Progressive Dems of America Set to Raise its Voice
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - The rabble-rousers, those asking the toughest questions of the presidential candidates at this weekend’s state Democratic convention in San Diego, are likely to be wearing green stickers and black lapel pins.The stickers demand an end to the “occupation of Iraq,” and the pins urge the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. 
Emboldened by the November national election and a public embracing a rapid end to U.S. involvement in Iraq, a new faction of the Democratic Party’s liberal wing is hoping to attract attention inside and outside of the convention hall.
Salvaged from the wreckage of Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s 2004 presidential campaign, the Progressive Democrats of America represents a leading edge of the anti-war movement with activists such as Tom Hayden, Cindy Sheehan and Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, on the board.
A small band of the group’s organizers has been rallying the faithful up and down the state as they head to a convention at which they hope to send as many as 150 delegates determined to bolster the party’s liberal flank. That would likely amount to less than 10 percent of the delegates but officials with the organization predict there will be hundreds of other like-minded delegates.
Tim Carpenter, a former Orange County resident serving as national director for the Progressive Democrats, said the budding organization represents “the insurgency within our party.”
“The PDA is on the level where people are sending their kids to war and those kids are dying,” said actress Mimi Kennedy, the group’s chairwoman. “We’ve got to connect the leadership to this reality. They need to see the movement’s strength inside the party. This is going to be a serious election in ‘08.”
The organization will rally tomorrow night at the Scottish Rite Center in San Diego and protest outside the San Diego Convention Center on Saturday afternoon. Many will be watching to see what kind of numbers and passion the organization can muster.
“They want a seat at the table for the community-organizer groups, and it can only be good if they earn it because that will mean they have some real firepower to get the vote out,” said Sam Popkin, a political science professor at the University of California San Diego.
The Progressive Democrats formed at Roxbury Community College in Massachusetts on the last day of the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, as Sen. John Kerry was accepting the nomination. In addition to Kucinich’s followers, the group enlisted many disciples of former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, currently the chairman of the National Democratic Committee.
“Social change in American history has come about fundamentally from social movements and not from political parties,” Hayden told the crowd that day.
Hayden identified Presidents Lincoln, Roosevelt and Kennedy as “probably our most remembered progressives.” But, he said, “all three of them only did what they did because they were forced by social movements.”
In the nearly three years since, the Progressive Democrats has attracted about 80,000 members nationally, including 172 chapters in 32 states, according to Carpenter. The metro San Diego chapter has grown to 70 members since it began in the fall, said Judy Hess, who leads the chapter. The organization’s Web site also lists central and north San Diego chapters.
Nationally, the group is not as big or financially powerful as the like-minded Moveon.org, which operates as an independent entity outside any political party. Progressive Democrats members say their group is an “inside/outside” organization that works both within and distinct from the Democratic Party. But, as an official party organization, it must adhere to federal fundraising restrictions that limit contributions to $5,000, Kennedy said.
Following Hayden’s advice, the organization concentrated its efforts on more than 40 congressional races in last year’s midterm election. Its members helped elect Democratic Reps. Jerry McNerney in Northern California and John Hall in New York, were active in Francine Busby’s losing congressional race in north San Diego County and backed anti-war candidates against Rep. Jane Harman in suburban Los Angeles County and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in New York.
The Progressive Democrats’ top priority is a “prompt, orderly withdrawal from Iraq.” But the organization also supports the campaign to curb global warming; single-payer, universal health care; a repeal of Bush administration upper-income tax cuts; and a federal ban on touch-screen electronic voting.
Roger Salazar, a senior adviser to California Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres, said the Progressive Democrats looks a lot like the party’s long-standing liberal base.
“They’re the same activists who have been with us for a long time,” Salazar said. “We love multiple voices. . . . It’s healthy for us to have open discussions and debates about the direction the country is headed in and the speed in which we withdraw from Iraq.”
Republican consultant Dan Schnur said the progressives present the same challenge to the Democratic Party that staunch conservatives have to the Republican Party in the past.
“You’ve got anti-war protesters outside (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi’s house in San Francisco, which suggests to me that the far left wing of the party isn’t going to be satisfied by its leadership under any circumstances,” Schnur said. “Bless their hearts.”
© Copyright 2007 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
well dan schnur doesnt understand that the war isnt dumb politics and football scores - what a sad and bitter joke he is. the war is about the destruction of bodies and the crushing of lives - maybe mr schnur needs to watch less television and take more walks outdoors - what an ass!
