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A brief description of the 5/25 plan.
I’m going to write a much more detailed outline on what the 5/25 plan is when I have a little bit more time. But this is the short version:
Progressives have been locked out of the debate. We have no place in the Republican Party and the Democratic establishment views the progressive left with what can almost be described as outright hostility, with Rahm Emanuel saying that "we’re fucking retards" and "don’t worry about the left". And here’s the thing: I’m convinced that he might be right because he’s convinced that we simply don’t have the stones or the moxie to run independent or third party campaigns. Let’s prove him wrong about that.
My theory is that we can create viable third party runs because of what we’ve seen in a number of fund raising attempts by Alan Grayson, Bill Halter and others. We’re not running "symbolically". We’re running to win.
What do we need to win. We don’t need to win every seat everywhere. We’re looking for enough seats to create a real progressive block that isn’t answerable to the DNC and won’t be threatened by Rahm in the shower. A bloc where every member has signed a contract not to work for corporate lobbies after they leave congress. Yes, this bloc would have to be chosen very carefully. Not saying this is going to be easy by the way. (And yes, we would sue if they breach any element of the contract. No more toothless pledges…)
As I’ve said about a thousand times online at various places, we need to initially shoot for 5 senate seats and 25 house seats. In order to run a viable third party independent campaign you need to raise at least 300000 dollars for a house campaign and 2 million dollars for a senate campaign.
I’ll write more on this later.
Related: I could also use some help with this thread:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/3/19/848069/-The-Progressive-case-against-the-Obama-healthcare-plan.-
More Related: I also wrote another supporting argument here that outlines, what I think, are misconceptions about third party runs.
Related to the third: I also posted another argument I made along these lines over at the Daily Kos. So, even though the Examiner is supposedly run by conservatives, I’ve never been censored here. (Well, I can’t write bad words, but I can write "frak" and probably "frell" if that got banned. I don’t think that’s the biggest thing though. What you write about is where the censorship happens…) But by mentioning the arguments behind a third party effort over at the Daily Kos I was given a warning. I just think that’s the weakest part of the Daily Kos game. You might notice that I don’t censor people in my comments section for just about any reason, except when they’re selling something and sometimes not even then. People are encouraged to challenge anything I say and they’re welcome to be rude about it! But I can’t do it at the Daily Kos, where Democratic Party activists are supposed to meet and hash things out…?
Here’s the thing: I don’t support the Democratic Party because they’re called the Democratic Party or they wear the blue sash. I support the Democratic Party because, allegedly, they support progressive principles or at least they used to. Now I’m not so sure. There might be an answer in creating a third party. I’m a progressive first. I’ll work with whatever party will best help that outcome and that has a reasonable chance of winning. (Right now that isn’t third parties but it could be if we start running viable Third Party campaigns…)
22 Comments
Have read that between elections laws and election boards’ rulings, it’s very difficult to get third parties off the ground in this country. And from brief personal experience, third parties don’t seem to understand the amount of time and energy party work entails. There really is a place for full time professionals in initiating and maintaining viable parties. People who already have full time jobs and other lives don’t have enough time to keep a political party alive and well. Check out the Greens, for an object lesson.
I agree with your sentiment and would do a small part for the effort, but even if lots of people do likewise, part-timers won’t make a lasting party. What’s the plan for this?
I think this a good plan. Every movement must start somewhere. I’ll throw my hat in the ring. I’m not a great organizer, nor am I a great analyst. My skills lie more in persuasion through digital media. I’ve been unemployed for almost two years now, so I have a lot of time on my hands. Let me know what I can do to help.
Can you donate 10 dollars a month for the next year? We need one hundred thousand people that will do that…that’s one million a month and 12 million a year. And yes there will be transparency as to how every penny is spent. I keep my promises.
Well, I think the first thing is a commitment to fundraising and the knowledge of what it takes to win at the congressional or senate level. Well, you might read this first.
http://fivetwentyfiveplan.blogspot.com/2010/03/progressives-should-support-seius-third.html
I agree that you need professionals. I really think the first goal of any viable third party run is to raise the money you need to make the run. If you can’t raise 300000, then you’re not going to beat Mike Doyle. You’re just not. It’s the same rule for primary runs as well. If you can’t raise a million to run against Blanche Lincoln then you can’t beat Blanche Lincoln. One of the worst things about the Green Party is that they don’t ask for the money!
I make a joke where I need 35 million to properly do it, but you could start smaller…I should stress that this isn’t easy. One of the big questions is where do you run?
how many people do you have willing to donate $10 a month currently?
Zippo! But I haven’t even started yet…This is why you need someone like Jane Hamsher, although I don’t even think her reach would be enough. Michael Moore would be nice…this is all in the early stages. I haven’t even figured out what to incorporate as…501? 527? How about just as a progressive corporation…oddly enough the Citizens Ruling might free you to directly give to campaigns without penalty or limits…
Yeah, now that you bring that up, how can we possibly compete with corporate money? I really want to give money, but even $10 a month is hard for me. I’m living off of friend’s couches because I can’t even get unemployment since I graduated from college in ’08 and have been unemployed since. Occasionally I get freelance gigs, but almost all of that is used to buy food or to my friends who house me. It’s sad that most people who would support this are too poor to do so.
