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    From FDR to Goldman Sachs: Democrats Veer Right
    From FDR to Goldman Sachs: Democrats Veer Right
    From FDR to Goldman Sachs: Democrats Veer Right
    Ebook141 pages2 hours

    From FDR to Goldman Sachs: Democrats Veer Right

    By nadin abbott

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    From FDR to Goldman Sachs details the process by which the Democratic Party became a center-right party. The process of political realignment is well understood among political scientists but not among partisans/ The process to realign it away from Clintonism is starting anew and the civil war we are witnessing is part of it.

    The book looks at the Party as a living entity, which is made by activists and voters. It also explains why Donald Trump won, and why Democrats made a mistake when they rejected Senator Bernie Sanders. He was the right man for the historical moment.While party leadership believes it has kept the dreaded progressives at bay, in reality, the process continues. As more of them run for office, the back bench is filling up with a new sort of politics.

    Politics in the United States is becoming more radical for good reasons. We have areas of the country that are full of people who feel abandoned by both parties. Time will tell which party changes to fit the new politics faster. We are at a populist moment, and Democrats ignore this at their peril.

    LanguageEnglish
    Publishernadin abbott
    Release dateApr 11, 2018
    ISBN9781370665365
    From FDR to Goldman Sachs: Democrats Veer Right

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      Book preview

      From FDR to Goldman Sachs - nadin abbott

      From FDR to Goldman Sachs: Democrats Veer to the Right

      by

      Nadin Abbott

      Contents

      Foreword 3

      Chapter 2 - Chapter One 17

      How Parties Change 21

      The Democratic Party: A short history 26

      FDR Democrats 33

      Chapter 3 - Chapters Two: The New Democrats 46

      The Core of Democratic Party Economics ?

      New Democrats and The Clinton Revolution 50

      Foreword

      Introduction

      The defeat of the Democratic Party in the 2016 elections was shocking to many Americans. This was particularly the case with partisan Democrats. They still do not understand what happened. To many Democrats this was incomprehensible. Many were angry as well with any who refused to vote for Hillary Rotham Clinton, and remain so even a year on. They could not believe that the policies enacted by both parties over the last generation helped to destroy the middle and working class. People have lost their livelihood. They lost the path to the American dream. While most of those affected directly by the policies cannot name them in their totality, they can identify key components of these policies.

      These are Neoliberal policies, which have put the emphasis on politicians to be business friendly and reduce regulations that protect the environment, and protect consumers. Some of these policies are understood by workers directly affected by them. Among them the liberalization of trade through free trade agreements and the disciplining of organized labor through the weakening of labor laws and unions. The fiction is that many base Democrats believe these policies are only those enacted by Republicans.  However, this has been a bipartisan effort starting at the latest with the Jimmy Carter administration. This book therefore, argues that Democrats are no longer the party of the people, but a right wing business friendly party. The conflict we see between the two parties is nothing but controlled opposition. This is especially the case when it comes to economic policy. Both political parties favor policies that benefit business, weaken regulations and discipline organized labor.  If the people are to find true representation, they need to realize neither party has their interest at hear. One of the two major parties will either have to be replaced, or realign towards the interests of the people.

      The idea that democrats are not the party of the people is not new. However, there is resistance to this concept by partisans. There is also a clear refusal in challenging this party establishment. Partly this is because how horrific and far right the other party is. So Democrats think they are left of center, when in reality their policies make them a right wing party. ¹

      There is a needed point of order. Campaign planks, or for that matter political party planks are usually empty promises made to an activated base during the heat of a campaign. The true nature of any political party is in both the policies enacted while in power, and the policies not actively fought when out of power. Both political parties count on the American people not paying attention to sausage making in between elections. If people paid more attention, they could not do what they do. So a critical requirement of a functional democracy has been short circuited. This is an informed public that keeps their leaders accountable.

      ***

      There are a series of policies that both parties have pursued for over a generation, even when they point fingers at the other side. Chief among them are globalization and free trade deals. It was both Republicans and Democrats who introduced toxic deals for the middle class, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement, and their successors . ² This book argues that both national parties agree with these policies since they weaken organized labor and go a long way in destroying the 20th century safety net. In effect these practices are meant to destroy the New Deal. Things like Social Security and Medicare are seen as unnecessary, even hurtful to the economy and the country. They are far from a solution to what were very real problems. This has produced an age of income inequality that rivals the collapse of 1929. ³

      This is partly right wing ideology that believes that freedom means an ability to do what one can, without any government intervention. In the most extreme form, the only role for government is national defense. Taxes are an imposition, and the social safety net is a form of slavery. Some Democrats, what are known as Conservadems or blue dogs, believe this to an extent. ⁴

      The 2016 Primary was a horrific electoral season, and the final step in the political awakening of progressive forces. This is both a personal and a national story. The personal aspects to this intersects with the national and reveals something not quite expected given this country's political history. It reveals that the parties, to much protestation, have undergone dramatic shits rightward, with deep agreement in some basic policies.

