Reply #10: questions, questions and more questions ... [View All]

there are many aspects of Dean and what he is doing as Party Chair that i like very much ...

but the most important question still remains unanswered ...

I hope DU's wise old owls can set me straight on this ...

What is Dean doing to give the grassroots (which i define NOT as a left, right, center issue but as each and every Democrat) a greater voice in the direction the Party takes and the way our elected representatives vote ?????

the answer i keep hearing is that if all Democrats send in their pennies, nickels and dimes, we will REPLACE the dependency the Party has on "those evil corporate donors" ...

but is this true? what indication is there that those addicted to the drugs supplied by their corporate pushers will give up their old habits ???

is there evidence that if they don't, Dean and the Party will fund candidates to compete against these corporatists with funds raised from the grassroots ???

is there evidence that with grassroots funding, our poor dependent-on-corporations candidates will be more likely to vote in a manner that truly represents ALL Democrats ???

raising more money from smaller, grassroots sources is all well and good ... but without a change to our Party's processes, i don't see how additional grassroots money will lead to the kinds of reforms we need ... it's not that i disagree with this as a great starting point ... but if we see the collection of large sums of money from the grassroots as an end in itself instead of making the reforms needed to make the Party more democratic and representative, we are doing nothing but throwing more money at bad processes ...

as i said, i like many of the things Dean is doing; but ultimately, perhaps in due time, a rigorous process of reform must be implemented ... let's make sure we keep that as a central focus ...