primary from the left? just a thought . . .

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Monday August 01, 2011 · 12:26 AM PDT

2011/08/01 · 00:26

Anyone thinking about a primary from the left at this point? I know the last time this really happened was Teddy Kennedy against Jimmy Carter, and we all know how THAT turned out.

But is there any way we can put pressure on the course of events beyond this? I'm just scraping for ideas.

And it's been a while since I've been on DailyKos, so if this has been mentioned and shot down here many times, please forgive. It's just that since Obama won and caved in, I've just been a bit hopeless on what the left can do. I mean, I knew what our role was under Bush, but now it's hard to say HOW to influence things.

Primary from left?

(and ps, I'm THRILLED we have our first African-American president. I'm so sad to even have to suggest this option, but maybe it could drag him further left?)

Poll

58 votes Show Results

primary from left?

58 votes Vote Now!

primary from left?

yes

37 votes

20 votes

only if it gets worse

1 vote

Networks, Crises, and the BP Spill

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Monday June 14, 2010 · 2:18 PM PDT

2010/06/14 · 14:18

(crossposted at Networkologies)

I study networks for a living - political, social, scientific, etc. And the study of networks has a lot to say about political change, and a lot of it having to do with crises. Which leads me to many thoughts in regard to the financial collapse, and now BP. Mr. Obama needs to start using these crises to our and his advantage!

If there is one thing that the study of networks has taught us in regard to politics, its that systems don’t change because you want them to. Rather, political systems shift when the dynamics of the networks which support them move. One has to wait until a network is ready to percolate and cascade before applying pressure to certain key points, and then change occurs as if it was always meant to be. Until that point, one can try to produce the careful set of affairs needed to move a mountain, but the mountain will not move until the stars are correctly aligned. If you haven’t done the work of moving those stars into place, or they haven’t moved there on their own, no amount of effort will create political change.

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Tuesday January 26, 2010 · 10:06 PM PST

2010/01/26 · 22:06

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary to dissolve the bonds that have bound us to corporations, it becomes time to take this country back. Or take it, for the people. We have power. In numbers. Its time we began to speak.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, but that corporations, many times more powerful than individual people, should stop masquerading as people. In fact, they are trampling people, even as they pretend they are people. We need real change.

With the new Supreme Court decision, it may be time to consider the constitutional option. A constitutional amendment. To state that corporations cannot use the first amendment to guarantee them a right to turn our democracy into a farce. And that elections should be publicly funded, so as to get money out of politics for good. And finally establish democracy in this country.

More below.

Poll

33 votes Show Results

Do you agree - constitutional amendment to say 1) corporations aren't people, and 2) publicly funded elections?

33 votes Vote Now!

Do you agree - constitutional amendment to say 1) corporations aren't people, and 2) publicly funded elections?

yes

28 votes

5 votes

Why not split it?

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Tuesday December 15, 2009 · 4:34 PM PST

2009/12/15 · 16:34

Ok, the DailyKos community is a pretty good place to go to when you need some advice. And I'm a little confused.

Why not just SPLIT the bill?

That is, keep the non-controversial stuff in the official bill (which as Joan Walsh said on 'The Ed Show' tonite, would insure 31 million more), and then put the stuff that 'Joementum' and friends are blocking right into a separate, reconciliation bill?

I mean, it ain't perfect (recon has some real downsides) - but its better than whining about how Joe and co' watered it all down, or trying to sell this as real change, right?

Can't we kinda have our cake and eat it too? Am I missing something here?

Poll

20 votes Show Results

now that we have little choice, should we split the diff?

20 votes Vote Now!

now that we have little choice, should we split the diff?

yes

14 votes

6 votes

'Cross-Activism', Or, 'To the young Gays and Lesbians upset about California and Prop. 8'

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Friday May 29, 2009 · 2:06 PM PDT

2009/05/29 · 14:06

I hear it. I'm gay, and I want to get married someday too. I want to adopt kids - I've always have wanted to be a father and start a family. And its hard to see a loss like we've just seen in California.

But there's good news - we're going to win. Maybe not right away, but the tide has already turned. America has changed, and though there's going to be setbacks, marriage - and hopefully better adoption laws - will happen in the next few years. Whether it be through the Supreme Court, federal legislation, or state by state, its gonna happen. I think as soon as Massachusetts legalized marriage and people saw the proverbial 'sky didn't fall' right afterwards, it punched a hole right through the myths perpetrated by so many on the right.

But I'm worried. I'm worried that we're going to lose something in all this, something very important. I'm worried we might miss an opportunity to get something more than just marriage equality. More below.

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Wednesday May 27, 2009 · 2:08 PM PDT

2009/05/27 · 14:08

To all you young gay and lesbians who are upset about Prop. 8. This is an open letter to you. Here's my response - 'Cry me an f-'in river.'

And I'm gay. And pissed.

More below.

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Saturday May 23, 2009 · 4:23 PM PDT

2009/05/23 · 16:23

I hear it all the time - 'That movie was so gay,' or 'That song is totally gay.' My brothers say it all the time, though they've learned more and more to not say it around me. But they think I'm being silly, cause 'everyone knows its not meant like that' and 'you always take things too seriously.'

