{"id":2966,"date":"2013-01-10T12:14:55","date_gmt":"2013-01-10T17:14:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/?p=2966"},"modified":"2013-01-10T12:14:55","modified_gmt":"2013-01-10T17:14:55","slug":"how-to-save-the-democratic-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/2013\/01\/how-to-save-the-democratic-party\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Save the Democratic Party"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/2013\/01\/how-to-save-the-democratic-party\/democratic-party\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2967\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2967\" alt=\"democratic-party\" src=\"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/democratic-party.png\" width=\"183\" height=\"160\" srcset=\"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/democratic-party.png 183w, http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/democratic-party-150x131.png 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 183px) 100vw, 183px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>A new party\u2014not a third party, but a real second party representing authentic alternatives, as befits a democracy\u2014is therefore urgently needed. Fortunately, the nucleus of such a party already exists, however captive-like and timid, inside today\u2019s Democratic Party. (The late Senator Paul Wellstone called it \u201cthe democratic wing of the Democratic Party.\u201d) For this nucleus to grow, come to power and lead a new reformation of American capitalism, it must liberate itself by occupying and transforming the Democratic Party, as insurgents have done in other co-opted parties that outlived their historical mission\u2014even if this means bipartisan Democrats leaving to become Republicans or go into the third-party wilderness.<\/p>\n<p>* * *<\/p>\n<p>The political bankruptcy of the Democratic Party, its historic achievements consigned to the distant past, is not a recent development. The party\u2019s role in the making of the current crisis speaks for itself. For forty years\u2014that is, under both Republican and Democratic presidents and Congresses\u2014the nation\u2019s wealth has been put into fewer and fewer hands (the richest 1 percent now possess more wealth than the less prosperous 90 percent), while ever more people have been relegated to poverty or rendered unable to maintain their hard-earned place in the middle class.<\/p>\n<p>Hence today\u2019s shameful American realities (and new exceptionalism): rates of family income inequality, child poverty, infant mortality and incarceration that are greater\u2014and opportunities for quality education and upward social mobility that are less\u2014than in almost any other modern democracy. The two defining tenets of the American dream are being lost, if they have not been lost already: that most children have a fair chance of achieving more than their parents did; and that determination and hard work will assure a successful and secure life.<\/p>\n<p>Democratic loyalists blame Republicans for this national tragedy without acknowledging their own party\u2019s responsibility.<\/p>\n<p><strong>MORE:\u00a0<\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/171613\/how-save-democratic-party\" target=\"_blank\">How to Save the Democratic Party | The Nation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new party\u2014not a third party, but a real second party representing authentic alternatives, as befits a democracy\u2014is therefore urgently needed. Fortunately, the nucleus of such a party already exists, however captive-like and timid, inside today\u2019s Democratic Party. (The late Senator Paul Wellstone called it \u201cthe democratic wing of the Democratic Party.\u201d) For this nucleus&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1608,22],"tags":[44,549,789],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2966"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2966"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2971,"href":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2966\/revisions\/2971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}