'Who Is a Democrat?' Revisited
Links for Friday, January 10
Just one link today, but a good one — the start of a structural look at the actual Democratic Party.
Why does this matter? Because most people who don’t want the power-mad to win, count on national Democrats to save them. Unfortunately for them, national Democrats are otherwise inclined, driven by money and Party loyalty instead. Thus the problem — it is a puzzlement, yes?
Links
• The Democratic Party Is Not What You Think (A Beautiful Resistance)
We recently wrote a piece called “What Is a Democrat?” in which we attempted to clarify the concept of “membership” in the Democratic Party.
If you take “membership” literally (as most people do), very few people are actual members of the Party. From the piece:
Democratic voters aren’t members of the Party in any sense of membership … the national party itself is just a tiny group of people with enormous power.
And that’s an accurate statement.
But there’s another meaning of membership as it applies to the three-layer concept of a political party and its supporters. (The three layers simply described: Those with power. Those who advance the interests of those with power — consultants and media, non-profits and issue orgs, activists high and low. And lastly voters, the target market of the layers above them. More on all this later.) The piece linked above looks at the concept of party membership in a broader sense and takes into account that widely ignored middle layer.
It’s a general analysis; the concept starts, really, with Lenin’s concept of cadres and applies to all political groups with the same kind of structure. In the U.S. it applies to Republicans and Democrats.
A taste:
The US Left may not realize it, but nearly all of it is part of the Democratic Party's extended machinery. However, leftists are excluded from the Democratic cadre structure; they can't actually direct its course.
When you look at the question “Who is a Democrat?” through this analytical lens, the Party is very large. In addition, the Party includes nearly all of its opposition. Again, more later.
File under “Lenin? Really?”
Music
The Chicks, saying what many are thinking post-2024.
Did neighborhoods burn in the LA metro area because the water necessary to combat the flames was directed to almond trees?
I do not know whether my question is well founded, but clearly, fresh water and functioning topsoil will form the limit to the ultimate survival of our species.
Neither US political party can be trusted to handle the allocation of resources. That is crystal clear.
I reside in New York and Ms Burns 2018 essay predicts the enactment of high hurdles for alternative party ballot access which occurred for this past election.
At some point it should become clear that entrusting corporations to manage essential life functions is a grievous mistake. (Look at the Defense industry. They make overpriced, under performing weapons systems that only protect their revenue streams.) We need a state that manages our resources, but not one comprised of the clowns running the show now.
Edited to thank Thomas for the powerful Chicks song! Yes it is too late to either forget or forgive.