      It is worth speaking of this at a personal level since this is not just about a general evaluation. It is about how politics also affect the our everyday existence . The day I became a United States Citizen, I became a Democrat. I walked out of Golden Hall in San Diego , where the ceremony was held . I found a person with a voter registration form, and I filled it. My intent was to vote in the next election. There are reasons why most naturalized citizens join the Democratic Party and not the Republican Party. It is about perception about the two parties. My first election was the 2000 election. That election was fraught with many issues in Florida, ranging from voter caging to voting suppression and the bad design of a ballot in one county. ⁵ Some of the things that emerged from that contest are very familiar to observers of elections in other countries. In other countries observers do not run from the term fraud when it applies. Yet, fraud is not something that is touched upon in American media , or polite society . It is treated almost, as a conspiracy, and no serious person should think such thoughts . Never mind that elections in the United States have been peppered with multiple ways to change outcomes throughout national history. This is easy to do in very close elections, Florida was as tight as they come.  ⁶

      During the Democratic Primary in 2016 in particular we saw things that you would expect in developing world countries. They ranged from very long lines, to people finding out there were no longer registered as Democrats. They were purged. Never mind they were registered as Democrats all their lives, in a few cases at the same address. These red flags are not worthy of discussion we are told. It is mostly nothing to see here. ⁷ This is not just Democrats. Countries who become oligarchies see less and less importance placed on clean elections. In fact, democracy is replaced by a show that many citizens know its rigged. Nor is this the first time in American history. It just was way too obvious. To those of us who have seen this abroad, this reminded us of the worst aspects of elections in our former countries. For me it was Mexico, and how Mexico has elected Presidents was the best analogy. ⁸

      Elections are also a game where voters are no longer given a reason to vote for something. Rather they are told to vote for the lesser of two evils. For the Democrats, this is a strategy, well honed and used for at least three generations. It is about making the other party devil incarnate, never mind that both parties follow similar policies in off election years. They count on the fact that voters do not have time to pay attention. In most cases voters don’t have the inclination either. 

      That first American election I voted for Al Gore, the Democrat. There was no other choice in my mind. Never in my wildest dreams did Ralph Nader, or George W Bush enter my thinking pattern. I did not know who this Ralph Nader was, and at no moment would I consider a Republican. I was casting a vote for the man who would continue the D emocratic run in the White House, and continue to work for the people, my people . These are immigrants, people of color, working class people, union members. Of course, at the time concepts such as Third Way, or Neoliberal philosophy were unknown to me. They were not part of my lexicon. Never mind the party had undertaken a quiet neoliberal revolution starting in 1980 that transformed it into a right wing party. To this day most Americans still do not know what neoliberalism is. They believe that Democrats are 20th century liberals, and not Neoliberals, who believe in the market and privatization

      Why did I become a Democrat? I bought a party marketing campaign. I was sold on this party being  the party of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Social Security. This was the party that saved capitalism from itself. It was the party of civil rights, and the Great Society. All this is history. All this is true. The Democratic Party was the party of the people. Over the years we have seen a quiet transformation of this party that once embraced Unions, and yes minorities, to one that pretends to do so, every electoral cycle. They only seem to care when they need the votes. The Democratic P arty though has become a right wing business friendly neoliberal party that embraces market capitalism with a zeal that rivals and supersedes that of the Republican Party. They are supply siders and market acolytes that would make Friedrich Hayek and Ayn Rand proud. Yet, many in the base still believe the propaganda. This is their party. They cannot believe that the party of FDR would betray the people . So every election they vote for the same political class expecting different results. When they confront them, these politicians come with excuses as to why they cannot pass legislation that would help my people.

      These days those excuses are utterly familiar to anybody paying even passing attention :

      Republicans have the House, we don't have the votes.

      Republicans control the Senate, we are in the minority.

      There is no political will...

      If we give up some, we will get some of what we want.

      We need to be pragmatic

      If their ideas are good, we will adopt them.

      There is a second dynamic. During midterms less voters are showing up at the polls. The Democratic Party though is blaming the voter, instead of the lack of policies that benefit the middle and working class voter. To be fair, both parties are having a similar problem, but for different reasons. ⁹   blaming the voter is not getting the voter to the voting booth, however. Low turnout elections also have issues with legitimacy. In time those elections are seen as not valid by large groups of voters. This will happen in the United States sooner or later. ¹⁰

      In 2016 both national parties put up the

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