and the support of anti union legislation, and congress at record low approval ratings,if the Democratic party nominates a corporate owned candidate, would there any point in remaining a Democrat? Would would one accomplish by doing so? Would it be even possible to influence policy from the "inside" with all the elements stacked against it? Opinions please. Positive feedback is welcome!

I'm on your wavelength. If you don't like the Pelosi/Reid cow-towing to the Republican fanatics, don't vote for Hillary. She will just be more of the same but worse.

leave its members?

The worst the Democrats would do, if they are in the pocket of The DLC and Corporate Interests is to pick our pockets.

The worst the Republickers would do is destroy our Democracy and incinerate our planet-- either slowly through Global Warming, or quickly, through Global Thermonuclear War. Oh, and they'll rob us blind along the way, too.

So, you can vote Democrat, and maybe you'll go broke and live free...

Or, you can vote Republican, assuredly go broke, and live the rest of the few years you have left in a fascist dictatorship.

The choice is yours.

IF YOU VOTE REPUBLICAN, WE WILL ALL DIE!

question I pose in the OP.

Or join an ineffectual party that just wails in rage like The Green Party?


But if you're interested in getting stoned, join The Libertarians.

That seems like a better solution than blaming the Dems in congress or voting them out. You also have to consider bush wants to have the talking point in the election that the Dems are ineffectual and we should put Rethugs back in office. You are playing right into his hands! Bush plans on vetoing any legislation that the Dems put forward...so we might as well ty to impeach him and Cheney. If you think about it I'm sure you can see all the reasons why the Dems are hesitant to do that and I don't think you need me to point them out.

There are other options, such as becoming an Idependent.This is not about voting!And this isn't about anything I would do.This is just a question in general.

That said, this is the perfect moment for an independent leader to come forward and run away with the election. My choice: Al Gore (yes, as an indie).

In some states you can't vote in the primary without the affiliation.

am wondering if that primary vote has any importance.

My state's primary is too late to make a difference. My parents plan to re-register as indies after being Dems for 50+ years.

This is a bigger picture than some wish to admit.

They've been activists for decades, and their primary is early enough to matter. The Democratic Party must have a death wish.

Go figure. And I am asking questions.My BF left the party.

maybe we have to quit playing

at least voting for a Dem will move us away from that trend.

(except felons) and are not required to be members of any party.

is because I plan to continue to vote for Democrats, maybe that answers your question?..:shrug:

At least with the Democrats there are some in the party that are true progressives. Probably 25% in the Senate, maybe more in the House. The Democratic Party is a coalition with some in it working hard for the people's interest.

Repukes are a lock-step, one and the same, loyal to their own party. You have no chance at representation in them.

Maybe after the Repukes impload and drift into history, a Progressive Populist Party will rise up as the party of opposition to the Centrist/Corprotist Democrats.

Until then I have to support the only viable party that has room for the good guys, even if its just a little room and a few good guys.

The Nader route goes nowhere. The best model we have is probably the 'McGovern insurrection' where the progressive faction of the Democratic Party briefly held control of the party. I have no idea how to do that again, and having done it not just as quickly lose control for another 30 years.

Is the Independent route the answer? I have always been a proud Democrat but I do not like a lot of what i am seeing. I refuse to contribute any money to those entities that are not representing Democratic principles, like the DCCC or the DSCC.

You could call it the "Saracratic Party".

I'm a Republican, from a time before the Nazi's took the party over. I'm trying not to be a good German, and have been voting Democratic since 2002, writing letters, signing petitions, calling Congressmen, doing what I can do to oppose the Bush Administrations evil regime. So there are finally enough Democrats in office to fight the good fight, and what do they do? They submit to Bush's every whim and desire. As Bush has said, your either with em or against em. The Democrats aren't against em, so they must be with em. A bunch of Nazi sympathizers if you ask me. As far as I'm concerned, we still have a 2 party system, the Republicratic party, and Dennis Kucinich. How Dennis can call himself a Democrat without vomiting is beyond me. I hope he runs as an Independent so he can separate himself from the stink.

I wonder about Kucinich too, why he sticks with the Dems ~ I really hope a viable Indie steps forward.

I'm giving serious consideration to registering Democratic so I can vote for Kucinich during the primary. On the minus side, my county is 99 44/100% Republican. The Democrats have never been able to fill a slate. This last election, the Republicans ran unopposed. Basically, on the local level, whomever wins the Republican primary, wins. If you want to have any say about who represents you, you have to be Republican.

I'm really, really, really upset about what the Republican party has become. I joined it in 1971 when the welfare crisis was all anyone talked about. I felt then, and still feel, that people who work for a living shouldn't have to pay for those that don't. Things started going South during the Bush/Quayle campaign (family values). Whose values? Isn't there separation of church and state? Isn't the President supposed to represent everyone, not some religious ideology. The party really drifted away from me with the Gingrich Contract with America crap. During the Bush/Gore campaign, I didn't like either party much. Gore wanted the job too badly and I felt he was tainted by his association with Bill "depends what your definition of is is" Clinton. Bush was an moron, so I voted for Nader in protest. Thank god I don't live in Florida or I would have felt personally responsible for current affairs after wasting my vote. Then Bush gave a speech in Kalamazoo, Michigan which nearly put me out of business. He was so anxious to reward his friends that gave a speech saying his tax cuts were needed yesterday because the economy was going down the toilet. You know, even when a moron President says the country is going down the toilet, investors believe him and it became a self fulfilling prophecy. All venture capital, from which small businesses like mine are created, dried up overnight. If your wondering why it was a jobless recovery from the recession, that's the reason. So not only is the President a moron, but he's a dangerous, thoughtless, irresponsible moron. Then came 9/11 and the Republican party fully transitioned from a fascist organization ( if you consider corporatism a major component of fascism ) to the Nazi party. Except for the gas chambers, I can't see any meaningful difference between Nazi Germany and Republican America. Bush doesn't use gas chambers, he just withholds aid during natural disasters. He gets better press that way. He blames it on Mother Nature and a lack of foresight (Who would doubt that?)

Well, I refuse to be a good German, so dummy me thinks all I have to do is keep voting Democratic and put some legs under the opposition party. They fooled me. The Democrats aren't the opposition party. There is no opposition party. I don't know why the Republicrats think they were voted into office, but at least Kucinich gets it.

...I knew enough about him to figure it would be ~ but who knew there would be no opposition party?! That's the shocker, and I still don't understand completely why the Dems have folded. But, for whatever reason, the party I've worked for my entire adult life has become irrelevant. You're thinking of joining in order to vote for Kucinich, and I'm thinking of signing on as an Independent but wondering if I should stay just long enough to cast a symbolic vote for Kucinich (our primary is too late to be anything other than symbolic).

I think he said he'd resign from the organization that benefited from Katrina foreclosures. And he also rescinded his IWR co-sponsorship. I could be wrong though.

Others, not so much.

Al Gore and George W. Bush both seemed so pro-corporation, it didn't seem to matter.

But it did.

Anyway, you don't have to donate to the DNC, DCCC, or DSCC. You don't have to donate to any particular Democrat.

Donate to Democratic candidates who reflect your values.