Monday, February 27, 2006

OK, I'm gonna hold my breath...

... until I see the numbers go up over at VichyDems' ActBlue campaign contribution page. The candidates we're supporting are working hard to unseat bad incumbents, or (in the case of Bob Menendez, did the right thing on the Alito filibuster and earned our support in his re-election bid).

It's safe, it's easy, it's the right thing to do.

OK, I'm waiting...

turning sort of purply...

waiting...

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ah, well, being a Democrat, I'm willing to hang my ass out there for what I believe in, even if it may get shot off! (Or embarassed -- which is why the word is spelled that way, I think.)

Curious: why no comments enabled at the pontificating weasel site? The white one is beautiful, btw.

The Film Diva said...

Can you point me to a site that outlines what a progressive agenda would look like? One that is left of where the dem party is now, but right of the Green party? I need ammo for an argument I have with a conservative acquaintance and you're smarter than me.... :-)

Anonymous said...

You're definitely not smarter than me, and to prove it, I'm scratching my head over what ought to be a simple question. The Progressive agenda in one place...

I'm embarrassed (see, Weasel? I can be taught!) to say I don't know a website with a good statement of those principles in one place. There are three books that I'd recommend, though: James Carville's "We're Right, They're Wrong" (fairly short, political philosophy peppered with some good Cajun recipes); Jimmy Carter's new "Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis"; and the late Sen. Paul Wellstone's "The Conscience of a Liberal: Reclaiming the Compassionate Agenda".

Finally, though it really tries to point to a middle way -- an American way that's neither liberal nor conservative but sets moral, good-government ground rules within which those two camps can do honorable battle -- I will suggest my other political blog, The NeoProgressive. Since you asked, I'm going to saddle you with a ridiculous number of links to individual posts; these are the ones in which I lay out what I consider to be a good neoProgressive philosophy:

Welcome to the NeoProgBlog

On the Proper Role of Government in a Democratic Society

A Neoprogressive Approach to the Abortion Debate

The War on Christmas

Alito and the Slippery Slope to Totalitarianism

Can't Have DemocracyWithout Knowing the Facts

Watching the Watchers: A Good Journalist Keeps Digging...

Fans of Good Government: A Good Day

Should I Stay or Should I Go Now? (Iraq)

Mine Safety

But It's Just a SMALL Hole in the Dike, Right? (Economics and Foreign Trade)

Mind-Numbing Stuff About the Fed, Money Supply, M3, and the Possible End of the World As We Know It

Gozar's Coming Ho-ome! (A soldier comes home.)

Trustbusting in the Modern Era: Not?

Alito Clearly Opposes Roe v. Wade. Why Can't He Say So, And Let the Chips Fall Where They May?

A Tale of Two Nations

Tom Delay and the Ungrateful Gerrymander

Profiles in Cowardice

How To Fail in Government Without Really Trying

Science in the Vatican

How to Fail in Government, Mental Health Edition

Yet Another "Texas Model" Federal Education Program. Yikes.

In 2002, the White House Said It Didn't Need FISA Standards Lowered -- That Existing Law Was Just Fine, Thank You.

Things Change, But the Constitution Abides

"Checks and Balances. How Quaint!"

Now HERE'S What I'm Talkin' 'Bout: Pete McCloskey

Former Reagan Official on What's Conservative...

Links Resources: The Mishandling of Iraq

That's a lot, but it covers the waterfront, from journalism to fiscal responsibility to national security and supporting the troops to religion to economics to abortion. At least it gives an overview of how one Progressive thinks about these issues, and tries to put them into the context of basic American values. That might help your friend get past any sense that we're unpatriotic or knee-jerk.

I hope that helps. I'll keep thinking about places that might put it more consisely than I have above.

Anonymous said...

P.S. The information above is now also in a post at The Neoprogressive. Thanks for inspiring me to finally pull it together!

Anonymous said...

PW: Ah, the wingnut's classic, erroneous meme that liberal = progressive = socialist = communist!

Nope, we're not a monolith. But when the "center" moves to about the 3/4 mark on the scale, anyone who wants to bring it back to the 1/2 mark looks like a "liberal" to the few extremists that are hanging off the right-hand edge.

I'm not being particularly snarky, I'm dead serious. For example, what do the communists, Ralph Nader, Howard Dean, Paul Hackett, and William F. Buckley have in common? We all think the war in Iraq is an abysmal failure. Does that make Buckley a communist? Nope. Does that mean you're part of a smaller and smaller fringe? Yep.