Which brings me to Democracy Day. Real democracy means participatory democracy. While upstart candidate Deval Patrick managed an impressive grassroots campaign in 2006, it would have been nice to see him carry that kind of participation into the halls of power. Oh well. The same can be said for Barack Obama’s campaign in 2008. Disappointed? You were had. Plain and simple. You projected your dreams and your hopes onto the blank slates that they put out there for you — never publicly committing to any sort of progressive vision for the Commonwealth or the country. They inspired people for sure… to VOTE for them, to DONATE to them, and to tell their friends to do the same.
Well, Democracy Day is just like that, only it’s about We The People insisting upon much higher standards for the candidates we support.
Here’s one MA citizen showing why he’s supporting Jill Stein on Democracy Day:
And here’s another:
If we don’t demand this from the people we give money to and ultimately vote for, then we’re undercutting our own vision for the Commonwealth and our common well-being.
But if we work our butts off, we can build a citizen-led clean elections infrastructure, pooling together small contributions from thousands of people who refuse to support candidates who will take lobbyist money.
Some of you will point out the spoiler argument in this election, but real democracy doesn’t happen on election day — it happens between elections, every day. What are you building? What are you working for? Where are you throwing your money?
The Green-Rainbow Party candidates are building THE independent political alternative for Massachusetts, and supporting them now and on November 2nd is a step towards real democracy, regardless of who becomes the next governor of Massachusetts. They got the 10,000 certified signatures they need, and you’ll have that choice.
Now if 10,000 people gave just $10 to Jill Stein by mid-September, it would help her secure $125,000 in state matching funds. And while she received over 75,000 votes when she ran in 2002, if 75,000 people from across the Commonwealth and beyond gave her $10 by mid-October, we’d be talking about $750,000 in clean-money donations, another $750,000 in state matching funds, and a $1.5 million campaign for We, The People, which could propel her into the corner office. Or will Patrick spoil it for her, and for us?
What do you say?
Yes, we’ve got to show that we support clean money candidates. Otherwise our democracy is just going to be sold to the highest bidder. And the Democracy Days idea of raising money directly from the people is worth trying.
<
p>Deval Patrick has made a career of being a corporate apologist and he seems to be collecting checks from all the usual corporate lobbyists. I’m sure his friends it the gambling casino business will chip in for him if he runs short. So he’s not going to get any of my money. Stein is a real progressive, and I want to hear more from her.
I will donate soon.
Is it a stretch to suggest that supporting this movement–with a small donation–is in the best interests of progressive Democrats? We just yesterday heard Robert Gibbs slamming “the left”–loosely defined. A show of support for a progressive candidate may alert the establishment here in MA that there is fact a progressive base, that they’re alive and kickin’, and that they do in fact intend to hold their elected leadership accountable.
Nader’s “spoiler” role in 2000 kicked Al Gore in the butt and in the last week of his campaign, Gore got a hell of a lot less wooden and found some fiery, progressive rhetoric. I’d say that might have even put Gore over the top (we all know he won that election, right?).
<
p>If MoveOn hadn’t prostrated itself to John Kerry for some mythologized need for “Party unity”, it could have lit a fire under his ass… or better yet propelled solidly anti-war Howard Dean (wasn’t MoveOn pretending to be an anti-war organization?) into being the Democratic nominee. Dean would have CRUSHED Bush.
<
p>All the 2006 mid-term posturing about Democratic Party control over the purse strings of war might have actually meant something if the rank-and-file decided to hold their feet to the fire once they took back Congress.
<
p>And all the hope & change rhetoric of 2008 could have meant something if progressives didn’t drink the kool-aid and get all giddy about, well, empty rhetoric and political posturing.
<
p>And now in 2010, the Democrats seem happier to be able to call the Republicans the “Party of No” than to actually do anything, regardless of how overwhelming a hold they have over the Executive and Legislative branches of government. Here in MA, ginormous supermajorities plus a Democratic governor don’t seem to mean a thing. It’s business-as-usual, 24-7. You could interchange Romney for Deval, and MAYBE we wouldn’t get CORI reform and foreclosure relief… but those are really credited to solid grassroots organizing more than to Deval’s leadership. And rightfully pissed off voters wrongfully flocked to Scott Brown to express their outrage with status quo MA politics that serves the well-connected few (the Kennedys and Kerrys alike)… because there wasn’t a choice. 18% of Brown’s votes came from people who said the Democrats didn’t go far enough on health care reform. The Democrats should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.
<
p>On casinos, a number of columnists have already said that Patrick’s decision was guided by fear of Jill Stein to his left. So even with something of a media blackout, Stein’s campaign is having an impact. Imagine what would happen if she qualifies for matching funds — and taxpayers actually invest in a clean-money candidate and thus to decide they should at least pay attention to what she has to say. Imagine what will happen once she’s included in the broadcast debates that really define the statewide political discourse.
<
p>She’s the only candidate who is not at all beholden to moneyed interests. The only candidate fully accountable to We The People. All of us. Even those with money to spare. But if those of us with only $10 to spare can ORGANIZE ourselves to put a candidate like that on the same playing field as the big boys, then all bets are off. At the very least, Deval will have to find that grassroots connection that got him elected in the first place… which can only help the Democrats.
has my vote in the primary. There’s not a bit of difference between Mr. Patrick and any of the other candidates. Loved the visual of “swimming like Scrooge McDuck.” That’s exactly what’s happening here, and until we stop allowing our democracy to be bought and sold like a commodity, then we will have no voice.
Would Baker/Cahill have…
<
p>Fought hard for marriage equality and supported transgender rights?
<
p>Worked with CSX to purchase new commuter rail tracks and be the first administration in years to substantially move forward on South Coast Rail and the Green Line extension?
