I found an interesting article that criticizes the Democrats' turning away, about the time of the McGovern presidential run, of a key constituency of their 30-year winning formula: working class Catholics.
This is something that I've mentioned here before -- we need to get the working class back into our fold. This must be our base, from which we expand the coalition to intellectuals and others. Red States should be the focus of lots and lots of attention, and I'm not talking about candidates taking pictures in front of tractors and hayfields every 2 or 4 years.
I'm talking about touring red states for months, begging their forgiveness for abandoning them, for allowing their debasement at the hands of right-wing snake-oil salesmen and religious extremists. LISTEN to them, with an attitude of humble contrition. Listen. LISTEN.
When we listen, we will hear stories that will break our hearts of incredible economic loss, cultural marginalization, and suffocating, ever-present worry that two guys in dress blues are going to stop at their house this time and delivery the awful news that fuels their nightmares - "The secretary of the Army has asked me to express his deep regret that your son, John, was killed in action..."

Jim Kunstler's latest lecture: like dad in the den

Jim Kunstler is the author of a couple books ("the Geography of Nowhere" and
"Home From Nowhere") that have given me, and lots of folks, a vocabulary to
describe what has always bothered me about the setting of lots of American
life:
namely, the suburbs. He has a "blog" of sorts (updated about once per week) in which he rails
against the stupidity of the "modern" way of doing things. Worth a
read.

While I doubt that the President and his posse are too dim to comprehend
the
energy trap we're in, there certainly is plenty of plain stupidity in the
rest of our elected leadership, of which Senator Grassley's remarks are
Exhibit
A. To be more precise, actually, Grassley's statement displays
something closer
to childishness than sheer stupidity. It comprises a set of
beliefs or
expectations that are unfortunately widespread in our culture,
namely, that we
should demand a particular outcome because we want it to be
so. This is exactly
how children below the age of reason think, in their
wild egocentricity, and it
is the hallmark of mental development to grow
beyond that kind of thinking. But
the force of advertising and other
inducements to fantasy are so overwhelming in
everyday American life that
they may be obstructing the development of a huge
chunk of the population,
something that becomes worse each year, as
proportionately more adults fail
to grow up mentally. This state-of-mind is made
visible in Las Vegas, our
national monument to the creed that people should get
whatever they want.
What I wonder is: when will my fellow citizens discover
that their
thinking and their behavior are unworthy of their history? That we
are
entering a time when these things simply aren't good enough, aren't enough
to meet the challenges that reality now presents. Or are we too far gone?
It's
possible that we are. After all, life is tragic, meaning that happy
outcomes are
not guaranteed and that people who forget that usually come to
grief.

Chris Hedges on the Antidote to the poison of war

"To survive as a human being is possible only through love. And when Thanatos [the death impulse] is ascendent, the instinct must be to reach out to those we love, to see in them all the divinity, pity and pathos of the human. And to recognize love in the lives of others -- even those with whom we are in conflict -- love that is like our own. It does not mean we will avoid war or death. It does not mean that we as distinct individuals will survive. But love, in its mystery, has its own power. It alone gives us meaning that endures. It alone allows us to embrace and cherish life. Love has the power both to resist in our nature what we know we must resist, and to affirm what we know we must affirm. And love, as the poets remind us, is eternal."

Today's Lyrics

The Last of Leaves fell from the trees
And clung to a new love's breast
The branches, bare, like a banjo moan
To the winds that listen the best

Bob Dylan, "Lay Down Your Weary Tune"

Kos is up to its usually excellent analysis

New Orleans demonstrated to us in vivid color what Republicanism is made of. New Orleans was, in reality, a crowning acheivement of conservatism. That is, until political pressure forced the federal government to lend a hand and those lucky duckies in the gulf coast began receiving "handouts".
While fingering the responsible is important, Democrats need to use New Orleans to draw clear distinctions between the governing philosophies of the Republicans and that of the Democrats.
Democrats would've taken care of Katrina victims from the get go. That would've been our first impulse, our first instinct. Republicans had to be shamed into helping people.

Exactly right.

The Republican philosophy is opposed to the very idea of THE people's welfare, as opposed to SOME people's welfare (the ownership class). More on this in an upcominng post.

Lyrics of the day

By Steve Earle, from his song "Chistmas in Washington"

So come back Woody Guthrie
Come back to us now
Tear your eyes from paradise
And rise again somehow
If you run into Jesus
Maybe he can help you out
Come back Woody Guthrie to us now

Exciting News from UNI

UNI stands for Union Network International, a network of unions that has committed itself to unionizing Walmart - and not just here in the US, but also overseas, including the wage-slave factories that supply Walmart with its cheapo goods.

I have felt for a long time that internationalizing organizing efforts will be the key to increasing workers' power. In other words, let the Moneyed Class globalize the economy: we'll globalize unions. Via The Prairie Populist.

Kos planning take-down of the DLC

Markos over at dailykos is planning a takedown operation against the DLC. Let it be soon.

The DLC wing of the party has been sucking at the teat of big business long enough.

A Link to the Blogger I Wish I Was

This blogger is the best I've come across in terms of both his command of reason, and his fiery populist sensibility. Check him out.

The most concise explanation of the Democrats' Problem

From The New Republic Online: (http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050425&s=trb042505)

"This is the same essential mistake Democrats have made over and over again since the early '70s in relying upon courts to secure rights (like unfettered access to abortion) and promote reforms (like affirmative action) for which they hadn't yet built solid popular support. These court decisions eventually provoked political backlashes that have hobbled Democrats since and, in cases like gay marriage, probably set back the liberal cause by many years. If Democrats hadn't been so successful in pushing the courts so far ahead of public opinion, it's possible they might have worked harder at actually convincing voters that they were right on these issues, bringing the political consensus closer to them rather than pushing it away."

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Interesting Post on One Man's Journey from Republican to Democrat

JCECIL3 has an interesting post up about the way the two political parties' positions have shifted in the last thirty years, and the implications for someone wanting to vote on "values" issues. Hint: the answer may surprise you.