Democratic Party Is More Brake than Gas Pedal

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

I am a long-time Democratic voter who is beginning to feel that my political party's operating apparatus is losing touch with its membership base.

I no longer donate to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), a campaign slush fund whose primary purpose seems to be to fund and protect incumbent Democratic US Senators.  The DSCC defends geriatric incompetents and helps to keep the Senate looking and functioning like a reading room in a retirement center.

And for those same reasons I also no longer donate to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, (DSCC), the House version of the DSCC.

If I make a donation I want it to go where it can help elect candidates whose views are consistent with my own, and too often those types of candidates are not the ones that established US Senators and Representatives want joining them in the rarified air of Congress.  Bold ideas and forceful voices are a threat to the status quo.

The usual rebuttal to my position of preferring fresh blood and new ideas is the argument of "institutional knowledge."  Old timers in Congress, the argument goes, have a reservoir of knowledge built up over the years of how Congress operates - and they know how to get things done.  But others, people outside of the system, argue just as forcefully that what the long-serving members in Congress have built up are donor lists and lucrative relationships with lobbyists.

I also no longer donate to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) because its current leadership does not appear to be competent, and it also comes across as resistant to change and tends to brake far more than it accelerates.

Times are changing and so are the attitudes of American voters.  Voters want change and they are seeking candidates with bold ideas who promise to tackle tough issues head-on.   The DSCC, DCCC, and DNC stand in the way of change and work tirelessly to keep "radical" ideas at bay.  This Democrat still supports democracy and democratic principles - and donates to help win elections, but for the time being, at least, my donations are circumventing the Democratic Party and going directly to the candidates.

I will re-engage with the national Democratic Party when it chooses to re-engage with the voters.  The Party is resilient and will survive its current leadership.