The republicans would wish the citizenry to believe that it is only a small contingent of the left-wing that is adamantly against this war - this is, pure and simple - a lie. The radical right has no choice but to continue its lies, the only aternative being to tell the truth, suffer impeachment, and go to jail. None of those currently holding power in this administration have the moral underpinnings to choose such a noble course. They misuse religion, they ignore the constitution, they openly lied to a generally ignorant populace in leading them to war, and now they demand to continue sacrificing our sons and daughters in their selfish quest to justify their actions. This is what America has become. It is time to take back our country.
Not only does Schnur not get it, it seems the likes of Salazar and Torres, and the national democratic party leadership, don’t get some basics either. “We love multiple voices, healthy debate…” The democratic party will never stand for anything until it totally embraces the basics of human rights and completely rejects the desecration of those rights, starting with, as montemerrick put it above, “the destruction of human bodies and lives.” There is no such thing as a healthy debate when it comes to these universal rights. I try to keep faith that at some point a critical mass of inspired outspoken people will be reached and will be the voice of reason in a world gone mad. (I guess 10,000,000 on February 15th, 2003 just wasn’t quite enough) At some point, all the different liberal groups are going to have to get together with a common voice. Progressive democrats, greens, moveon.org, churches, racial minorities, gays, everybody! We the people.
I have been a life long democrat; voting for democrats in every election since 1964. However, the last few years has made me rethink my Democratic Party membership. In fact I voted for Green Party candidates in the last election. Based on what’ve I seen recently the Progressive Democrats now are more aligned with my values and expectations.
Basic Human Rights
End to War and International Violence
End of Government spying on its citizens
Equal Rights for all, including the marriage of loving couples without regard to gender
Repeal of the Patriot Act
Repeal of the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans
Campaign finance reform
The website, pdamerica.org, will give you a great deal of information on the group. We’re really serious and dedicated.
Add to above article, it was Marcy Winograd who challenged Jane Harman and got nearly 40% of the vote in a beach community running from Santa Monica to San Pedro. It was her FIRST run for public office.
Also, PDA supported the anti-war candidacy of Ned Lamont in the CT primary that he WON!!! It was only because Joe Lieberman ran as an independent in the general and got the Republican votes that he won in the general.////
Would PDA consider an alternative candidate if the DLC picks Clinton?
The DLC has ALREADY picked Clinton. There is no “if” about that choice.
It’s fairly interesting to see Obama so close to her and that her support keeps slipping.
Please look into the history of what happens when there is a third party candidate.
PDA has specific positions, and we will see which of the candidates adopts them. That person will have our support. It’s still quite early. Let’s all watch the debate Thursday night on MSNBC.///
Wow, this idiot thinks MoveOn is “like-minded”.
MoveOn has been a major pusher of trying to make sure the Iraq war funding gets PASSED! MoveOn has never done anything effective to oppose this war, and they are firmly behind the Democratic leadership efforts to do everything possible to continue to fund the war.
If I’ve got to hold my nose and support Democrats, I guess the PDA isn’t that bad. But they are working in a party that does not believe in Democracy. They are working in a party that plainly does not care what its members think. PDA did some good work here getting state resolutions passed opposing the Iraq War and calling for withdrawal. But the leadership of the Democratic Party clearly could care less, and has no intention of listening to any group of party members who can’t put millions of dollars into their campaign coffers.
Personally, I think working inside the Democratic party is a waste of time and resources. Its a rigged game you can’t win, because the people at the top are going to do what they want no matter what. And they set the rules such that they always win.
And turn off MSNBC!!!!!!!!!!!! News brought to you by a monopoly software company that bought off the US government and a major defense contractor …yep, that’s fair and balanced.
Ex-dems is what they ought to be. Their party will use them and discard them. It always does. If we’re going to unite this time around, let’s unite around something clean.
Montemerrick said:
“well dan schnur doesnt understand that the war isnt dumb politics and football scores - what a sad and bitter joke he is. the war is about the destruction of bodies and the crushing of lives - maybe mr schnur needs to watch less television and take more walks outdoors - what an ass!”
And I say: AMEN! AMEN! Well said!
Register Democratic and vote for Kucinich in the primaries then reregister Green and write in whom ever you wish. What, are you gonna support Hillary & Barak O –what good would that do?
I echo Poet’s sentiment precisely.
Don’t write off the Dems because the two leading money-raisers are pro-war (despite the rhetoric), pro-nuclear, and probably beholden to interests that’ll only exacerbate the bloodshed in the middle east (likely into a full-blown genocide by the next president’s term). Indeed, depending on how one interprets the deaths during the Bill Clinton/embargo years, we may have already reached 7 digits of human loss magnitude due to deliberately failed Western policies. Historians are going to damn this period of American history.
