Reply #12: That DUer sees the potential of DU. It was not about "US does not change policies based on........." [View All]

That OP, like this one, suggests that the forum can do more to inform and motivate people, which would lead back to your questions about the system of government....

:patriot:

"Brands," "Flavors," "Styles" -- all marketing, not governance.

“And if you check the thread, several of the replies have been "It is fine as is, if we fix X"”

And yet that was not a choice in the poll or mentioned in the OP. That absence suggested a gap in awareness: that one option we have is to correct, maintain, or renew the system that we have, rather than assume a new system is the (only) answer.

“More voting power to the people” is possible simply by getting more people to vote, considering how many people intentionally (or lazily) disenfranchise themselves by not voting. The recent turnout and gains by Democrats are proof that FINALLY enough people can get scared or pissed off and say “Screw you bastards, you’re not taking THIS one away!!”

As for your other questions, that linked post by Exiled in America says it all:


“I am extremely frustrated by the content of the biggest discussion forums hosted on DU. And quite frankly I'm a little embarrassed to think that these discussions would be any kind of cross section of the people in American who make up the Democratic Party.... Now, I understand that in some of these instances, the issues themselves have importance - but not comparative importance to issues absolutely critical to any hope of future social or economic justice or equality in America, which I almost never see as threads while these other topics dominate the boards... I cannot believe that this democratic underground cannot find a way possible to have significant thread discussion devoted to emphasis on human needs and what human needs priorities should take precedence in a democratic congress.”


****And this goes directly to the issues you raise about systems and (limited) choices and “more voting power to the people.”


“Some of the most serious historical harms to this country have come in the form of the exploitation of labor and the elimination of strong labor protections in favor of a state of corporate welfare. And please listen to this opinion: it is the unchecked, unbridled rise of corporations that have transformed America into an Oligarchical Corporatocracy that are the ROOT behind the war and violence on the GOP agenda. It is the root behind the notion of preemptive empire-building. And how many threads are devoted to discussing it, or researching it, or talking about the best ways for the people to fight it, or how to develop direct action to counter it? Let's just say in between all the other fluffy threads, its hard to find a lot.

...............................
“There is next to nothing on DU about any of that, or how our government actively, aggressively pushes that agenda, nor how our own Corporatocracy at home fuels the decimation of developing countries around the globe, thus creating much of their own violence and devastation. We never talk about that.

“Education isn't even a national priority right now, but I sure wish we here at DU were committed to making it one, and I wish that the topics and threads in the major forums would reflect that more often it reflected threads about whether or not cows were people to. Health Care has taken a back seat to everything else, even though health care in America is an absolute embarrassment and disgrace and millions of people and their families still cannot get access to the adequate health care they need in what is supposedly the richest and most powerful country in the history of the world. But there are no threads talking about what organizations are moving to change this, or what people are speaking out about it, or what the best ideas should be, or what kinds of opportunities there are to get involved in these fights.

“What I'm complaining about it is an emphasis or focus that seems utterly ridiculous to me considering the number of serious and absolutely critical issues there are to deal with right now. And it pains me quite a bit that I can't see at least as many topics and posts devoted to these issues as I can about whether a guy should be allowed to smoke inside his own single person apartment or not.....”