussions on some of today's hottest issues each afternoon. (Suggested donation $10.00).

You'll find us from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM daily, at the Central Presbyterian Church, 1660 Sherman St., easily accessed by public transportation (limited paid parking available). See Map.

We're your one-stop progressive spot for enlightened conversation, fascinating panels, delicious box lunches (purchase in advance--sold at cost), tabling, and a comfortable space to unwind among friends.

To volunteer, please contact DNCvolunteers@pdamerica.org

To reserve a table or secure press credentials, contact Laura@pdamerica.org.

Make your reservations in advance to secure preferential seating, or drop in and join us in building the progressive movement!

See you in Denver,

Tim Carpenter
National Director

Progressive Democrats of America is a grassroots PAC that works both inside the Democratic Party and outside in movements for peace and justice. Our goal: Elect a permanent, progressive majority in 2008. PDA's advisory board includes seven members of Congress and activist leaders such as Tom Hayden, Medea Benjamin, Thom Hartmann, Jim Hightower and Rev. Lennox Yearwood.

DuPage Dems Blue Fest

mikej — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 22:57:35 -0400

On Saturday July 18th the DuPage Democrats will host the biggest Democratic event in DuPage County.

There will be 4 bands, food and fun for the whole family. We need to get come together and turn DuPage County and the 6th Congressional District blue.

www.dupagedemocrats.com

Meeting in Tulsa, Feb 20th, Tuesday @ 5.30pm, Te Kei's

LeftDemocrat — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 02:21:47 -0500

What: Moving America Forward
When: Tuesday, 02/20 at 05:30 PM
Where:
Te Kei's Chinese/Asian Kitchen
1616 south Utica
Tulsa, OK 74105

Please attend our meeting, "Moving America Forward," on Tuesday,
February 20, 2007 at 5:30 PM. You can RSVP at:

http://www.dfalink.com/event.php?id=17581

Code Pink-PDA-IVAW Adam Schiff Stop the War! Day 1

CactusPat — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 13:27:19 -0500

Code Pink, Progressive Democrats of America, Iraq Veterans Against The War demonstrate outside Rep. Adam Schiff's Office (Day 1 Occupation Project)

How nice, he sent down cookies... How 'bout STOPPING THE WAR! I think some variant of conventional wisdom has set in amongst the Dem brain-dead-trust and they've decided to not take any political risks and just let Smirk and the Repubnuts twist in the wind on Iraq.

Meanwhile, more US personnel are dying each day. More Iraqi citizens slaughtered, raped, and pillaged each day. More national treasure squandered. Plus, the Dem base gets more alienated each day.

Don't know about you, but that appears to be "risk" they're not taking seriously in their calculus....

Impeachment

valsmom — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 18:40:57 -0400

I was horrified to receive an email from democrats.com that actually advocated that if democrats win the House, they will ignore Nancy Pelosi. John Conyers will call for the investigations that will lead to impeachment.

I believe that the president has committed impeachable offenses, however he only has two years left until his term ends. More importantly, Democrats have the chance to do good for the American people and hopefully set themselves up for a win in 2008.

Impeachment would be a huge distraction from all the important work that needs to be done, especially undoing some of the bad legislation.

This same email had a request to sign a petition to stop the war that Cindy Sheehan will take to the White House. I think she is an embarrassment to the Democratic party and should just go quietly away. I have no respect for any American citizen who would stand next to Hugo Chavez. This is why Democrats LOSE!

We have too many members who would rather be progressively correct than
win elections. This is why I don't donate to the party at the national level - not as long as Howard Dean is the party chairman.

Rebels Needed

davidswanson — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 21:23:09 -0500

Here's an important article from William Greider in the Nation, with the headline "Rebels". Yes, rebels within the Democratic Party are needed if the party is going to do any good for itself or the world. The mention here (too brief) of Progressive Democrats of America is exactly to the point.

Take Action Now Against Bankruptcy Bill

davidswanson — Sat, 02 Apr 2005 12:36:47 -0500

An impressive coalition has been assembled during the past week to work, against all odds, for the defeat in the Congress of a bankruptcy bill passed last month in the Senate. The House is expected to vote on the bill (S. 256) this week.

The groups lobbying against it include: Democrats.com, Progressive Democrats of America, AFL-CIO, Billionaires for Bush, Black Commentator, Center for American Progress, Democracy Week, The Nation, National Community Reinvestment Coalition, National Organization for Women, People's Email Network, Politology, Public Citizen, and more. See list at www.debtslavery.org

These organizations have been encouraging their members to Email, phone, and fax Congress. Members of these groups will rally outside the district offices of targeted Members of Congress around the country on Wednesday April 6 at noon local time. To get involved and to Email and phone your congress member, go here: http://elandslide.org/elandslide/display2.cfm?id=1329&type=Action%20Kit

Trippi's Wall Street Journal Column on the Future of the Democratic Party

Karl Frisch — Tue, 30 Nov 2004 11:07:23 -0500

Joe Trippi wrote the following column which appears in today's Wall Street Journal. Please comment and let me know what you think.