Its class warfare. People against money. We don’t compete with corporate money. We defeat corporate money. Our enemies have brain washed us to believe that we are powerless and that we all hate each other. That’s bullshit. There are three hundred million of us. United we can trample them in the dirt.
First step is a campaign Anyone but Dem or GOP. Why if you can deny either the Dem or GOP 50% in the Presidential election then you show you have Clout.
Imagine the shock if neither part gets 50% of the vote.
Its to late to really organize this election. I say only vote if you got a Dem who did not vote for ObamaHealthcare or vote third party.
Its a small thing but we need to demonstrate we have Clout. Its to late to primary people.
I left a comment, but man the group think is pretty heavy over there. good luck.
There was a comment at the Great Orange Wasteland, but I am not sure if it is snark.
Only spitting and obama worship takes place over there in the comment threads anymore. And OFA stormtroopers police the joint.
You do not start by running candidates for Congress IMO. You start small. Do what the religious rt. did to slowly take over the Gopers from the ground up. If we start by running for school boards, Mayors and Commissioners and other lower echelon political posts and then move to State positions and build a base we’ll be a viable party. To try and scale the heights and go after Congress at this juncture is IMO fool hardy.
So pledge ten bucks a month seaglass. Is that to reckless and radical for you? I won’t argue with what you are saying. But we don’t have time for that. No really. We don’t have time for that.
You’re right. By the time candidates worked their way through the local and state positions, an Obama/Anthem fascist state would be firmly ensconced.
With the exception of astroturf groups like OFA and the fake Tea Party, people are ready to vote for just about any name anyone can get on the ballot, as long as it’s not attached to an R or a D. The DLC’ers may have the big bucks, but advertising will only go so far if people don’t trust them, anymore.
I agree, seaglass… You have to start at the local level, because that’s where people really know each other, including their histories, strengths and weaknesses. And, it’s where people believe they can depend upon others.
5/25. I like it simply because it seems small enough to be doable and it attacks the Republicrats from the outside and from the left. I will pledge ten bucks a month, no problem. Some names come to mind of people with experience as outsiders. Jesse Ventura, Ralph Nader, Kinky Freedman, Cindy Sheehan, just to name a few. Maybe one or more of them will be willing to advise you. I am an Anderson, Perot, Nader (three times) voter. Yes, I go all the way back to Anderson. I served in the U.S. Army under Johnson and Nixon. I have hated both parties ever since. I trust your numbers on how much money it takes to win an election. But those numbers are not cast in stone. The future is not like the past. That’s why we have history. The percentage of Americans who are extremely pissed off and therefore paying attention is going up and this depression is just getting started. Obama has done to his party what Bush did to the Republicans. Our enemies are stronger than ever but they are close to being universaly hated. Posters on telephone polls might accomplish more than you think. I have your web site marked and will to add a BRAVO or a HEAR HEAR to your remarks when I am aware of them.
You won’t get any help at DailyKos. That site’s mission is electing Democrats, not third party candidates. As only one example of why DK frowns on third parties, a lot of Kossacks, including myself, will never forgive Nader for giving us President Bush instead of President Gore.
Nader gave us President Bush? Not the Supreme Court or the fact that Gore and the Democratic Party poobahs didn’t fight? Who knew?
Well now that SEIU is running candidates outside the party, I guess that opens up that field.
You’d need 3 things:
1) A heavily Democratic leaning district — otherwise you’ll just pull votes away from the Dem in an unwinable 3-way split
2) Someone well known within the district who can reassure people about third party uneasiness
3) A incumbent villain — someone that people are already pissed at, because that’s what drives online fundraising. People don’t donate to Ned Lamont, they donate against Joe Lieberman. People didn’t even know who was running against Joe Wilson when they gave to his opponent’s campaign after his “liar” outburst.
The third one is complicated by the fact that someone may be seen online to really suck, yet popular in their district. And if they’ve got control of all of the progressive infrastructure there (interest groups, etc.) it’s hard to mobilize a progressive grassroots effort because you can’t tap into anything existing, you have to build it from scratch.
Well, thanks for the response. I actually can’t write anything more right now but I say the more the merrier. If you don’t hate Andy Stern, then give him a call and work with him on this. The primary challenges happen because a significant core of people just decide that they’ve had enough. If enough people organize around this idea of viable general election runs, with the probable exception of the Daily Kos, then I think it would happen. I mean, it looks like we need people who are just as passionate about labor and pro choice issues as Bart Stupak is over the imaginary people babies…
I’ll try to write more about my ideas here. I would crosspost those ideas over at Daily Kos but thoughtcrime is a terrible crime don’t you know…
Ohhhh, you were the one who got the Ivory soap bar as a comment!!
There is one hell of a Kool-Aid kegger going on over at DK these days. And god help you if you aren’t lifting your glass in unison with the rest of the Party-goers.