<
p>Enacted new oceans legislation as well as a plethora of new clean energy goals/laws/regulations?
<
p>Fought hard for Cape Wind?
<
p>Had a strong relationship with the White House that they used to push for more education and state aid funding in the stimulus bill?
<
p>Advocated for and signed CORI reform, new rights for tenants in foreclosed properties, and national popular vote legislation?
<
p>Been the first administration in years to increase investment in long-neglected public housing?
<
p>Fought for and received (albeit in a watered-down form) closing of corporate tax loopholes and ability for cities and towns to raise new sources of revenue?
<
p>Worked to ensure that immigrants remained covered by the state’s health care program, even as many people advocated removing the coverage?
<
p>I don’t know about you, but my guess is that Baker and Cahill would not have done any of these things.
<
p>I’m not questioning the sincerity and passion of Stein supporters, but I do feel very frustrated when I hear that Patrick is no different than Cahill or Baker. Yes, I’m biased, as a former state govt. staffer during the administration, but I don’t work there anymore and I still volunteer and recruit supporters for the Governor because he has a record of engaged government on behalf of Massachusetts. I’m not saying every decision he’s made has been the right one, but I am saying that we have a Governor with an overall strong record and I think he deserves re-election.
<
p>2. Decimate human services, particularly those to people with developmental disabilities, mental health issues, etc while handing out plum patronage jobs? Let me know if you want me to give you the list.
<
p>3. Play politics with a charter school placement, ala the Great Gloucester Caper?
<
p>4. Evicerate court services for minors, etc. Please see Amber Paw’s posts. Happy to give you links.
<
p>5. Patronage, patronage, patronage
<
p>5. Run on a platform of “no more business as usual”….while conducting business as usual?
<
p>And the difference between Cahill “I’m not a good governance guy” and Mr. Patrick is that Cahill never promised to be better than this. Mr. Patrick did. I expected better.
That would be 5. and 6.
so utterly predictable. Anyone who says anything against this governor automatically gets downrated.
<
p>I wasn’t aware that there was another G-R candidate in the gubernatorial primary.
…until we get IRV I’d prefer that people like Stein enter Democratic primaries so as to not risk playing spoiler (though numerically I don’t see much risk in this particular case).
Thanks for playing the Ralph Nader/George Wallace game. Baker and Cahill appear to be considerably to the right of Patrick.
Knowing that I was to the left of Democratic Party, I had a choice to make a few years ago about where to put what time and money I could spend on politics. A big part of that decision was made by considering what has happened every time we failed to either re-elect or replace a sitting Democratic executive officeholder with another Democrat. After Dukakis, we got Welucciftney, and only one of the four was still interested in the job in the end (and she was forced out by her own party). After 1980, Reagan started the reverse of over 100 years of battles that slowly brought at least a little power to “we the people” instead of the wealthy and the corporation. And finally, in 2000, we got W. ‘Nuff said.
<
p>I also knew that the Democratic politicians I would help elect would be far from perfect, but my main goal was/is to keep the ball moving in the right direction. Just because I’m not 100% happy with Deval (or Obama), I can’t decide to throw in the towel now and hand the ball back to the Republicans – who will run with it, and hard, in the other direction.
<
p>I don’t know how to build a third party, but throwing up three people for statewide office and declaring “here we are, we’re on the of the angels, join us” doesn’t give me any confidence. I believe building a farm team at lower levels (city/town, state rep/senator) would be more productive.
<
p>Finally, anyone who thinks there is no difference between Baker and Patrick should read Patrick Hart’s comment a few times and also consider this: Deval was bound by law to make a number of budget cuts that he really didn’t want because of the revenue situation. Baker wants to compound the situation with about $25 billion of more cuts. For anyone of the progressive/liberal bent, how in the world could you want that? Is your city or town having trouble making ends meet with their current fiscal situation? Wait until there are deep local aid and education cuts.
<
p>From my perspective, the G-R party doesn’t have enough substance at this point and it is much more worth my while to continue to push the Democrats in the direction I support.
Bound to make budget cuts while handing out patronage jobs? Bound by budget cuts to slash human services while preserving the tax expenditure budget:
<
p>http://vps28478.inmotionhosting.com/~bluema24/d…
<
p>(Thanks Amber)
<
p>What I see are Mr. Patrick’s budget priorities. Evidently, human services aren’t among them. What’s the matter – is it because these folks don’t/rarely vote that they don’t matter?
<
p>
And helping elect Baker or Cahill improves this situation how?
<
p>I understand the frustration, the anger, and in some cases the “I’m really pissed off”. I could give you a list of things I’m unhappy about regarding Patrick’s first term. But that list is quite small compared to the things he’s done that I approve of, things that Kerry Healey would never have done, and things that neither Baker nor Cahill would ever do.
<
p>Is there nothing the Patrick/Murray administration has done that you approve of?
<
p>I just don’t understand the strategy of the G-R party if their goals have anything to do with their ideals. I don’t see a viable strategy for victory for Stein (and since the G-Rs don’t have a stable of support in the legislature, I’m not sure where she’d get her legislative help if she did somehow get in). The current plan simply leads to a much more conservative chief executive. How does that make things better?
The Green-Rainbow party has been on the ballot in Massachusetts since 2000, when Ralph Nader won a decent percentage of the statewide vote. That’s ten years. Jill Stein has been the most prominent face of the party for at least eight of those years. Where is the party-building? Where are the school committee and town board candidates?
<
p>I live in the poorest city in the Commonwealth and Deval Patrick has been here repeatedly and has encouraged groundbreaking investment here. I see no reason not to continue supporting him.