There’s only one clear purpose for progressive democrat (as opposed to Green, populist, social democrat, etc.): to champion the Range or IRV vote at the national level & clean up the voting system in general.
The work of PDA within the Democratic Party has been primarily to re-energize the progressive caucus. Remember when Barbara Boxer stood up to question the 2004 election results? The Downing Street Memo hearings? Getting Dean as the Chair of the Party? The Out-of-Iraq Caucus? All this is the work of PDA — which they do not mention in the article as also being a sort of “umbrella” organizer for all the progressive movements. Their board reads like a who’s who of progressive organizing - from Medea Benjamin to Rainbow /PUSH and even has the Green Party’s support! This is the ONLY political group I give money to. They combine the pressure of the grassroots with pesky little things like hearings, bills and actions in Congress that make the greedy bastards have to at least deal with us every now and then. I urge you all to become monthly sustainers of this truly progressive group.
“like minded Move-On”
The Progressive Democrats are diet republicans ?
I dropped my Move-On membership, and quit listening to Air America long ago, that bitter after taste a liberal gets when dealing with diet republicans was too much to stomach
Howard Dean is a progressive Democrat ?
Geez Louise what a stupid statement
Progressive Democrats of America have a
message and a plan. Out of Iraq; Single
Payer Healthcare; Economic Justice; Clean,
Fair Transparent Elections; Stop Global
Warming. No hidden agendas. No backing
down or changing positions. PDA is a grassroots organization that fights for what is right. From our small town anti
occupation events and resolutions, to our
progressive caucuses, to lobbying our
congress people, to running our own
progressive candidates - our work is
making a difference and our voice is
getting louder. This is a movement.
It will take time to reverse the damage
done to this country by Repugs and
Republican lights. The work of PDA
members all across the nation will turn
it around, because it is the work of the
people, for the people. Onward PDA!
COmarc,
The work of PDA is long term. Building the progressive wing (the real democratic wing) of the Democratic Party is a continuing work in progress that needs committed activists in every state to take up the charge and get involved. PDA not pnly works inside the Party, look at their advisory board and see that their outside the party coalition work is the other half of making change. The list is pretty impressive. See:
http://pdamerica.org/tools/pda/Adboard.pdf
PDA is about doing the ground work in every congressional district to build the “movement” for change. The work of third parties and organizations is important to the movement, but we cannot drop out of doing then needed work within the Democratic Party to change it from within.
PDA is about movement building, from the bottom up, unlike some unnamed groups who send out emails from behind the curtain according to the dictates of the few. PDA stands on a platform, something other groups do not have, and that platform was formed from the bottom up too.
If you want to support a group that is about building the movement, I suggest you send you support to PDA, and better join or start a chapter in your congressional district. They have a practical, sensible, doable plan, and they are making real change. Come help build the movement.
https://www.pdamerica.org/donate.php
I beleive it is vitally important for us to work within the Democratic Party both to influence it and to expose it. It is also eqaully important that we realize that it is not “our” party and work outside of it as well. We must avoid getting trapped in the “two-party” paradigm as it is a narrow delusionary construct which disempowers us. We need to build alternatives in order to even have a voice much less leverage. I would like to see the truly progressve Dems exert as much influence as possible. I think the backlash that is building to Bush and the religious right will be a major one exacerbated by the economy and the ecological crisis. We need as many tools as possible to take full advantage. Support the PDA but build the Greens, the Reds, and other progressive alternatives.
The PDA’s stances seem admirable, but even if progressives were to take over influence of the Democratic Party (for the first time), it would be an ongoing struggle to maintain dominance in a two-party winner-take-all.
I insist that the job of corporate parties, come hell or high water, is to allow Range or IRV, abolish the Electoral, and guarantee open source/verifiable voting machinery.
After that, let the people decide. And my guess is that many of the issues that the PDA, Greens, Social Democrats, Libertarians, Populists, plain Middle America, etc. desire will start coming through. There may be something in it for almost everyone — even the theocrats who’ve been marginalized by (arguably) organized crime in the Republican Party, etc. Range or IRV and genuine election reform should come before all else, IMHO.
For the past 40 years I have enjoyed the prancing and posturing of our collective Overseers on Master’s Plantation.
There are two and only two groupings where sub-humans are allowed to climb the Overseer food chain - Republicans or Democrats (think of them as fraternal twins). Those that are fostered by the Masters for the top slots are carefully screened and all of them know their job - keep the slaves in their place and make sure the Profit Steamshovel works 24-7 - transferring the wealth from us to the Richfilth - until the slaves have nothing and Master has all. Corporate Feudalism 101. Its their job.
For 4000 years the Masters have never required a Consumer Economy or a middle class in order to Rule Absolutely, in fact, both are inimical to their Rule so both will be dead shortly. D E A D. The Roosevelt Legacy was a mistake, now corrected - America stood there with it’s collective thumb in its mouth and looked away as Master executed or falsely imprisoned all who stood against them for the last 40 years. They got the gold or the bullet.
You may now say a prayer to the flat-earth tribal blood deity of your choice, or even light a candle in worship as long as you are on your knees, the standard slave position. Maybe if you beg loudly enough Big Daddy will help you, though I can’t imagine why. The Democrats of course, never will. RepubliCrats are all family, we’re not. We are merely the meat for the Master’s Wealth Machine. Nothing more. That’s why they make sure America has a 6th grade reading level on their best days. Requiescat children.
Peace.
Luckylefty: Such a bleak vision! I, too, see grand behind-the-scenes choreography to re-instate the equivalent of pharaohs (now the global corporations) and slaves (the rest of us workers… who do NOT recognize ourselves as such, since we are FREE to shop! And why bother with the overhead of debtors’ prisons, when there’s credit card interest usury, quite a development! However, there ARE higher powers than those of dark mortals only too willing to hold back the liberty, pursuit of happiness and earnest right to life of others. There is the law of karma. Water freezes at 32 degrees, our earth takes 365 days to orbit the sun… there are BUILT IN mechanisms, inviolate laws of cosmos and a great many ARE being violated. Nature usually plays “equalizer” in these instances, and if not enough people wake up, forces are being set into motion for yet another “great cleansing,” which is now being called global warming. That terminology is a misnomer as for instance, America has had late snows this year, and a LOT of cold weather. A more appropriate term would be climatic instability, too much forfeiture of ecosystems which all act as key strands in a vast, complex web of life. AS one by one these are cut–the loss of coral reefs, the horrific deforestation, the fossil fuel depletion and its impact on the higher atmosphere, the fishing in deep ocean beds, etc. There really is a HOLOCAUST against nature, and it’s mostly being engendered by the corporations/pharaohs, who are sick with greed and can never be sated. We are on the cusp of a turning point for mankind. Perhaps “collapse” or perhaps “the Great Turning,” or another scenario. But life as is, cannot go much further operating in the current paradigm. Evolution, innovation, the power of hope and collective re-invisioning a new future (World Social Forum style: Another World is Possible) may, like Moses take the beast down, and “let my people go!”
I suggest to my fellow voters that if none of the major candidates come through with a plan to end the war economy and combine the pursuit of Happiness, Peace and improved environment, then we should consolidate our protests in a new way.
That is instead of voting for a 3rd party candidate which will be diluted anyway and we know won’t win because of the many 3rd party candidates, to instead write in the 3rd party candidate or better yet vote by writing in yourself, since any ordinary citizen can be a great president compared to what we have been getting (the big money candidates). The result will be revolutionary in that for the first time there will be a virtual “none of the above” vote.
This would work if everyone who feels that their vote won’t count can instead of staying home feeling powerless can join in a mass protest movement at the polls. that is “VOTE FOR YOURSELF OR WRITE IN YOUR CHOICE” which even if not officially recorded by some states it will show up as no votes for president and because of the size of the “no votes” and “write in votes”, for the first time in our history protest votes and virtual “None of the above” will be hard for the media to ignore and that way our protest vote will have some meaning and will be large.
Tired of the big money game? Vote for yourself and see the change.
Jim
PDA was gleaned from the wreckage of the Kucinich campaign after his pathethetic performance at the Democratic Convention held in Boston in the summer of 2004. Tom Hayden and his protege Tim Carpenter had purposdely positioned themselves there in order to grab up whatever they could from that crash and set up Progressive Democrats of America. Previous to the convention Kucinich was ill advised to hire Carpenter to run his convention activities in Boston. The result was that there was no anti-war action organized or even allowed by Kucinich under Carpenter’s guidance either inside or outside the Convention hall. I think that this is what Tim Carpnter means when he says that PDA uses an “Inside/Outside strategy”. Those who had come to Boston as Kucinich supporters with hopes that Dennis would lead them in a challenge to the Democratic Party war machine were sorely disappointed. Don’t expect anything different to happen in San Diego.