The Grassroots Can Save the Democrats

By Joe Trippi

The staggering defeat of the Democratic Party, and its ever-accelerating death spiral weren't obvious from the election results. Two factors masked the extent of the party's trouble. Without the innovation of Internet-driven small-donor fund-raising and a corresponding surge in support from the nation's youngest voters, John Kerry would have suffered a dramatically larger electoral defeat. And the true magnitude of the Democrats abject failure at the polls in 2004 would have been more clearly revealed.

Mr. Kerry raised nearly half of his campaign war chest over the Internet. He was so successful at online fund-raising that he actually outspent the Bush campaign in this election. But it was the outsider campaign of Howard Dean, reviled by most of the Democratic establishment, which pioneered the use of the Internet to raise millions in small contributions; Mr. Kerry was just the beneficiary as the party nominee.

And it was the risk-taking and aggressive Dean Campaign that forced the risk-averse Kerry campaign to opt out of the public financing system.

Had that decision not been forced on Mr. Kerry, he would have been badly outspent by George Bush; he would not have been competitive at all throughout the long summer of 2004.

Mr. Kerry's lead among young voters hid just how bad Election Day really was for Democrats. In the 2000 election, voters between the ages of 18 and 29 split their votes evenly; nine million each for Mr. Bush and Al Gore. But in 2004, two million more voters in this age group turned out to vote. And while Mr. Bush won the same nine million votes, 11 million voted for Mr.

Kerry. But when we set aside his two million new younger voters, the true disaster of 2004 is revealed. In 2000, Mr. Gore and Ralph Nader won a combined total of 54 million votes. This year Mr. Kerry and Mr. Nader got 53 million (ignoring the two million new young voters).

It turns out that Mr. Kerry was a weaker candidate than Mr. Gore. Mr. Kerry lost so much ground among women, Hispanics, and other key groups, that the millions in Internet money, the most Herculean get-out-the-vote effort in party history, and the largest turnout of young voters in over a decade, could not save him. Had the young voters stayed home, the sea of red on the electoral map would have grown to include at least Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and New Hampshire-perhaps one or two more.

Meanwhile, Mr. Bush, received 50 million votes in 2000, and 59 million in 2004. He added nine million votes. That is because Karl Rove had a plan and the Bush campaign stuck to it. There is no doubt that they executed it brilliantly. But the problem for Democrats is not Mr. Rove; it is that they're doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. That's the definition of insanity.

* Since the Democratic Leadership Council, with its mantra of "moderate, moderate, moderate," took hold in Washington, the Democratic Party has been in decline at just about every level of government. Forget the Kerry loss.

Today the number of Democrats in the House is the lowest it's been since 1928. Democrats are on the brink of becoming a permanent minority party. Can the oldest democratic institution on earth wake from its stupor? Here are some steps to pull out of the nose-dive:

* Democrats can't keep ignoring their base. Running to the middle and then asking our base at the end of the campaign to make sure to vote is not a plan. It sure hasn't worked. And to those who say talking to your base doesn't work-Read the Rove 2004 playbook!

* Democrats must reconnect with the energy of our grass roots. One of the failures of the DLC was that its ideas never helped us build a grass-roots donor base. As a result Democrats held a lead over Republicans in only one fundraising category before this election cycle: contributions over one million dollars. That shows how far the party had strayed from grassroots fundraising before the Dean campaign. We must build a base of at least seven million small donors by 2006. With the Internet it's possible. But it can't just be about the money, it also has to be about ideas.

* The one thing we learned in the Dean campaign was that the 30 or so people in Burlington, Vt., were not as smart as the 650,000 Americans who were part of our campaign. Instead of a DLC in Washington, Democrats should be holding Democratic Grassroots Councils in every county. Democratic National Committee members in each state, along with the state party, should host and moderate these meetings to help develop ideas that come from the people, instead of the experts in Washington.

* A party that ignores the needs of state and local parties is doomed. We must begin to invest aggressively in states we continually write off in national elections. If we don't, the decline of the Democratic Party in these states will continue until we are non-existent. It's already occurring in many southern states.

* In a world in which companies like Wal-Mart pay substandard wages with no real benefits, our party has got to find innovative ways to support organized labor's growth. A declining union membership is not good for the country, it's not good for working people, and it certainly is not good for the Democratic Party.

* The Democratic Party has to be the vehicle that empowers the American people to change our failed political system. We all know the damn thing is broken. Democrats should lead the way by placing stricter money restrictions on candidates than the toothless Federal Election Commission does. A party funded by contributions from the people can do this. A corrupted and corroded party cannot. The Democratic Party shouldn't wait for campaign-finance reform-it should be campaign-finance reform.

* Finally, What is the purpose the Democratic Party strives for today? What are our goals for the nation? You couldn't tell from the 2004 election. The fact is, very few good ideas come from the middle. Ideas in the middle tend to be mediocre. Political consultants have become adept at keeping their candidates in that safe zone. But the time has come to develop bold ideas and to challenge people to sacrifice for the common good. Experts will tell you that you can't ask the American people to sacrifice individually for the common good. Those experts are wrong-it's just been so long since anyone has asked them.

Mr. Trippi, who managed Howard Dean's presidential campaign, is a fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School and an MSNBC commentator.