Don't get your Movement in our Party/Don't get your Party in our Movement

Two pieces that I read today made me give a good hard think about the relationship of the establishment Democratic Party to the Occupy movement.  On one hand, we've got a pollster hack, Doug Schoen, biasing his polls to "demonstrate" that the Democratic Party shouldn't get involved in the Occupy movement because the goal of the latter are supposedly "radical".  On the other hand, we've got concerned liberals like Glenn Greenwald who believe that the Democratic Party has done too much to break faith with The People, and hasn't earned the right to co-opt their moment.

I am sympathetic to the latter point of view. My party doesn't actually provide me with hours of satisfaction, so much as it does tooth-grinding frustration that they just....can't....get...their shit....together long enough to actually sustain a liberal or even sort of satisfactory progressive point of view without corporatist capitulation.  But my thing about that is sort of along the line of "Don't hate the player, hate the game". Our system is currently madly unfair in terms of access and funding, to the extent where the best-funded causes get the best access. I don't deny that the Democratic Party is a tool of corporatism to an extent--I just think they've been less so than the Republican Party, and they are at least not overtly hostile to consumer/working class people points of view.  And that being the case--my argument is that the Democratic Party and the Occupy movement have points of common cause--and collaboration--not co-option, is definitely possible.

I totally get the idea of movement purity--but the Legislation Fairy doesn't come and deposit solutions in front of an ideal president to sign in indelible ink to fix things in a fast hurry. The real situation is that the other guys (and you know who they are) recently applauded a presidential candidate for saying that if someone was unemployed or poor, it was all their own fault. They have a Senate minority leader who is boldly and proudly obstructionist and also, kind of pissy about it, and an ineffectual Speaker of the House who is dominated by the freshman congress people backed by--get this! A supposed grassroots movement that was backed by billionaire-funded bullshit farms like Americans for Prosperity and Freedomworks. In other words--the other side was all about co-option and harnessed the anger of people--to support corporatist goals. And will for as long as the money flows. (It's an awful lot of money.)

So I think--the only way to get things you want is to have the tools to get them--so let's elect those, um, tools. Maybe some DINO's will need to be primaried. Maybe a lot of GOTV will be needed. But apathy means the other guys win.

Occupy the Democratic Party.  It's not to late to belong to an honestly unorganized political organization.

Also--I don't see how it hurts the Democratic Party to get populist. We're supposedly the party of civil rights and labor and all the middle class stuff that makes this country work. I get that there's a real fear in light of the Citizens United decision that a flood of corporate money will overwhelm Democratic fundraising--but there's a thing I want to point out--transparency.  If the other side is funded by huge honking wads of corporate dough--make that the issue. Poison their third-party ads by raising the legitimate question of who is funding it and who benefits.  Make it the cornerstone of a campaign based on accountability, honesty, and calling the motherfuckers to account when they lie. Say the word "LIAR" until it feels good, and get ready to call bullshit when you see it.  Be honest. It will feel good, and remember--the internet is a great leveller.  Getting out the message can be cheap and clean, and more effective than expensive and dirty. That's the Change I want to believe in.

I see the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Or I hope I do.