I will be happy if any of the Democratic candidates is elected president.

The truth is, they are all flawed, but they are all ok, too. Especially compared to all the Republican candidates.

As a Socialist, of course it disappoints me that all our Democrats are so conservative. It's clear that the corporations have taken over the world, including the U.S., and most of the Democratic candidates are dancing with the corporations.

On the other hand, a mere glance at any one of the Republican candidates reveals a breathtakingly appalling list of deficits. Corruption, bigotry, anti-science, anti-health, the list goes on and on.

The fact is that I will vote - enthusiastically - for whichever Democratic candidate gets the nod.

The one and only thing that matters is the D after the President's name?

That is not the same as saying that the only thing that matters is a D after the president's name.

My apologies; I read your post as "I will be happy if any Democratic candidate is elected president." My first though was, "What about Lieberman?"

:hi:

so he longer counts.

:P

Not Lieberman, and not some other Democrats as well! You're absolutely right - there are DINOs that wouldn't help at all. But I think that any of our current Democratic candidates would be fine. Far from perfect, but fine.

There are two choices...a (D) or an (R). If you don't vote at all or vote third party...you have voted for an (R). Any vote that is not for the (D) is for the (R). It's that simple. Until we succeed in changing the world...this is the way it is.

You can sit with your principles and declare that you're not going to vote for someone just because they have a (D) after their name...but, what satisfaction is that when you have then voted for an (R)????

You can say it doesn't matter because they are all alike. But I think we learned in 2000 that there was in fact a big difference between Bush and Gore even though many were convinced otherwise.

Don't look for ideal...you won't find, vote for the better of the two. That would be the (D)!

Politics in America is BINARY. Sucks, but there we are.

There are far too many Democrats holding office who, for all intents and purposes, are actually Republicans. With no options except for the lesser of two evils (which will always be a vote for evil), there is no reason for officeholders to be accountable for their actions. As long as "the other guy" is worse, it does not matter how bad "our guy" is. Personally, I find that very disheartening.

And anyway, I misread the OP. :toast:

...The Reeps enforce a rigid conformance, which means that even a slim majority or minority for them ensures that they call the shots. The Dems are more diverse and harder to control.

Every Reep that is replaced by a Dem helps to dissolve that paradigm. It is important, even if we're voting for a rightish Dem, to boot the Reep.

I DO think we need to look at a long-term change away from the two-aprty system. But for the moment, we have to play the hand we've been dealt.

There should be Green Party representatives, and Socialists, and even Libertarians in Congress. It's a shame that we have a Two Party system with iron-fisted control.

if one of them actually pushes progressive causes, and doesn't cave in to corporate and religious interests.

I think certain candidates are much more likely to show that kind of bravery and conviction. Others are incredibly unlikely to do so.

Simply getting a democrat in office is a necessesary, but not sufficient goal.

That may be asking too much. It's all about perception. If you have a picture in your mind of the perfect leader, then your chances of being "happy" are very slim. If you consider what we have now...I can't even look at Bush without feeling sick in my stomach, in comparison, any dem would make me happy. Neither concept is accurate, so just find a happy medium. I imagine any one of the dems will make a decent president who will make us happy at times and drive us nuts other times.

That said, not all dems will address or fight against the push towards fascism.

That worries me.

The fact that Hillary Clinton is shrewdly using corporate money to promote her candidacy does not necessarily mean that she would be a bad president.

I remember when Nixon appointed his Supreme Court nominees. They turned out to be reliable liberals, to the surprise and disgust of conservatives.

I remember when Reagan appointed Koop as Surgeon General, because everybody thought that Koop would outlaw abortion. Instead, Koop stayed out of reproduction and instead went after the tobacco companies, big time. Progressives cheered. Conservatives were appalled.

I remember when Poppy Bush appointed his Supreme Court nominees. Thomas was supposed to be a lot better than Bork - pfft. We got screwn.

I remember when Gore ran against W in 2000 - a lot of progressives said that they were about the same and voted for Nader. Look where that got us.

Remembering the vicious things said about Gore in 2000, I take a lot of this anger against Hillary with a grain of salt. Never forget that she is a million times better than any Republican candidate.

I'm glad that you are optimistic. I can't seem to muster that optimism, myself.

As I posted on your thread, I believe that the U.S. fully matches the definition of a fascist nation. I've read Naomi Klein's book and I see that the problem is global. I think that the environment is about to bite us back for several hundreds of years of hubris. There really isn't a lot to be optimistic about.

However, I still think that any Democrat in the White House is better than any Republican.

It is true, but I don't like the way it's bandied about.

It's a pretty scary setup as it now stands.

Very scary, in fact.

better than the best Republikkkan.

:kick::kick: