It's Time for Progressives to Seize Control of the Democratic Party

By Scott Galindez, Reader Supported News

12 November 16

onald Trump’s victory has left the Democratic Party open to redefining itself. They understand that both candidates got fewer votes than Mitt Romney and John McCain. They understand that working people in the rust belt voting for Trump cost them the election. On a conference call Thursday night sponsored by Democracy for America, former Labor secretary Robert Reich weighed in, as reported by The Hill.

“The Democratic Party can no longer be the same. It has been repudiated,” Reich said.

“This has been a huge refutation of establishment politics and the political organization has got to be changed ... if the Democratic Party can’t do it, we’ll do it through a third party.”

Reich is not the only Democrat who feels that way. When incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer endorsed Minnesota congressman Keith Ellison for party chair, he said that we need leadership that puts grassroots organizing ahead of fundraising.

Ellison, on the same conference call with Reich, said it’s “not about money first, not about polls first, it’s about voters first.” That is the leadership we need at the top of the Democratic Party.

Despite Schumer’s admission, we should not expect the establishment to give up power without a fight.

“They’ll hold on to the party mechanisms until you rip it out of their dying hands,” said Jonathan Tasini, a Sanders surrogate. “It’s all about power and money and influence for them.”

The time to rip it out of their hands is now. The momentum from Bernie’s campaign along with the repudiation of the Clinton wing by the voters has put us in a position of strength.

Remember what happened eight years ago? A black man was elected President. It sent shockwaves through the right wing of this country. The response was the Tea Party.

“We have to install the playbook of the Tea Party,” said Ohio state lawmaker Nina Turner, a Sanders surrogate. “The Tea Party had mainstream Republicans shaking in their boots. Even the ones who hung on knew they had to listen to what the grassroots was saying.”

We have to be careful to not fall for half measures. Establishment Democrats like Schumer may throw us some bones, like shuffling the chairs in Washington while leaving the same players in place to run the machine.

Cenk Uygur, the host of the progressive political commentary show The Young Turks, said, “Everybody in the building needs to be fired immediately.”

That probably won’t happen right away, but we have to push for wholesale change. In 2018, we have to be depending on real progressives with a progressive agenda to take back Congress, not Republican-lite candidates like Evan Bayh. In 2020, we need a progressive candidate at the top of the ticket so Americans can choose between our vision for America and the conservatives’. We will win if we stop trying to moderate our positions for big money.

As Bernie would say, “our job” is to make the Democratic Party the people’s party. Before Tony Cohelo shifted the party focus to raising corporate cash, Labor unions, women groups, civil rights groups, anti-poverty organizations, peace groups, environmental groups, and others controlled the direction of the party. We have let corporate money have too much influence. It’s time get the money out and put the people back in.

To my friends in the Green Party and other left party efforts: We need you in this fight. Our system is rigged in favor of the two major parties. The fastest path to power is taking control of one of those vehicles. When we get there, we can un-rig the system so everyone can have a voice. Without those reforms, let’s put aside our differences and seize the day.

Scott Galindez attended Syracuse University, where he first became politically active. The writings of El Salvador's slain archbishop Oscar Romero and the on-campus South Africa divestment movement converted him from a Reagan supporter to an activist for Peace and Justice. Over the years he has been influenced by the likes of Philip Berrigan, William Thomas, Mitch Snyder, Don White, Lisa Fithian, and Paul Wellstone. Scott met Marc Ash while organizing counterinaugural events after George W. Bush's first stolen election. Scott will be spending a year covering the presidential election from Iowa.

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