And I mean it.
First, despite the so-called "50 state" strategy of Howard Dean, the state-level Democratic Party organizations are brain-dead. They've been brain-dead for decades in places like Ohio - and were responsible for handing over the presidency to W again in 2004. But they are also brain-dead in even "blue" states like California. The California Democratic Party should surely realize that staying in power means wooing new votes in the rapidly growing suburbs of Southern California, but it's not even trying; where I am, the Democratic Party does not exist at all, and is not even running local candidates or sending any mailers, whereas the Republicans are wooing me daily, and reminding me that the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Phil Angelides, will raise taxes by $18 billion. A party that doesn't answer such serious allegations, and offers me no alternative to my current Republican representation in Congress and State Legislature, surely has no business expecting my vote.
Another field where the Democrats - and the progressive community as a whole - need work is the immigrant communities. Conditions are ripe due to Republican demonization of immigrants. But precisely because of that, Democrats and progressives are taking immigrants for granted. Never mind that many of our immigrants come from some of the most backward and repressive countries on Earth, and need to be educated on American ideals and values. It is the immigrant communities, legal and illegal, that lend crucial support to socially conservative legislations, like the gay marriage ban and the abortion ban. (In fact, California has another anti-choice proposition on the ballot next month, which I expect wide support for in the ethnic communities.) After all, my metropolitan area is home to millions of Central Americans, whose home countries encourage murdering LGBTs and enact draconian anti-choice laws, and unless something proactive is done to them, their positions on these issues will not change. But the progressive community is too politically correct to admit this. It is also too politically correct to realize that in many of these home countries, the death penalty is an acceptable, convenient way to dispose of pesky political dissidents. And most importantly, with regards to Asians (especially the Koreas and the various Asian-American communities), they embrace fundamentalist Christianity due to its shared values with their own belief system, Confucianism, something the progressives do NOT understand at all.
But at least there would be hope if the progressives were anywhere near as open-minded as they claim to be, and are open to outside inputs and willing to learn. Sadly, I've found that they are every bit as rigid and orthodox as conservatives. The progressives' first reaction when I feed them first-hand experience and info on homophobic immigrants is to shut me up. In addition, they don't take my concern for the environment seriously, because I happen to be indulgent enough to drive a BMW (which, btw, still gets 30 MPG). Never mind that many of these progressives swear by products from Toyota, the most reactionary car company of all - even more so than Ford or GM. In fact, the progressive community and the Democrats have ZERO interest in wooing votes of auto enthusiasts and sportsmen, two major demographics where I live; they do not listen when I tell them of right-wing misinformation campaigns spreading like wildfire in these communities.
I have many progressive links on my blog, collected over the past year and then some. But the way the progressives are brainlessly self-destructing themselves, many, if not most, of these links will have to go. I will need to do some fall cleaning here, retaining only the links that try to address the real world issues and try to win new demographics. But the way the Dems and the progressives are functioning today, they are asking to lose. They may get lucky this year, because the Republicans are in such a sorry shape, but unless these fundamental problems are resolved, the victory will be short-lived, as once the Dems are in power, they will have to fend themselves against well-organized right-wing media attacks. I don't think they are up to the task.