I remember I was back in my hometown about two years ago, and two little kids were watching the second Spiderman movie on the TV, and one kid said to the other, 'oh, the first Spiderman movie was gay.' The second one said back, 'what does that mean?' and the first one was like, 'it means stupid.'

And I said to myself, this is proof this issue isn't silly. This is how it happens. What if one of those kids in a few years goes through puberty and is gay themselves? They'll know, without even having to think about it, that 'everybody' thinks that what they are is just another word for 'stupid.' Talk about not starting out on a level playing field.

And this sometimes results in death, as it did this week to a poor child in Georgia. As it did a year ago in Massachusetts. There are things we can do to stop this. More below.

Poll

169 votes Show Results

do you think 'that's so gay' and 'lame' should go?

169 votes Vote Now!

do you think 'that's so gay' and 'lame' should go?

yes

97 votes

72 votes

but I want to be a parent oneday too . . .

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Wednesday April 08, 2009 · 2:48 PM PDT

2009/04/08 · 14:48

The last few days we've seem some massive gains for LGBT rights in this country, with Iowa and now Vermont legalizing gay marriage, DC joining on recognizing, etc. As a gay man, this makes me very, very happy. I'd love to get married oneday.

But I also want to be a parent. I've always wanted that. My brother has a wonderful baby boy, 1 year old, and I'd love to oneday be in his position. And two years ago, I just got the job of my dreams. But I look at all that's involved, particularly on the financial end of things and I ask myself, how the heck can I get this to all come together? There's lots of options, but also far too many roadblocks.

Why is this so difficult? If every Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston can have children, but I can't find a way, something's wrong with the system. More below.

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Wednesday April 01, 2009 · 2:42 AM PDT

2009/04/01 · 02:42

Ok, so I've been reading a lot of the recent diaries by Jerome a Paris and thereisnospoon on the financial crisis. (In particular, this post is a response to the recent diary on the rec list by thereisnospoon
which is itself written in response to a recent diary by Jerome a Paris. So without having read those, this question is gonna seem rather abstract.)

Anyway, I've got a question for the economist/banker types out there that I don't know the answer to. I'm no economist, but I'm trying to just understand here.

Why don't we just have the gov't declare a CDO 'holiday,' kinda like FDR did with the banks to stop bank runs in the Great Depression, until we figure out some way to properly price these obligations?

more below . . .

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Sunday March 22, 2009 · 5:05 PM PDT

2009/03/22 · 17:05

I know he criticized Obama's plans during the election - from the left. But what about the much vaunted 'team of rivals'? I don't claim to understand the economy - but this guy certainly does. And every time he dissects Geithner and Summers' plans to fix things, not only does he make sense, but I KNOW he's coming from a perspective I agree with - people first. And he can communicate, both in prent and in person, like few others.

Maybe some of you out there know - was didn't he get it in the first place?! Either way, the man's a Nobel Prize winner, and the real economist Obama needs. Geithner and Summers helped MAKE this mess.

If the bank bailout being announced this week is as bad as Krugman says, I say we start a public campaign - dump Geithner, bring on Krugman!!

He seems to be the only person up to the job. And he's a progressive in line with the change people voted for when they elected Obama!

(update below the fold. . . )

Poll

198 votes Show Results

Should Obama dump Geithner and draft Krugman?

198 votes Vote Now!

Should Obama dump Geithner and draft Krugman?

Yes

98 votes

100 votes

why is european banking collapsing too?

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Sunday February 22, 2009 · 12:06 AM PST

2009/02/22 · 00:06

Ok, this diary is a question, and considering the brain-trust here at DKos, I have no doubt I'll get a smart yet well explained answer.

My sense of where the American crisis is coming from is 1) housing bubble based on sub-prime lending, 2) deregulation of investment/commercial banking split due to repeal of Glass-Steagel (sp?), 3) creation of crazy derivatives markets that allowed crazy levels of speculation which way overleveraged things on a fixed sum of collateral.

But this doesn't explain Europe to me. Did they drink our derivatives Koolaid? Did we push our policies enough on the rest of the world to make then pursue policies way too similar to ours? Or is it just that the spreading of 'risk' via hedge funds has simply made the world economy so interdependent, that we started the collapse but that started a regular old chain reaction?

I'm curious what y'all think, specially some of our resident experts . . .

thanks!

what we can learn from the republicans . . .

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Wednesday February 18, 2009 · 3:51 PM PST

2009/02/18 · 15:51

Right now the progressive community, and DailyKos with it, is switching gears - for the first time in a very long time, not only is one of our own in power, but we nearly have both houses of congress! But we have to learn how to now move from simply getting our people in office, to making sure our folks deliver.

And this is how we can learn from the republicans. More below-

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primary from the left? just a thought . . .

Networks, Crises, and the BP Spill

Its Time for the Constitutional Option (Take II)

Why not split it?

'Cross-Activism', Or, 'To the young Gays and Lesbians upset about California and Prop. 8'

To all the Young Gays and Lesbians upset about California and Gay Marriage . . .

"That's SOOO gay" - and other 'hate usage'

but I want to be a parent oneday too . . .

Why not just have a CDO holiday?

Draft Paul Krugman for Treasury Secretary! [Updated]

why is european banking collapsing too?

what we can learn from the republicans . . .